Undercover cops tried to incite violence in Montebello: protesters
CALGARY (CBC) - Police disguised as masked demonstrators tried to incite violence at the North American leaders’ summit in Montebello, Que., on Monday protesters say, after footage of the incident was posted on YouTube Tuesday.
The organizers of the protest planned to hold a news conference in Ottawa Wednesday afternoon to talk about the incident shown in the video titled Stop SPP Protest - Union Leader stops provocateurs.
In it, 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, 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.
In the end, they squeeze behind the police line, where they are calmly handcuffed and arrested.
The RCMP has refused to comment, while Quebec provincial police have flatly denied that its officers were involved in the incident.
It confirmed three men were arrested, but 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 formerly in charge of overseeing demonstrations for the force said after viewing the video, he questions who the masked men really are.
“Were they legitimate protesters? I don’t 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.
About 1,200 protesters were in Montebello Monday during a two-day summit attended by U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The leaders were to discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership treaty signed in 2005, that many protesters oppose. The treaty is intended to forge closer trade and security links between the nations, but opponents say negotiations about the agreement are secretive and undemocratic, and treaty itself erodes Canada’s control over its natural resources, security and defence.
Police accused of using provocateurs to spark violent confrontations at summit
By JOAN BRYDEN
OTTAWA (CP) - 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 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.
