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Brutality CanadaPolice Brutality O Canada |
When: Tuesday May 22, 4pm
Where: Old City Hall Courthouse (Queen & Bay) - TORONTO
Why: To Demonstrate Our Rage Against Police Silencing Critics Of The Government
463 people were arrested at the protests against the Summit of the Americas and the FTAA in Quebec City last month. Many are facing trials on arbitrary charges. The government is using police and courts to wage war on critics of its far-reaching and undemocratic trade deals.
The government's intolerance for dissent is illustrated in the case of Jaggi Singh, a spokesperson for the Anti-Capitalist Convergence. Jaggi was arrested on Friday April 20, snatched from the crowd by cops disguised as protestors. He was finally released on bail after being held for 17 days in jail. The "criminal" charges against Jaggi (possessing a catapult that launched teddy bears at the security perimeter) are ridiculous. Jaggi was arrested and detained because of his role as a political thinker and organizer.
AND THERE ARE STILL FIVE PROTESTORS IN JAIL! Part of a group called the Germinal Movement, they were arrested before the Summit even began and have been denied bail. Police raided their homes and vehicles and found gas masks, firecrackers and smoke bombs -- and then displayed these as if they were dangerous weapons. Their group had been watched and *infiltrated* by police agents months before. Anyone down with radical action for social change should be concerned about the scale and intensity of this police operation.
The Germinal 5 will return to court on May 22. That day, anti-capitalists will be rallying in Quebec City, Montreal, and internationally to show support.
Join us to be part of the resistance to political repression. Here in Toronto, critics of government policy are also being targeted. For example, 45 people were arrested at last year's Ontario Coalition Against Poverty protest at Queen's Park. Those cases are still ongoing -- most trials won't happen until May 2002!
The Canadian state has a long history of repression -- targeting people of colour, queers, poor people, youth, First Nations fighters (Oka, Stoney Point, Gustafsen Lake Burnt Church), anti-fascists, animal and earth liberators, anti-poverty activists, critics of the police and anti-capitalists. It is vital that we are not intimidated into silence by these actions but rather stand up, make ourselves heard and carry on organizing the resistance movements that we are part of.
To Endorse This Demonstration, Or To Help Out, Please Contact Ara! at 416-631-8835 or ara@web.net
by Alex, Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (Montreal)
Write letters of support to the Germinal Five!! (see addresses below)
Montreal, April 30, 2001 - Five members of the Germinal Movement are still being detained in Orsainville prison following a pre-emptive police raid (swoop) that began in the evening of last April 17th and continued the next day. The five are: Victor Quentin and Roman Pokorski of Verdun, Alex Boissonneault and Mario Bertoncini of Montreal and Serge Vallé of Saint-François-de-Laval. The five are being held prisoner since the "Justice of the Peace," Yvon Mercier of the "Palace of Justice" in Quebec City decided on April 23 to refuse to release them. They are not scheduled to reappear in court until next May 22.
To justify a decision which amounts to punishment before verdict, Judge Mercier declared: "You are individuals who are dangerous for society". In referring to the abundant media coverage that followed the arrests of the five, the magistrate also added: "I believe that the public would lose confidence in the judicial system if I released you." Yanik Sévigny, the lawyer for the Germinal 5, will go before of the Superior Court of Quebec next May 4 in order to appeal the decision of Judge Mercier and to try to obtain their release.
At the above-mentioned April 23 hearing, two other members of Germinal, Jonathan Vachon and Pierre-David Habel, were provisionally released, conditional, among other things, upon agreements to "keep the peace" and to appear once a week at the Montreal headquarters of the SQ (Quebec Provincial Police). In addition, they were required to sign a personal performance bond of $5000. Though the Court did not demand payment in cash of this exorbitant sum, it will should one of the accused be arrested again in future and charged with "breaking conditions."
The seven Germinal accused face harsh charges of "conspiracy to commit mischief that could present a real danger to the lives of people", "possession of explosives with dangerous intent", and "theft and concealment of military equipment of a value less that $5000". Two days before the opening of the Summit of the Americas last April 18, the SQ and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) held a press conference where they exhibited various objects presumably seized during two searches of apartments where several of the arrested militants lived. This defensive equipment comprised four smoke bombs, five gas masks, five shields, etc, as well as some dissident literature, including copies of the anarchist newspaper Le Trouble.
In fact, the Germinal project quite simply consisted of, at first, demanding that the security perimeter be opened in order to be able to demonstrate on the inside, and then, refusal of this demand being probable, taking the necessary means in order to create a breach in the 4 km fence. Although the police propagandists are trying to present the Germinal Movement in the court of the public opinion as a "terrorist" organization so as to undermine the emergence of any groundswell of sympathy for the accused, members that have not been arrested have had the opportunity to demonstrate the hollowness of these efforts.
For example, the smoke bombs which Germinal considered using had the sole goal of creating a diversion; these devices do nothing more than produce clouds of smoke similar to those found in discotheques. As such, they are in no way comparable to the 5000 tear-gas grenades which were used in a space of only 48 hours by the anti-riot squads in Quebec City and which necessitated, among other things, a massive decontamination of certain dwellings in the Saint-Jean Baptiste and Saint-Roch neighbourhoods. As for the infamous "Thunder Flash" grenade-simulators, these were also designed to induce a diversionary effect, being in reality nothing more than "small sticks which imitate the noise of an explosion."
In short, the equipment allegedly seized from the accused members of Germinal can in no way hold a candle to that arsenal of the repressive forces which caused numerous serious injuries among the ranks of the demonstrators and which could have even resulted in death if one considers things such as the hundreds of plastic bullets often fired directly at the faces of protestors.
The Germinal Movement doesn't make a claim to having a precise ideology: different political tendencies cohabit in its bosom, from communism to Quebec independentism by way of anti-authoritarianism and feminism. As eloquently described in this excerpt of the Movement's manifesto, their goal is to contribute against the globalizing megamachine: "We are simple citizens who, in the face of the inability of our so-called representatives to limit the despotism of these supranational authorities devoted to the maximisation of their profits, are determined to carry out this David-versus-Goliath like struggle."
Since December 2000, the Germinal Movement has been closely watched by a special squad of RCMP and SQ officers formed for the Summit. The Canadian Armed Forces also participated in the investigation. Among other revelations has been the presence of two double agents who had infiltrated Germinal. One of these two moles was even at the wheel of the car which transported two members of Germinal to Quebec City; these turned out to be the first two members arrested on the evening of April 17. For infiltration purposes, the cops set up from scratch a phoney car-rental business for trips between Montreal and Quebec City. The goal of this underhanded ploy was to be able to offer a job to a member of Germinal, who the police had been informed was seeking employment.
These methods of investigation, worthy of a spy movie, have moreover been widely denounced; First of all, by Pierre-David Habel, who had a warrant issued for his arrest and who allowed himself to be interviewed by a journalist from the daily Le Devoir before turning himself into the police during the night of April 18-19, 2001. In a headline article in the April 20, 2001 issue of the newspaper entitled "A police mole incited activists to arm themselves more," Pierre-David informs us that the double agent wasn't satisfied with merely filling surveillance reports: "Among other things he supplied us with material for shields, such as styrofoam and adhesive tape." After having become a member-in-good-standing, the officer insisted upon taking responsibility for certain tasks."
In the Journal de Quebec of the same day, three judges and even a crown attorney from the Quebec City area were not at all reticent to question, under the cloak of anonymity, the methods employed by the police. "I must admit that this worries me," declared one magistrate. "Why wait until the eve of the Summit to act in this case?" Another judge went one better: "I am eager to see how the police are going to justify the delay between the moment they targeted this group and the time they dismantled it."
What must we understand about the Germinal Affair?Firstly, if these comrades were investigated by the various police forces,it is because of their association with a political movement opposed to the capitalist offensive in general and to the Summit of the Americas in particular. Thus, even if the charges they face don't directly refer to the positions they have taken on different issues, the dissident political opinions of the Germinal group cannot be disassociated from their presently being subjected to the blows inflicted by the repressive apparatus.
Moreover, it is worthwhile to emphasize that Germinal is far from being the only organization to have been the object of the political police's espionage procedures. During the inquiry dealing with the release of the Germinal members, Sergeant-Detective Vincent Santori in fact revealed that in conjunction with the RCMP, six teams of five double agents each were set up in order to infiltrate the opposition to the Summit of the Americas. It is thus reasonable to suppose that this massive information-gathering effort may have been directed at tens if not hundreds of activist groups and individuals.
Secondly, if five members of Germinal are being today held prisoner, it's because they didn't want to present themselves in Quebec City as defenceless prey, ready to be crushed by police forces armed to the teeth, but instead organized themselves and availed themselves of the means to courageously resist the violence of the repressive apparatus.
Thirdly, this affair represents further proof that police forces are more than ever determined to divert all the defensive measures employed by the opponents of capitalist and police violence in order to return and use them against the most determined elements in the just and inevitable struggle which animates the dissident milieux.
Fourthly, the more militants are serious and consistent in this combat, the more the State will strike with force and cruelty the active forces which stand in its way. From this we deduce the importance of constantly bearing in mind the necessity of both organising as securely as possible and of answering repression with an unshakeable and uncompromising solidarity.
Write them letters of support, addressed to one of the five political prisoners
of the Germinal Movement, listing their birth date as follows:
Mario Bertoncini, 04.2.78
Alex Boissonneault, 14.4.79
Roman Pokorski, 09.11.78
Victor Quentin, 23.2.80
Serge Vallee, 03.8.79
Mail your letters to the following address:
Centre de détention de Québec
500, rue de la Faune
C.P. 7130
Charlesbourg, Québec
G1G 5E4 Canada
Remember that all mail to prisoners can be opened by guards, so be careful about what you write.
If you want to be assured about getting an answer, we advise you to include a pre-stamped envelope with your letter. Administrative rules at Orsainville prison are very strict. If you send magazines or newspapers, they must be authorised by the supervisors before being forwarded to prisoners. As for books, don't bother even thinking about it. The guards can even confiscate photocopies of newspaper articles, according to their content.
To send funds to support the Germinal Movement, make a check in the name of Me. Yanik Sevigny, and mail it to the following address:
Yanik Sevigny
2265 Pie IX, #1
Montreal, Quebec
H1V 2E6 Canada
To communicate directly with the Germinal Movement, send an e-mail to: germinal_@hotmail.com
Anti-Racist Action (Toronto)
P.O. Box 291, Station B
Toronto ON M5T 2T2
ara@web.net
416.631.8835
http://www.web.net/~ara
Fighting tha fash since '92.
Send your comments and stories of police brutality to: ruitsdawtah@Hotmail.com
This page updated May 15, 2001
