Found at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint03/01%20Police provocateurs at
SPP protest.html
Police provocateurs at
SPP protest
(The
following article is from
the September 1-15,
2007
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in
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PV
Vancouver
Bureau
Thousands of people rallied against George Bush, Stephen Harper and
Felipe Calderon during the "Three Amigos" summit at Montebello, despite
a concerted campaign by politicians and the mainstream media to
downplay the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" as nothing more than
tidying up government regulations.
The largest rally took place on August 19 in
Ottawa, where opponents of the SPP from across Ontario and Quebec
gathered to condemn the deal as a plan to speed up the process of North
American integration.
On the next day, demonstrators headed to
nearby Montebello, where 4,000 police and troops were stationed.
Earlier, the courts had struck down plans by the Canadian and U.S.
military to impose a draconian 25-kilometre "security zone" around
Montebello, but the Summit was heavily guarded, and the Council of
Canadians was never allowed to hold its planned forum on the SPP at a
nearby location.
At Montebello, protest leaders were prevented
from delivering a petition signed by more than 10,000 people. The RCMP
had previously told the Council of Canadians that the petitions could
be delivered just outside the gates of the Chateau.
"This is clearly not a security concern but a
political prohibition," said Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the
Council of Canadians. "This is yet another strong message from the
Conservative government that they are not willing to hear the concerns
of Canadians on the Security and Prosperity Partnership."
The Council and many other groups are demanding that the Harper
government cease all SPP talks until the agreement is brought before
parliament and the public.
Anti-SPP actions were held in some three dozen
communities across Canada, ranging from forums to pickets to rallies.
One of the largest, organized by Vancouver's StopWar peace coalition,
No One Is Illegal, and the Council of Canadians, drew some 600 people
to the Art Gallery, shutting down Robson Street for over an hour.
Meanwhile, the suspicious actions of several "protesters" at Montebello
indicated that the police were using provocateurs in an attempt to
spark confrontations.
A Canadian Press story dated August 21 reads
as follows:
"Protesters are accusing police of using
undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North
American leaders' summit in Montebello, Que. Such accusations have been
made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged
agents provocateurs have been caught on camera.
"A video, posted on YouTube, shows three young
men, their faces masked by bandannas, mingling Monday [Aug. 20] with
protesters in front of a line of police in riot gear. At least one of
the masked men is holding a rock in his hand.
"The three are confronted by protest organizer
Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers
Union of Canada. Coles makes it clear the masked men are not welcome
among his group of protesters, whom he describes as mainly
grandparents. He urges them to leave and find their own protest
location.
"Coles also demands that they put down their
rocks. Other protesters begin to chime in that the three are really
police agents. Several try to snatch the bandannas from their faces.
"Rather than leave, the three actually start
edging closer to the police line, where they appear to engage in
discussions. They eventually push their way past an officer, whereupon
other police shove them to the ground and handcuff them.
"Late Tuesday, photographs taken by another
protester surfaced, showing the trio lying prone on the ground. The
photos show the soles of their boots adorned by yellow triangles. A
police officer kneeling beside the men has an identical yellow triangle
on the sole of his boot....
"Veteran protester Jaggi Singh said ... four
of those arrested are known to organizers and are genuine protesters.
"But we see very clearly in that video three
(other) men being arrested ... How do (police) account for these three
people being taken in, being arrested? Where did they go?" Singh said.
"I have no hesitation in saying they were police agents ... and they
were caught red-handed."
"Singh, a member of the Montreal-based No One
is Illegal, believes the agents were meant to provoke a confrontation
and give the police an excuse to use some of their `toys,' such as tear
gas and rubber bullets.
"To a certain extent it's self-fulfilling
logic. You provide police with this kind of equipment and they end up
using it and one way to justify it is to plant some people that toss a
rock or two."
The YouTube video of the suspected
provocateurs can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow.