Quebec police use agents provocateurs to try to start a riot
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http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248608
Aug 21, 2007 09:14 PM
Canadian Press
OTTAWA Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke
violent confrontations at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello,
Quebec.
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 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
bandanas 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.
Kevin Skerrett, a protester with the group Nowar-Paix, said the photos and
video together present powerful evidence that the men were actually undercover
police officers.
"I think the circumstantial evidence is very powerful," he said.
The three do not appear to have been arrested or charged with any offence.
Police confirm that only four protesters were arrested during the summit two
men and two women. All have been charged with obstruction and resisting arrest.
Veteran protester Jaggi Singh, who is helping to circulate the video as widely
as possible, said all 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."
Neither the RCMP nor the Surete du Quebec would comment on the video or even
discuss generally whether they ever use the tactic of employing agents
provocateurs.
"I cannot answer your question because I don't have the information," said
Const. Kane Kramer, a spokesman for the RCMP at the summit.
Undercover cops tried to incite violence in Montebello: union leader
YouTube video shows union leaders trying to push back masked men
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 | 4:06 PM ET
CBC News
Organizers of the protests at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello,
Que., say they have video that shows police disguised as masked demonstrators
tried to incite violence on Monday.
The YouTube video shows Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers Union, ordering three masked men back from a line of riot
police.The YouTube video shows Dave Coles, president of the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers Union, ordering three masked men back from a line of
riot police.
(CBC)
About 1,200 protesters were in the small resort town near Ottawa as Prime
Minister Stephen Harper met with U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican
President Felipe Calderon at a two-day summit to discuss issues under the
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America pact.
The video titled Stop SPP Protest Union Leader stops provocateurs, posted on
YouTube Tuesday, was shown at a news conference held Wednesday in Ottawa by
protest organizers, including Dave Coles, president of the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers Union, who appears in the video.
In the footage filmed Monday afternoon, three burly men with bandanas and other
covers over their faces push through protesters toward a line of riot police.
One of the men has a rock in his hand.
As they move forward, Coles and other union leaders dressed in suits order the
men to put the rock down and leave, accuse them of being police agents
provocateurs, and try unsuccessfully to unmask them.
Continue Article
In the end, they squeeze behind the police line, where they are calmly
handcuffed.
In this handout photo provided by CUPE, police and protesters clash in
Montebello on Monday. Union leaders say photos and video taken by protesters
raise troubling questions about police actions during the summit.In this
handout photo provided by CUPE, police and protesters clash in Montebello on
Monday. Union leaders say photos and video taken by protesters raise troubling
questions about police actions during the summit.
(CUPE/Canadian Press)
"The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union believes that the security
force at Montebello were ordered to infiltrate our peaceful assembly and to
provoke incidents," Coles told reporters. "I think the evidence that we've
shown you today reinforces the view."
Coles showed photographs of the masked men's and police officers' boots taken
during the handcuffing, in which they appear to have identical tread patterns
on their soles.
He also questioned why other activists have been unable to identify the three
men whose images have been broadcast worldwide and demanded to know who the
masked men were.
"Do they have any connection to the Quebec police force or the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police or are they part of some other security force that was at
Montebello?" Coles asked, adding that he wants to know how the Prime Minister's
Office was involved in security during the protests.
He suggested that the government might want to provoke violence in order
justify its security budget for the summit and discredit protesters.
"They want to defuse our questions ... by trying to make it look like some
radical group trying to create a confrontation," he said.
The RCMP has refused to comment, while Quebec's provincial force has flatly
denied that its officers were involved in the incident.
It said it is not releasing any names as no charges were laid.
Retired police officer believes masked men were cops
Meanwhile, a retired Ottawa police officer who was formerly in charge of
overseeing demonstrations for the force said he questions who the masked men
really are, after viewing the video.
"Were they legitimate protesters? I dont think so," said Doug Kirkland.
"Well, if they weren't police, I think they might well have been working in the
best interests of police."
He added that if the situation was as it appeared, he did not approve of the
tactic. "It's pretty close to baiting," he said.
On Wednesday, the mayor of Montebello thanked police and protesters, praising
the fact that there wasn't a single report of damage during the two-day summit.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership pact, signed in 2005, is intended to
forge closer trade and security links between the countries.
Opponents say negotiations about the agreement are secretive and undemocratic,
and the treaty itself erodes Canada's control over its natural resources,
security and defence.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/08/22/ot-police-070822.html