OUT OF OUR SHELTERS! OUT OF OUR LIVES!

Print PDF

An important public service announcement regarding police invasions of women's shelters in canada, from the fine folks at No One Is Illegal Toronto:

OUT OF OUR SHELTERS! OUT OF OUR LIVES! was the message delivered
to the Canada Border Services Agency on March 8th, International Women's
Day, by the 120 plus women and trans-folks who poured into the Toronto
Rape Crisis Centre for an Emergency Assembly.

The Assembly was called after it came to the attention of the Shelter |
Sanctuary | Status campaign that in Feb. 2010 an Immigration Enforcement
officer went into a women's shelter, looking to deport a non-status migrant
woman, and survivor of violence. Since this information has been made public,
more and more women have started to break the silence.

The Assembly agreed to begin a large-scale campaign insisting that
Immigration Canada make women's spaces and services OFF-LIMITS to
Immigration Enforcement. We are writing today to ask for your support. Please
read below, forward and act! Our actions can make immediate change.

(Details of the assembly can be found at http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/435
Here is what the Toronto Star had to say: http://bit.ly/dAeIlT )

The gathering of over a hundred women, with support from hundreds of others calls for:

1) IMMEDIATE ACTION
This FRIDAY, March 12:
Phone or Email Reg Williams, Director of Immigration Enforcement in Toronto
Phone: 905.612.6070
Email: reg.williams@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca, cc shelter.sanctuary.status@gmail.com

Insist that CBSA has no place in anti-violence against women organizations.
A sample of what you can say or write can be found at:
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/436

Forward this call to your friends, family and networks. The more
people/organizations that they hear from, the stronger our message will be!

2) If you are part of an organization that serves or supports migrant women,
transpeople and children, or work in a shelter or anti-violence against women
organization, invite a member of the SSS campaign to talk to you about
Access Without Fear. We can work with you to ensure that your centre is safe
and accessible for all people, regardless of immigration status.

3) Shelters and anti-VAW organizations across the city and across the country
are signing on to a declaration demanding:
-a moratorium on all deportations for women surviving violence
-Immigration Enforcement stay out of shelters and anti-VAW spaces
-women fighting back against violence be given immediate status

The full declaration is available here: http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/432
If you are working in the anti-VAW sector, work with residents and
participants to get your organization to sign on to the declaration.

4) Get involved with the SSS campaign. On March 19, come out to the
SSS: Access Without Fear Forum for front-line workers and service providers
to develop strategies aimed at ensuring access to essential services for people
without full status. Register here: http://bit.ly/9y1Pvo

The Shelter|Sanctuary|Status Coalition is a growing movement of over 120
anti-Violence Against Women organizations that are working to create safe
spaces for all women, regardless of immigration status.

http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/sss
shelter.sanctuary.status@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Montreal Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity (January 29-30, 2010)

Print PDF

Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity
January 29-31, 2010
Centre communautaire de Parc-Extension
419 rue St-Roch (métro Parc)

FREE. Welcome to all!
(No police, no corporate media)
Childcare available on-site.
Not completely wheelchair accessible;
please get in touch with access needs.

Friday, January 29, 6pm-9pm
Saturday, January 30, 10am-9pm
Sunday, January 31, 10am-6pm
---

The Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity is a Montreal-based collaborative effort by grassroots social justice activists and community organizers to create a space that will allow for discussion, sharing experiences, and developing strategies in the on-going struggle to live free of police violence.

The most effective way to combat police harassment, profiling and violence is by building meaningful relationships of solidarity and mutual aid in our various campaigns and struggles. Together, we hope to strengthen our movements against police violence and impunity in the here and now, while simultaneously working towards building a future society without police violence.

WHAT IS THE FORUM?:
http://forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere.wordpress.com/what-is-the-forum
---

The Forum will aim to reach out to various groups of people through different formats, including film screenings, musical & spoken-word performances, hands-on skill-sharing sessions, workshops, panel discussions and testimonials.

The following activities, among others, will take place during the Forum:
- Round-table: No Justice, No Peace -- Why People Leave the Police
- Panel: A people’s history of police repression against social movements in Montreal
- “Know your rights” workshop
- Workshop: “At Risk” Youth: At risk from whom? Police profiling of street youth and youth of colour
- "Rude Awakening": Interactive theatre presentation about police violence against people who use drugs
- Skillshare workshop: Writing our rhymes down
- Panel: Never again! Families speak out against police killings and impunity
- Workshop: The gender of police violence
- Skillshare workshop: Making film
- Skillshare workshop: Stenciling & Wheatpasting 101
- Strategizing session: Taking care of our communities: Justice without Police

For the COMPLETE SCHEDULE visit:
http://forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere.wordpress.com/schedule-january-29-31
---

HOW TO GET INVOLVED?: Endorse the Forum … Promote the Forum … Meet with us … Tell us how you would like to be involved … Contribute ... Volunteer. More details available here: http://forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere.wordpress.com/how-to-get-involved
---

DOWNLOADS: Colour and black&white posters for the Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity are available for download here: http://forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere.wordpress.com/telechargementsdownloads
---

The Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity is endorsed by:
Action Santé Travesti(e)s et Transsexuel(le)s du Québec (ASTTeQ) * Alfie Roberts Institute * Apatrides Anonymes * Artivistic * Centre des femmes d'ici et d'ailleurs * Citizens' Committee of Park Extension * CKUT (90.3FM) * Coalition contre la repression et les abus policiers (CRAP) * Coalition Justice pour Anas * Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP) * Groupe de recherche d'intérêt public de l'UQÀM (GRIP-UQÀM) * Head & Hands * Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) * Jeunesse 2000 * Kabataang Montréal (KM) * McGill Anti-Racist Coalition (MARC) * Missing Justice Collective * Montréal-Nord Républik * Mothers and Grandmothers for Life and Justice * No One Is Illegal-Montreal * Prisoner Correspondence Project * People’s Commission Network * Project X * Q-Team * Quebec Association for the Advocacy and Inclusion of Drug Users (ADDICQ) * Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG)-Concordia * Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG)-McGill * reclaim! (radical environmentalists concerned about the lack of anti-capitalist ideas in the movement) * School of Community and Public Affairs (Concordia) * Solidarity Across Borders * Winnipeg Copwatch

INFO:
forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere@gmail.com
www.forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere.net
514-398-3323

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Behind The Blue Wall: Police Officer Involved Domestic Violence

Print PDF

Just passing on this reference for the blog Behind The Blue Wall, devoted to calling attention to the horrendously high number of women who are beaten by their police officer husbands and boyfriends.

The war has a home front.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

The Cops Look Back at Montebello

Print PDF

A year-and-a-half after the fact, new details have come to light about the cops' activities at the 2007 Montebello protests against George Bush.

As you may recall, police infiltrators at the demo were identified by members of the Black Block, who isolated them with the help of other demonstrators. The faux-protesters had to break through their own police lines and pretend to get arrested (see photo above), all in an attempt to save face while getting away from the demonstrators who had I.D.'ed them. After days of denials, eventually the SQ had to come clean that the people in question, who were spotted wielding rocks, were in fact their own cops.

Now, thanks to research by Francis Dupuis-Déri, police documents have come to light about their operations during the protests, an operation which they dubbed "Flagrant Delit" (trans "Caught In the Act").

Apart from the names of the cops involved, and documents confirming what we all know now, that at least three of them were designated "provocateurs", there are also lessons learned by the cops: apparently, they realize that their disguises weren't great (one of them was wearing a t-shirt defending a right-wing talk radio station), and they looked and smelled like cops. The documents explain that

Minutes from a meeting suggest "modifying the profile of those selected [to infiltrate] so that they can function more efficiently." Mention is made of the "size" of the officers and the absence of women in the infiltration squads. "Improved training and intelligence about the demonstrators' subculture would be appropriate. It is more difficult to melt into a crown if you don't know these things."

So friends, remember this is for real, and they can learn.

Remember too: so can we.

**********

a video of the outing, containment and expulsion of the undercovers has been posted to youtube, you can view it here:

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Quote of the Day: "cops are like doughnuts - they're no good unless they have a hole in the middle"

Print PDF

News today that an armed group is claiming responsibility for attacks on police in Greece:

An unknown Greek group has threatened to indiscriminately kill police officers and expand its target list to include prominent members of society.

The Sect of Revolutionaries issued the warning on a CD left on the grave of a teenager who was shot by police in December, triggering a month of riots.

Police said the declaration, which was published in a Greek newspaper on Thursday, appeared to be genuine.

The group also said it had attacked a police station in Athens on Tuesday.

Shots were fired at the station in the suburb of Korydallos, causing some damage but no injuries. A hand grenade was also thrown, but it failed to explode.

Last month, a policeman was shot and seriously wounded in central Athens. The attack was claimed by another better-known group, Revolutionary Struggle.

'Unlucky'

The proclamation by the Sect of Revolutionaries was published on Thursday morning in the newspaper, Ta Nea, just as a gas bomb exploded outside the political office of the public order ministry.


The cops are like doughnuts - they're no good unless they have a hole in the middle
Sect of Revolutionaries

In it, the group said the armed attack on the police station in Korydallos had been in retaliation for the alleged murder by police of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos.

It claimed its members had been "unlucky" not to kill a police officer during the pre-dawn assault, which many had blamed on Revolutionary Struggle.

"Our aim was to execute them," the statement said. "Next time they will not have luck on their side."

From now on, the group warned, the life of a police officer would be worth as much as a bullet.

"The cops are like doughnuts - they're no good unless they have a hole in the middle," it said. "Start handing in your resignations, otherwise we will start measuring graves."

A police spokesman said it was taking the statement seriously.

"It seems to be genuine," Panayiotis Stathis told the Associated Press. "It's a group that has not appeared before but the methodology seems to be the same as that of Revolutionary Struggle."

Police protests

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the desire for vengeance on behalf of the Sect of Revolutionaries and Revolutionary Struggle is worrying the police unions.

Greek police protest against attacks (15 January 2009)
Greek police have protested against the repeated attacks of recent months

They have held demonstrations protesting against the violence, saying there are human beings behind the uniforms who are just as poorly paid as the average Greek.

Our correspondent says the militant groups appear to be modelling themselves on European urban guerrilla organisations from the 1970s, such as the German Red Army Faction.

The Sect of Revolutionaries also warned that prominent Greeks, including capitalists, state functionaries and journalists, would be targeted soon.

After three serious attacks on police in the past 40 days, officers are becoming stressed and understandably nervous, our correspondent adds.

On Wednesday, a policeman working near the US embassy shot and seriously injured a guard outside the ambassador's residence. The officer is reported to have claimed that he thought he was going to be shot.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Targetting of Anti-Olympics Movement: What To Do When Police & Spies Come Knocking

Print PDF

Since 2007, police & intelligence agencies have targetted anti-2010 Olympics opposition as a 'security threat' to the Games. This has included media articles based on reports from CSIS and police specifically mentioning Indigenous and other social movements in Vancouver. Police have publicly stated their need to increase surveillance of anti-2010 resistance.


Beginning in 2008, CSIS and police also began attempts to recruit informants and gather information through interviews with people organizing anti-2010 resistance, or with people indirectly associated with our movement.


==> Agencies Involved

The following are the main agencies involved in surveillance & attempts to conduct interviews/recruit informants:

1) CSIS- the Canadian Security & Intelligence Service is Canada's main spy agency and is under the authority of the Ministry of Public Safety. It was formed in 1984 to seperate intelligence gathering from law enforcement after it was revealed that the RCMP had carried out violent and illegal campaigns against social movements in the 1970s. Unlike the police, CSIS agents have no powers to arrest; they gather & analyze intelligence and share this with government and police agencies. Like police, however, CSIS may conduct surveillance, recruit informants and infiltrate agents into groups.

2) RCMP VISU- the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are a national police force and are the main agency responsible for security during the 2010 Olympics. To carry this out, they have organized the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU), which coordinates the security activities of CSIS, the Canadian Forces, police, border control, coast guard, and other emergency services. The RCMP also has its own intelligence department (National Security Criminal Investigations) and is the lead agency for the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET), which includes police, intelligence, and border control. INSET has offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

3) VPD- the Vancouver Police Department works in coordination with the RCMP VISU. The main officers involved in interview attempts have been those with the Aboriginal Liason unit of the VPD. Like other police departments, the VPD also has its own intelligence unit (the Criminal Intelligence Section, which is part of the RCMP's INSET).


==> Method

The agent or officer(s) may approach a person through either telephone or in person (i.e., appearing at a workplace or residence). They identify themselves and ask for an opportunity to meet with the person in order to learn their opinions or concerns about the 2010 Olympics.


==> Who Could Be Contacted:

Security agencies cast a wide net when collecting intelligence. Often times it is because someone is active in the particular movement being targetted, but not always. It includes situations where it is believed that divisions may be exploited (between individuals/groups), to discourage people from becoming more active (intimidation), or when a person has a close relationship with the target of surveillance (including family). Sometimes, agents have no idea how a person might respond to an interview request and take a chance they'll co-operate. They often request that people keep quiet about their intelligence gathering efforts.

For these reasons, it's a good idea to contact others and let them know if you've been approached by either police or intelligence agents.


==> What to Do:

If you are contacted by either CSIS or police for an interview, the best response is to just say “No.”

You are under no legal obligation to talk with either CSIS or the police (this also applies if you happen to be arrested and they want to talk to you then). Nor can CSIS or police enter your residence (unless they have a warrant) or detain you (unless you are under arrest).

It is a good idea to document any contact or harassment by CSIS or police and to let others know as soon as possible.

Write down

• details of the incident and any comments made by the agent/officer(s).
• get the agents/officers names and contact information (you can ask for a business card).
• If possible, get a photo of the agent/officer(s) with a camera or cell phone (or write a description of what they looked like).
• Send this info to the Olympic Resistance Network so that others can be made aware.

==> What NOT to Do:

Some people think it might be fun or “interesting” to meet with CSIS or police, to play 'Spy Vs. Spy'. This is a bad idea. Intelligence agents are trained in interrogation techniques. They may have years of experience and interrogated hundreds of people. In addition, they may have large amounts of intelligence at their disposal, based on extensive surveillance of our movements and communities. You don't know what they know or don't know. A seemingly minor detail, or even a certain response to a question, could reveal more than you think.

Not only are these agencies seeking info to certain 'criminal acts', they are also gathering psychological profiles of people. When it comes to dealing with state intelligence and police agencies, where information provided could target individuals or groups for repression, this is a dangerous game to play.

That's why the best response is to say No and alert others!

Contact individuals you know that are involved in the anti-olympics movement or contact Olympics Resistance Network (olympicresistance@riseup.net). We are happy to meet in person and your privacy and wishes will be respected.

For more information on anti-Olympics resistance, email olympicresistance@riseup.net or visit http://www.no2010.com/

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Trashing Police Cars in Quebec: In Praise of Fog

Print PDF

Check out the following nice tidbit from the Journal de Montreal, translated by yours truly.

Funny how they fail to mention the most high profile attacks over the past two years, the police cars torched in Montreal's East End by the allegedly anarchist Ton Pere Collective in March of this year.

You also HAVE to be trying to leave people confused and ignorant to talk about attacks on police without mentioning the anti-police riot after cops killed the teenager Fredy Villanueva and shot two of his friends in Montreal North earlier this year.

Yeah, these are "senseless acts", no one has any reason to hate the cops, just plain "mischief"...

Also not mentioned is the fact that someone planted a nail bomb just outside of Quebec Provincial Police headquarters in Sherbrooke two weeks ago - according to the cops, it has "points in common" with a bomb that blew up a police car in Sherbrooke almost two years ago. While there too the cops say they are "following leads", they also specifically have ruled out the bombs being the work of the Hells Angels, the reactionary biker outfit which is firmly based in Sherbrooke.

Hmmm... makes you wonder...

Here's the article from today's Journal de Montreal:

Vandals Damage Three Police Cars

Jean-Michel Nahas
16/11/2008

Vandals took advantage of the dark and fog Friday night to break the windows of three police cars in Repentigny.

The mischief has shaken the municipal safety in this city in Lanaudiere which already had to deal with similar crimes in the winter of 2007.

"For us, it is an attack against a symbol," stated Lieutenant François-Steve Sauvé.

Attacks on vehicles belonging to the forces of law and order have been occurring with much greater frequency these past months. Police cars in Sherbrooke and Montreal were recently targeted by troublemakers.

Fog

In Repentigny, it was morning when officers noticed their vehicles had been damaged, when the thick fog began to thin and lift.

The suspects hit in the middle of the night. They broke the windows of three different vehicles, probably with a snow shovel found of the roof of one of the damaged cars.

A fourth police car was also attacked, but its windows resisted being hit repeatedly.

Those responsible are still at large.

"We already have some very important leads," stated Lieutenant Sauvé, refusing to say any more in order to not hamper the investigation.

In January 2007, five young people aged between 16 and 19 were arrested after having set several police cars on fire in Repentigny.

Elsewhere in Quebec

Elsewhere, in Sherbrooke, last July two thirteen year olds were caught after trashing 21 police cars belonging the Quebec Provincial Police.

Last May, Lonny James Erickson, a Montreal scientist who had a grudge against the authorities, set an SPVM police car on fire.

Also remember that many Montreal police cars were vandalized during a violent riot that followed the victory of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team last April.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Tyendinaga Resists Police

Print PDF

From the Belleville Intelligencer:

Protesters set up roadblock in anticipation of new police building
Building was to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday
Posted By By Stephen Petrick

TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY — A group of native demonstrators set up a roadblock here Tuesday to prevent the arrival of a controversial police station believed to be on its way.

But the status of the building, already put together by a Grimsby, Ont. modular building company, was unclear Tuesday night, as Mohawk officials released no details on the plan.

"I couldn't tell you what the administrative arrangements are," Mohawk Chief R. Donald Maracle said from his home Tuesday evening. "It could come tonight. It could come tomorrow, I don't know."

Ron Maracle, Chief of Tyendinaga Mohawk Police Services, declined an interview when approached at the York Road site where the building was to be erected. He also wouldn't say when the building was to arrive.

"I can't divulge that information. It's a public safety issue," he said.

But a group of demonstrators believed the building was scheduled to arrive at 5 p.m. Tuesday. At that time, a number of cars descended on the site, just west of Quinte Mohawk School.

About a dozen young woman got out and gathered at the entrance, as officers from the Mohawk police force videotaped them.

The group lit a fire and stayed as the sun went down. It was a peaceful protest and no arrests were made.

None of the woman who gathered at the entrance would speak to The Intelligencer.

Some protesters were stationed at the entrance to a quarry on Clarence Road and Highway 2 before heading out to the police station site.

While there, Tyendinaga activist Dan Doreen said the group was opposing band council's decision to prioritize a police station when there are a myriad of other issue plaguing the First Nations community.

Doreen said the demonstrations he and others have been taking part in over the past few years were to address the need to settle land claims and improve access to safe drinking water.

And "the first time the government opens their wallet is to hand us a cop shop. What does that say to our youth? They go to council and ask for a youth centre and what do they get? A young offenders cell."

The group was calling on the band to ban blasting practices at the quarry because they believe it is leading to contaminated wells. That's a serious issue, they said, because most residents in the territory rely on wells for drinking water.

"If you go into our public school they have bags over the fountains," Doreen said. "It's a mechanical fix and they bring in a f---ing police station."

The police station, intended to allow Tyendinaga Mohawk Police services to expand from eight to 11 officers, has been contested for months.

The $1.9-million project is being funded with $980,000 of band money, with the rest coming from the federal and provincial governments.

It was originally scheduled for arrival last month, but a similar protest took place Sept. 23, forcing the band council to store it with the manufacturer.

But the chief said band council is still adamant about having it arrive soon, pointing out that delay in installation has already cost the band an extra $21,000 in storage, loading and transportation fees.

"I don't want to predict what will happen," he said. "Maybe the people are conducting a peaceful protest and will voice their opposition to it. But the council has thought about all the ramifications involved with it."

While he said he disagrees with protesters' charges that band council didn't sufficiently consult the community, he acknowledged the band does need to address the drinking water issue.

He said at a briefing Tuesday, council discussed studying the impact that blasting has on well water.

"Council is waiting for information on what is required in an environmental assessment for a quarry operation," he said.

The following information was sent out on the internet yesterday by members of the Tyendinaga community:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28th, 2008
Press Release from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

TYENDINAGA MOHAWKS BRACE FOR ARRIVAL OF POLICE STATION:
Police Chief Prepared to Use Force

(October 28, 2008) Tensions are running high today on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory today as residents anticipate the arrival of a highly controversial second police station. Some reports suggest the building could arrive as early as this afternoon. Police Chief Ron Maracle has warned that he is prepared to use force to bring the building into the community.

Residents have expressed concern over Council's apparent prioritizing of a second police station for the small community over issues such as unsafe drinking water throughout community homes and at the reserve school, where the water was declared unfit for human consumption some 19 months ago.

The matter of the police building had previously come to the forefront when, in the lead-up to its arrival, an agreement was reached on the implementation of a community consultation process. Council subsequently rescinded the motion calling for such a process and now says the building will go forward without community consultation.

-------------------------

What You Can Do:

The community has asked that outside supporters contact the Band Council and respectfully express your concerns that community consultation take place, before the police station is brought to Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, against the wishes of community meetings and discussions that have taken place so far.

Suggested Phone Call Script:

I am calling to express my concern at the impending arrival of a new police station in Tyendinaga.

We recognize that this initiative is partially funded by Canada's Ministry of Public Safety, headed by Stockwell Day. However, we have been informed by community members that there is a great deal of community concern over the lack of consultation by Band Council. Please take the time to consult.

Please hold off on the immediate implementation of a $2 million police station, while the community's concerns about clean drinking water and the Culbertson Tract Land Claim remain unresolved. We are asking that you take the time to consult properly.

Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Band Council Office
TELEPHONE: 613-396-3424
EMAIL: reception@mbq-tmt-org
FAX: 613-396-3627

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BACKGROUND:

A month ago, on September 24th, 2008, a new police building was put on hold after community members blockaded the intended site of the building. The building is a 4,635-square-foot building shipped from a Hamilton-area manufacturer and intended to be placed on York Road, just west of Quinte Mohawk School.

The Band Council in Tyendinaga put up half the money ($1 million), while the Ministry of Public Safety and Security put up the other half of the funding.

The band council made plans for this roughly $1.9-million facility, even though the money could have been spent to address the lack of safe water in the territory and poor housing conditions. "You have kids in the school out there without water," said Evelyn Turcotte to the Intelligencer, pointing to Quinte Mohawk School. "There are housing issues and mold issues."

"Our people never sanctified it, ratified it or condoned it," Bryan Isaacs told The Intelligencer from just outside the site last month.

"There's no one in favour in our group because we were never consulted."

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Jean-Pierre Lizotte Remembered

Print PDF

Jean-Pierre Lizotte

From today's Montreal Gazette, an excellent op ed piece by No One Is Illegal member Jaggi Singh, about the 1999 police murder of Jean-Pierre Lizotte, a homeless PWA, in the trendy Plateau Montreal neighbourhood:

The ‘poet of Bordeaux’ spent many years in prison, but he possessed a simple dignity

Lawyer Michael Stober takes offence at a Gazette report on the death of Jean-Pierre Lizotte in 1999. In his Gazette opinion piece (“Police were not responsible in the death of homeless man,” Sept. 12) Stober, lawyer for Montreal police constable Giovanni Stante, writes that the report gives the “false impression that Lizotte was a victim of police brutality.”

Stober reiterates that Stante was acquitted by a jury in 2002, and cleared by the Police Ethics Tribunal for inappropriate use of force just last month. These are cold, hard facts.

Stante stands acquitted, but it’s still completely valid, and necessary, to question the actions of the Montreal police, despite the police procedures that apparently allow for the punching of an unarmed man held by someone else. One simple fact that readers should consider: Police did not reveal Jean-Pierre Lizotte’s death in 1999 to the public until 53 days later.

There is one witness to the events on the early morning of Sept. 5, 1999, outside the Shed Café on St. Laurent Bvld. who will never get to tell his side, and that’s Jean-Pierre Lizotte himself. Lizotte died following the substantial injuries he suffered that fateful night.

While vigilantly defending Stante almost a decade after the incident, Stober goes on to cite Lizotte’s extensive criminal record. Dead men tell no tales, as the saying goes.

But, fortunately, despite two decades in and out of prison, this particular dead man had a lot to say, and he said it poignantly and insightfully. Jean- Pierre Lizotte deserves his voice, too, as much as Stante has his voice through his lawyer’s skillful advocacy.

Thanks to a remarkable radio program called Souverains anonymes, which encouraged the creative side of prisoners at Bordeaux, we still have a record of many of Lizotte’s words.

After learning of his death, the producers of Souverains Anonymes recalled something Lizotte wrote to Abla Farhoud – a Quebec playwright, writer and actress, originally from Lebanon – who had participated in one show at the Bordeaux prison. Lizotte was responding to the words of the main character of Farhoud’s novel, Le bonheur a la queue glissante, who observed, “My country is that place where my children are happy.”

Lizotte’s response to Farhoud is moving, as he seeks common ground while reflecting on his own life. It’s worth citing in full:

“Hello Abla, my name is J-P Lizotte. For the 21 years that I’ve been returning inside, prison has become my country. When I leave it, I become an immigrant! I experience all that an immigrant might experience when they miss their country of origin. When I’m inside, I want to leave. And when I’m outside, I miss the inside. Sometimes I say to myself, ‘If I had a grandmother or a grandfather, things would have been different for me.’ But how can you have a grandmother when you’ve hardly had either a mother or father. The memories that I have make me cry, so I won’t tell them to you. But, a grandmother, like the one in your novel, is not given to everyone. So, I say to everyone who has a grandmother or grandfather, take advantage of it. Thanks.”

(The French text of Lizotte’s note and other writings are available at: http://www.souverains.qc.ca/recidivi.html)

His fellow prisoners dubbed Lizotte the “Poet of Bordeaux,” and he wrote prolifically. His poems, in a rhyming and often humourous style, address deeply personal themes: his difficult childhood, his lack of a caring mother, his father’s alcoholism, depression, his HIV-positive status, his drug problems, along with subjects like music, prison and revolt. He even wrote an unpublished memoir about his itinerant life titled, Voler par amour, pleurer en silence.

Clearly, there are underlying and understandable reasons why Lizotte was in and out of prison for more than two decades, beyond the list of criminal offences that Stante’s lawyer provides, without context.

Lizotte lived a harsh reality, right from his childhood, as he shared in his poems and writings with simple honesty.

On Sept. 5, 1999, on a trendy and expensive part of St. Laurent Blvd., Lizotte’s reality came up against the contrasting reality of restaurant patrons, bouncers and police officers. Lizotte was allegedly causing some sort of disturbance, and he had to be restrained in a full-nelson hold and punched at least twice, according to Stante’s own testimony. (Some witnesses claim that Lizotte was punched “repeatedly” and excessively.) Witnesses said there was a pool of blood left at the scene. One witness referred to Lizotte being thrown into a police van “like a sack of potatoes.”

Stante was duly acquitted by a jury in 2002. Police officers are often acquitted – on the rare occasions that they’re charged – within a criminal-justice system that appropriately demands proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” before conviction.

But, what if there were a video of what happened outside the Shed Café in 1999, instead of the imperfect and contradictory memories of witnesses at 2:30 in the morning? What if JeanPierre Lizotte were present in the courtroom, in a wheelchair and paralyzed, in front of the jury’s own eyes?

At Stante’s trial and again in The Gazette’s pages, Stante’s lawyer put a dead man who can’t defend himself on trial. Lizotte openly acknowledged who he was. What’s unfortunate is to continue denying Jean-Pierre Lizotte – the homeless “criminal” – his full humanity and dignity, because he possessed both in such stunning abundance.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Demonstration Against Police Abuse in Montreal North

Print PDF

Demonstration in Montreal North!
A Call to Mobilize!
The Breach Has Been Opened in Montreal-North!

Montreal-North is burning. After the murder of Fredy Villenueva by the Montreal Police (SPVM), and the riots which broke out to express the people's anger, the community of Montreal-North remains angry. The time has come to organize a social and political offensive against the local elites who are trying to cover up this state of affairs.

Montréal-Nord Republik (Montreal North Republik) is a new voice in the neighbourhood. It intends to put forward another view of the recent events around the death of Fredy Villanueva and the riots which took place in Montreal North. The group also intends to dispute the dominant discourse which is insinuating that the rioters and protesters are just apolitical hooligans. Montréal-Nord Republik hopes to bring together the neighbourhood community along with all the population of Montreal in order to denounce police repression as well as economic, social, cultural and political oppression.

The MONTRÉAL-NORD RÉPUBLIK movement is struggling for justice following the murder of Fredy Villanueva. We have five demands:

1 THE IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF THE MAYOR OF MONTREAL-NORTH, Mr. MARCEL PARENT, who has stated that "Everything is going well in Montreal-North, there is no problem here. I never saw this coming."

2. A PUBLIC AND INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INTO THE DEATH OF FREDY VILLANUEVA.

3. AN END TO ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR BY THE POLICE (intimidation, harassment, racial profiling, abusive arrests, etc.)

4. A WORK prodced by neighbourhood artists and supported by the borough to keep the memory of Fredy alive.

5. A RECOGNITION of the principle that as long as there is economic insecurity, there will be social insecurity.

A DEMONSTRATION IS PLANNED THE EVENING OF THIS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20TH, AT 6PM, IN FRONT OF THE MONTREAL-NORTH CITY HALL (11 155, rue Hébert, corner
Charleroi). WE WILL SUBMIT OUR DEMANDS DURING THE MEETING OF THE BOROUGH COUNCIL WHICH TAKES PLACE AT 7PM. All those in solidarity with Fredy and with our demands are invited to come demonstrate.

HOW TO GET THERE: FROM METRO HENRI-BOURASSA, TAKE THE 48, 49,
69 OR 89 GOING EAST TO GARON. FROM MÉTRO PIE-IX, TAKE THE
139 UNTIL CHARLEROI. CHARLEROI IS TWO STREETS SOUTH OF HENRI-BOURASSA AND RUE HÉBERT TWO STREETS EAST OF PIE-IX.

For all information, please communicate with us via the following email address and let us know how to reach you, we will do so quickly:

Email: mtlnord.republik@gmail.com

Website: www.montrealnordrepublik.blogspot.com

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Man Arrested Torching a Montreal Police Car

Print PDF

The Canadian Press and Info690 are reporting a man was caught setting fire to a police car in Montreal's east end last night. It seems unclear whether or not this is connected to the attack on police cars which took place in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve a couple of months back.

Here is a translation of the Canadian Press article, by yours truly:

A Suspect is Arrested After Setting Fire to a Montreal Police Car

Montreal - A forty year old man is in custody after having been surprised by a police officer as he set fire to a Montreal Police Department squad car last night, in the city's east end.

The vehicle was damaged. It was parked in an area next to Station 35 on Belanger Street East.

Realizing he had been spotted, around 12:25am, the arsonist fled but was quickly captured by police officers. He did not resist arrest. It has not yet been determined if the individual has a criminal record.

At the moment, the Montreal Police Department is unable to establish any link between this attack and the arson of six police cars in mid-March, outside Station 23, on the corner of Hochelaga Street and Bennett Street, in the city's east end. The six vehicles were heavily damaged.

This time, surveillance cameras captured images of the events.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Montreal Police attack Anti-Capitalist May Day Demonstration

Print PDF

Yesterday a demonstration organized by a number of radical left organizations, including anarchists and Marxist-Leninist and others, was attacked by police in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a predominantly working class Quebecois neighbourhood in east Montreal.

As can be read below, neo-nazis were used to provoke a minor incident, which was then used as a pretext by the police to attack the march. This is not the first time neo-nazis have attacked members of the radical left in the area, nor is it the first time some of us have wondered at their relationship with the local police.

The communique from the Anti-Capitalist May Day Liaison Committee is reproduced here, translation courtesy of yours truly:

Comrades and Friends,
Here is a communiqué which will be sent out to the media throughout the day, to follow up on yesterday evening’s events in Montreal, where the police brutally attacked the May Day demonstration. At least three people were arrested, one of them is to appear in court this afternoon (Friday), though we do not yet know what charges they are facing.

The groups who organized the anti-capitalist May Day demonstration will meet early next week to review the event. In the meantime, we are asking for your solidarity. Please send any information you may have regarding the Montreal Police Department’s attack, the arrests, people who were injured (including photos and videos) to: 1erMai2008@gmail.com.

Thank you everyone, in solidarity!

The liaison committee

P.S. A video is already up at www.revolutionseulesolution.org.


Communiqué - For Immediate Release

Montreal : the Police Attack an Anti-Capitalist Demonstration

(Montreal, May 2, 2008) In a brutal and unjustified intervention, last night the Montreal police attacked the anti-capitalist May Day demonstration, on international workers’ day. Organized by twenty collectives and social, community and political groups (see list below), the demonstration brought out 800 people in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood – one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada, where people suffer the heaviest exploitation.

All day, Place Valois, on the corner of Ontario and Valois streets, was occupied by militants from the BAILS committee [trans. note: in French, “bail” means lease], who denounced the gentrification going on in the neighbourhood, the rent hikes and the more and more difficult conditions people in the neighbourhood are facing. Around 5pm, Place Valois was filled for a community supper, some entertainment and some speeches. It was a festive atmosphere, and many people from the neighbourhood were present, workers of all ages, whole families with their children. This was in striking contrast with the aggressive atmosphere which reigned amongst the police, who were already there in great numbers, and who seemed to be looking for any excuse to ban the demonstration. At least two superior officers from the Montreal Police Department (SPVM) were on the scene with their megaphones, ready to decree that it was an “illegal gathering”, even though nothing illegal had taken place and the participants simply wanted to exercise their right to demonstrate, as officially recognized by Canadian law.

Around 6:30pm, the demonstration began heading west along Ontario. It was a lively march, the crowd was shouting out slogans and many onlookers came to join and find out why people were demonstrating.

Suddenly, two people who are well known in the neighbourhood as neo-nazi militants appeared around a corner, decked out in all their gear, to heckle the demonstrators, in what appeared to be a clear provocation. Quick on their toes, some demonstrators went up to them to let them know that their presence was not appropriate, and that it would be better for them if they got lost. A dozen SPVM officers on bicycles were present beside the hecklers when they appeared but did nothing to separate them from the demonstrators.

After this incident, it took only a few minutes for hordes of riot police to circle the demonstration; then, without warning, they attacked the demonstrators, using their clubs and pepper spray. Remember that the crowd included a good number of families, children and elderly people, as the SPVM officers present at the rally had seen for themselves. The demonstrators attempted to regroup to defend the rally. Some of them succeeded in continuing the demonstration through nearby streets and to make their way to Papineau metro, where the demonstration ended.

The liaison committee of the anti-capitalist May Day demonstration vigorously protests this latest attack by the SPVM, an attack on democratic freedoms. We wish specifically to refute the SPVM’s claim that they intervened because “fights had broken out between demonstrators”. The truth is that there was no “fight” inside the demonstration; on the contrary, there was a festive atmosphere, full of solidarity, in the spirit of May Day. As we have explained, the incident which occurred was caused by two provocateurs who had nothing to do with the demonstration. That the police preferred to use this incident as an excuse to attack and break up a legitimate demonstration instead of simply neutralizing these provocateurs says a lot about what they had decided right from the start: for them, the anti-capitalist demonstrators do not have any civil rights and it is up to them to decide if the political views of this or that demonstration are worthy of being heard. It certainly seems that the champions of the police state who are in charge of the SPVM are more interested in “neutralizing” the anti-capitalists than in taking care of the neo-nazis who are making trouble in working class neighbourhoods.

We also protest the fact that the police carried out at least three arrests; one of the people arrested will appear in court this afternoon (Friday), though we do not yet know what charges they are facing. We demand their immediate and unconditional release.

If it wasn’t for this illegal, unjustified and brutal attack by the SPVM, the anti-capitalist May Day demonstration would have been a great success. The enthusiasm of the 800 or so participants made it one of the most important anti-capitalist rallies in Montreal over the past five years. Now these anti-capitalist militants will be joined by all those who defend the right to demonstrate and democratic freedoms and refuse to live in a state where the cops do as they please.

- 30 -

For more : 1erMai2008@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

[Montréal] Pour les ArretéEs du 15 mars

Print PDF

Le message suivant s'adresse à celes et ceux qui ont été arretéEs il y a quelques semaines lors du manif de COBP à Montréal:

Le 15 mars 2008, lors de la 12 journée internationale contre la brutalité policière, une quarantaine d’arrestations ont eu lieu. Le Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière cherche actuellement à joindre les personnes qui auraient reçues des accusations criminelles ou des contraventions afin de les épauler dans les démarches judiciaires qui vont s’en suivre.

Si j’ai recu une contravention, que dois-je faire?

La contestation de la contravention doit se faire dans les 30 jours qui suivent sa réception.

Pour contester la contravention, on doit inscrire un plaidoyer de non-culpabilité à l'arrière du constat d'infraction. Important : NE PAS EXPLIQUER LES RAISONS DE SON PLAIDOYER. Car vous pourriez ainsi dévoiler votre stratégie de défense à la poursuite, ce que vousn'êtes aucunement obligé de faire et ce qui pourrait même être potentiellement préjudiciable à votre cause. À la même occasion, il est suggéré d'écrire que l'on voudrait obtenir la preuve en lien avec le constat.

Le constat doit ensuite être envoyé à la Cour municipale soit par courrier recommandé ou en personne. (775 rue Gosford, Montréal (Québec) H2Y 3B9, à côté du métro Champ-de-Mars) Il est important de conserver une copie du constat d'infraction et une preuve de sa contestation.

Après un certain temps, on reçoit un avis d'audition. Il faut alors se présenter en cour à la date prévue. Sinon, l'on sera reconnu coupable par défaut. Nous vous suggérons de nous tenir informer de vos démarches, spécialement des dates d’audition en nous contactant cobp@hotmail.com 514-395-9691

Si l'on n'a pas reçu le constat d'infraction, il peut quand même avoir été émis. Il faut faire la vérification à la Cour municipale.

Si l'on choisit de ne pas contester la contravention, il faut payer rapidement. Même si l'on oublie son ticket, le ticket ne nous oublie pas. Avec le temps, le montant à payer va augmenter.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

[Montreal] For Those Arrested on March 15

Print PDF

The following notice has been put out, for those who were arrested in Montreal at the COBP demonstration a few weeks ago:

On March 15, 2008, forty-seven people were arrested during the 12th International day against police brutality. The Collective opposed to police brutality is still currently trying to get in touch with all of the people who were charged with a criminal offence or who had received municipal ticket in order to give all possible legal assistance during the court process that will ensue.

If I've received a ticket, what shall I do then ?

To contest a ticket, you must file a non-guilty plea at the back of the ticket. Important: DO NOT EXPLAIN THE REASONS OF YOUR PLEA, as it might put you in the position of disclosing your own defence to the prosecution, which you have no obligation to do and might potentially cause you prejudice. At the same time, we're suggesting that you be using this opportunity to ask for the disclosure of all evidence that the prosecution might be using against you.

After that, you must send your ticket with your written plea on it, either by registered mail or in person, to the Montreal municipal court , (775 Gosford street, Montreal (Quebec) H2Y 3B9, near Champ-de-Mars subway station). Its important you keep a copy of the ticket itself and even better if you're able to have evidence that you communicated your plea.

After a while, you will receive a court date. You must then show up in court at the given date. Failure to so could mean that a guilty verdict will render against you. We suggest that you keep us informed of any developpement related to the court follow-up, especially the court dates, by contacting us at :cobp@hotmail.com , or leaving us a message at 514-395-9691.

If you've been arrested but haven't receive a ticket, its still possible that a ticket was issued against you. The best way to know get to the bottom of it is you go check it out yourself at the Montreal municipal court.

If you choose not to contest your ticket, its strongly recommended that you pay the fine as soon as possible. Even if you forget about the ticket, chances are the court system won't forget you. As time pass by, the fine will only grow bigger.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Montreal Police Seize Computers in Hunt for Your Father, Your Uncle and Your Dog

Print PDF

La Presse and the Montreal Gazette each carried articles today about the three low-level actions carried out in Montreal's working class Hochelaga Maisonneuve neighbourhood over the past week.

Remember everyone: Play safe. Don't talk to the cops. Don't guess who is doing what. Don't ask questions none of us need to know the answers to.

And please, don't send me any communiques, i'm fine finding them online myself.

To read the communiques from the past weeks action:

• night of March 13/March 14: Six police cars torched by Collectif Ton Pere (Your Father collective)
• night of March 15/March 16: National Bank ATMs torched by Collectif Ton Oncle (Your Uncle Collective)
• night of March 17/March 18: two Bell Canada vans have their tire slashed, as do cars at a Mazda dealership, by Your Dog
  

Here is the La Presse article, translated by yours truly. Below one can find the Gazette article.

Anarchist Groups: a web host's computers are seized

Caroline Touzin
La Presse

Montreal police raided a web host in Montreal on Tuesday night to identify who was behind the recent crimes claimed by anarchist groups in the Hochelaga-Maisoneeuve neighbourhoud, Le Presse has learned.

Four police officers arrived, with a search warrant, at Koumbit, a non-profit organization which offers computer services to forty or so Quebec community associations and organizations. Koumbit hosts the Centre des médias alternatifs du Québec (CMAQ). This group distributed messages from the Your father, Your Uncle and YOUr Dog collectives, which claims reponsibility for (respectively) the setting on fire of six police cars, of automatic tellers as well as vandalism at a car sales lot.

The warrant authorized police to seize all computers on the premises and also stipulated that the organization hand over its "logs" to investigators, as well as as much information as possible about the four articles published on CMAQ. "Koumbit believes that such a warrant is problematic. The normal course of justice should not cause undue damage to businesses and organizations which are heavily dependent on the means of communication that we offer them, nor should it silence online media such as blogs or public forums," emphasized the organization in a press release it issued last night. Koumbit also provided three lines of its "logs", which are records of events which document visits to websites. A log normally contains the visitors address, the time they visited, the page visited as well as the kind of browser used.

The police, for its part, refused to comment on this information. "Those who commit crimes do not need added publicity. We refuse to discuss our investigation strategy," said sergeant Ian Lafrenière, of the Montreal police.

A member of the CMAQ collective, Martin Deshaies, feels that the police are "exaggerating." The CMAQ defines itself as a response to the mainstream media inspired by the international independent media network Indymedia. The site agreed to publish the communiqués as it has a principle of free publication, specified Mr Deshaies. "In the 1970s, the Front de libération du Québec send its communiqués to the mass media. The media reprinted them without necessarily agreeing with their message. It is the same thing with us today," explained Mr Deshaies.

A Worrisome Sentence

The CMAQ has an editorial policy that a message's contents cannot be defamatory. For this reason the CMAQ had removed a sentence from the Your Father Collective about the burnt police cars. "One sentence went too far," explained another member of CMAQ, Michaël Lessard. This censored sentence was inviting people to burn "the hotels and houses of capitalists." Mr Lessard also warned people not to be too hasty in assuming who was behind these messafes. "Watch out before you conclude that they are anarchists. These kinds of arguments can also be made by many far left groups or by young people who are angry about injustice." In the past CMAQ has received other requests from the police and even a court order to remove certain claims about the police from its site. Requests that the CMAQ did not answer.

The Montreal Gazette similarly had an article today about the police investigation:

Anarchists suspected in vandal attacks

MAX HARROLD, The Gazette

Montreal police are blaming local anarchists for three recent acts of vandalism, but some familiar with the multi-faceted movement say: "Not so fast."

The incidents - all in the east end - include the slashing of 43 tires on cars at a Mazda dealership Tuesday, fires in three National Bank ATMs on Ontario St. on Sunday and the firebombing of six patrol cars at police Station 23 last Friday.

Total damage is estimated to be about $50,000, police said.

The Collectif Ton Oncle, Collectif Ton Père and someone called Ton Chien posted claims of responsibility on an alternative media website, Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafrenière said yesterday.

"They're not just attacking the police," Lafrenière said. "They're attacking our way of life here in Montreal."

Francis Dupuis-Déry, a political science professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, said it might be hasty for the police to blame anyone simply based on the Internet postings.

"One person could have committed these acts," Dupuis-Déry said, and anyone could have posted the claims online.

And anarchists, despite the disorganization that is implied, actually do a lot together, he said.

One of the postings said those targeted at the car dealership were "not citizens. They're not living with recurring debt (and) with rents increasing because of real estate developments and gentrification. They're not living under constant threat of eviction, or with having to make the choice of feeding their children or paying their bills."

Stefan Christoff, 25, a community organizer and anarchist, said: "I have no clue who did those (acts of vandalism). What's more important is social injustice and poverty. That's violence."

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Shows, Workshops and Protests against police brutality, from March 7-15, 2008!

Print PDF

Please forward and come in great numbers!

FRIDAY MARCH 7, 2008 :

PUNK SHOW AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

8PM at Katacombes (1222 St-Laurent) donation 5-10$

with : Joyfull Bullets, Tempete, Brasse Camarades, CFC + Videos (March 15, and Resistance at CEGEP du Vieux-Montreal)


SATURDAY MARCH 8, 2008 :

PROTEST FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Noon at the corner of Queen-Mary and Decelles (CDN metro)

Against deportations and detentions, gender violence, police brutality, criminalization, poverty, precarious status, racial profiling, sexist and racist immigration policies and war.


TUESDAY MARCH 11, 2008 :

WORSHOPS ON OUR RIGHTS AND RECOURSES AGAINST POLICE ABUSE

7PM at 1710 Beaudry (Beaudry metro)

What are our rights, who to contest a ticket, how and why file a complaint in police ethics.


WEDNESDAY MARCH 12, 2008 :

WORKSHOP ON RESISTANCE AGAINST SOCIAL CLEANSING

7PM at 1710 Beaudry (Beaudry metro)

State of the situation, criminalization of homeless people as a tool of social control, resistance by and for the marginals.


WEDNESDAY MARCH 13, 2008 :

WORKSHOP ON COPWATCH

7PM at 1710 Beaudry (Beaudry metro)

Examples of patrols of surveillance of the cops around the world, positive and negative impacts of copwatch.


SATURDAY MARCH 15, 2008 :

DEMO FOR THE 12th INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY!

3PM at Berri Square (Berri metro)

Against police killings, impunity, social cleansing, racial profiling, colonialism and political repression!

Read the callout for March 15, 2008 : http://www.cmaq.net/en/node/29249


For more information:

The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP)

cobp@hotmail.com 514-395-9691 http://cobp-mtl.ath.cx/

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Racial Profiling in St-Michel: Cops Get Their Wrists Slapped

Print PDF

From today's Gazette:

$20,000 QUESTION ARE COPS TARGETING TEENS OF COLOUR?
‘ We did not profile because of race,’ police say
IRWIN BLOCK THE GAZETTE
On a steamy August night in 2003, 13-yearold Jonas Cassey, his brother Henri, 16, and four teenage friends were sitting on a low metal fence and chatting.

The three males and three females, all black, felt at ease, as most were in front of the St. Michel walk-up where they lived.

Suddenly, two Montreal police officers asked them to get off the fence because they were obstructing pedestrian movement and risked falling, the youths said.

When they refused, the boys – but not the girls – were each given $85 tickets for “using municipal property for a purpose other than that for which it is designed.”

This was a case of racial profiling, the Quebec Human Rights Commission said yesterday.

The commission recommended the city of Montreal pay $10,000 each in moral and punitive damages to Jonas Cassey, who at 13 was a year too young to be fined.

It suggested the city pay the same amount to his brother Henri and their friend Fritznol François, who was 16.

In fact, the housing unit in working-class St. Michel, home to many people with roots in Haiti, North Africa or Latin America, is considered private property because it belongs to the para-public Municipal Housing Office, not the city of Montreal itself.

In a second case from 2003, 15-year-old Feten Ounissi, who is of Tunisian descent, was walking with friends and her younger brother behind a St. Michel housing project where she lived when several police officers told her to go home.

She then went to the front of the building and sat on the stoop. Again, police told her to go home. When she refused, she was lifted off the ground by two cops, taken to a cruiser, handcuffed and given a $118 ticket, she testified before the rights panel.

Her mother, Arbia Bouganmi, who said she was prevented from talking to her daughter, also was fined.

The commission said there was no valid motive for these police actions. It ruled that Ounissi, now 20, was a victim of racial profiling and should get $13,000 in damages. Her mother ought to receive $4,000, the panel added.

Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, which supported the complaints, said the ticketing indicates Montreal police are targeting teenagers of colour in that area.

This was strenuously denied yesterday by Chief Inspector Paul Chablo, who said the department does not accept the commission’s decision because “we are convinced this was a justified police intervention.”

“We did not profile anybody because of race,” he said, but added the department welcomed the commission’s suggestions to invest more funds to improve training and track incidents with racial overtones.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy on racial profiling,” he said.

There had been “a large amount of citizen complaints” about crimes in St. Michel at the time, Chablo said.

The tickets were “immediately retracted” when it was discovered one had been issued to a 13-year-old and all the supposed violators were on private property, he said.

The commission can refer the case to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, which has the status of a court.

Niemi congratulated the Montreal force for its recent training policies to prevent racial profiling.

“We do not want this seen as bashing the Montreal police department.We have to congratulate the leadership for their efforts.”

Jonas Cassey said that was not his first run-in with police that summer; he was also fined for “incivility” because an officer did not like the way he was jivewalking when crossing the street. Jonas did not file a complaint in that case.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Classes, Cops and Liberal Spin: Thinking About Montebello

Print PDF

By now it is old news that three police agents (poorly) disguised as members of the Black Bloc were outed on Tear Gas Monday, August 20th when over a thousand people marched against George Bush, Stephen Harper and Felipe Calderon in Montebello, Quebec.

Captured on video, the three agents were about twice as buff as your average Black Blocker, masked up and wearing right-wing slogans on their t-shirts (now there's something to ponder...), holding very large rocks. What one sees on the youtube video is trade unionist Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, as he harangues the three until they end up allowing themselves to be "arrested" by the Quebec Provincial Police.

As the video was accessed tens of thousands of times on the internet in the days following the demo some mainstream journalists began asking questions, and after initially denying it, eventually the QPP was forced to come clean: the three were in fact cops.

The State claims that the three were in the demo looking to identify "troublemakers", that they were handed rocks by "extremists" and when they refused to throw them their cover was blown.

All of which is, of course, bullshit.

But we have to be careful while saying so, because there are two kinds of reactions to this police provocation, and while both are ostensibly "anti-cop" one is based on superficial analysis and is fundamentally anti-radical, whereas our goal should always be to deepen our analysis and clear the way for a more militant movement practice.

With this goal in mind, i am afraid that what follows is a somewhat long and tedious post. Indeed, i almost didn't bother with this, because i realize that there's a real "signal to noise" problem any time you try and nail down all the little facts and details which are necessary to explain when things are being distorted. i also hesitated as groups like the Council of Canadians, and people like Dave Coles remain within the broad progressive movement, and are not enemies, although they're not quite our friends either. Their interests are not our interests, and they themselves know this and rarely hesitate to put their own agenda first, even when it means trashing us.

So as a tiny contribution to developing an anti-capitalist movement which fights, and also in the interests of plain old honesty (which is something we should all value), here is my take on the 20th. You'll see a lot here which is based on what i myself witnessed that day, and also on what people who i will not name have told me; i realize that how one reacts do this will have to do with one's own preconceptions, but that does seem unavoidable under the circumstances...


The Liberal Cliche: Bad Cops vs. Peaceful Protesters

Anyone approaching someone while masked and armed with a weapon is just wrong. Anyone who supports direct action and wears a mask is just dumb. They should go back to the way Gandhi did it.

- our "ally" Dave Coles
quoted in the Montreal Gazette August 31st 2007

The black bloc should be immediately disbanded and anyone that dresses in their garb and threatens to engage in violence at a protest should be exposed to the media for what they are - dirty cowboy cops who think their job is to spy on and abuse peaceful protesters, scum who prey on the weak and give good police a bad name while ensuring the right to protest is chilled.

- Paul Joseph Watson in his anti-SPP article
on the right-wing Prison Planet website

Essentially, the anti-radical version of Tear Gas Monday goes something like this:

• protesters of the 20th had gathered to express their democratic opinion in a peaceful manner
  
• this purely peaceful protest was so threatening that the police needed to clear it out or discredit it
  
• in order to accomplish this agents provocateurs were sent in with a mission to stir up trouble
• the provocateurs were exposed by Dave Coles, thus preventing the police from attacking and saving the protesters' credibility
  

This story is particularly appealing to social-democrats and right-wing opponents of the SPP, who feel reinforced not only in their own identity (as "responsible law abiding citizens") but also their political conception of Canada (as a "democratic" country whose sovereignty is threatened by Stephen Harper and American imperialism). In this story it is the social democrats themselves (in the person of trade unionist Dave Coles) who effectively repel the police threat.

Left unspoken is the fact that within the left the soc-dems are the main opposition to radical anti-capitalists, and in this version the latter (which means us) are left looking "objectively" as bad as the State.

In a demonstration of between one and two thousand people, spread out over a good 500 meters, different folks can have very different experiences. Depending on which crowd you're hanging out with, your preconceptions, and even just the random chance of looking this way or that at a critical moment, different people may experience the same series of events quite differently.

Nevertheless, over a week after the fact, the many reports available on the internet and opportunities to listen to what others who were there have to say, have convinced me that this story is a distortion, and one whose limited veracity is in fact less important than the way is which it can be instrumentalized against the radical left...


A More Honest Account

The demonstration on Tear Gas Monday was spread out and could appear very different depending on where one was standing. The actual entrance to Chateau Montebello - where Harper, Bush and Calderon were meeting - was behind a line of police, backed up by further police reserves, beyond a fence, and (according to the media) protected by snipers beyond that point. There was never any hope or plan, even among militants, of actually breaching all of these defenses. Nevertheless, there was a mandate from a consulta leading up to the event to get as close to the Chateau as possible, and many people came hoping to push the police lines back as close to the fence (where the road to the Chateau left rue Notre Dame) as possible.

At the same time, other people had no desire to push at the police lines. While some of these folks nevertheless milled about at the demo's western edge and were perhaps sympathetic to the militants, others hung out or stood around or sat down on the road all the way back past the Crevier gas station on the corner of the 323, effectively out of sight and earshot of the western front.

All the while there was a line of police along the north side of rue Notre Dame stretching from the 323 all the way to the more heavily fortified police line at the western edge. Most of these cops were actually in the local cemetery, which led one of my smarter friends to suggest that perhaps they were there to make sure the dead did not rise up against them :)

At various points, the cops could have rushed the demonstration from the north and attempted a mass arrest; that they did not is indicative of the fact that to do so would have automatically led to a major political defeat for the State. Both because of the level of violence they would have encountered (as many people were not committed to simple non-violent resistance), and because the simple arrest numbers would have shown that large numbers of people had gathered to protest (Harper would later try to imply that there were only a few hundred there).

In other words, a heavy confrontation, even with unbridled police violence, was more a risk for the State than for our side. Nevertheless, the demonstration was always vulnerable on its northern flank.

As for the south side of the road: there was a small fence there and then a wooded area, beyond which lay Bush, Harper and Calderon, our three stooges. A few folks would enter this area from time to time without anything bad happening, but the demo as a whole had no desire to test the claims of snipers protecting the Chateau...

Along the western edge, where the police line separated the crowd from the actual gateway that led to the Chateau, people were being shoved and were shoving back. The police were especially aggressive just off the road at the south west corner, where some kids were doing passive resistance and some guy was driving folks crazy chanting"Ohm". As for the shoving that occurred on the road, it would be silly to get into semantics over "who started it": there were large numbers on each side and there's no way of my knowing. It would be naive to deny that the police may have shoved first, it would be dishonest to claim that nobody on our side would have tried to shove if they hadn't. Unlike liberals or kindergarten children, we have no real interest in obsessing over who went first... pushing back police lines is a completely legitimate part of movement building.

During the course of the afternoon police pepper sprayed folks, and sent out several volleys of tear gas. Those who go hit of course included many who had not personally been involved in anything unpeaceful. In a proper response people were always quick to fill the space left as others ran off to get their eyes dowsed with water, so despite the discomfort the police were unable to push protesters back from this west edge. This is a good thing.

Again purposefully ignoring questions of "who started it", throughout the afternoon many small rocks (at times they seemed more like pebbles) were tossed at police along this western edge. i say "tossed" because that's what i often saw: literally one cop who might be on their softball team was actually having fun catching some of these stones as if they were fly balls!

Similarly, bottles were thrown... empty plastic water bottles, the kind that have zero chance of hurting someone unprotected, were being chucked at cops in full riot gear...

My point is not to belittle or praise these actions on the part of our comrades, simply to attempt to contextualize: if most people were not participating in this stuff, a hundred or more did prove themselves willing to technically "assault a police officer", but the general feeling was obviously such that almost nobody seemed willing to do so in a way that would actually risk injuring a cop. It was symbolic. Again, not belittling or praising, simply trying to talk about where we are at.

The police did not attempt a sweep or mass arrests, which would have been the only way to definitely put a stop to all this. And would, by pig logic, have been justified. This contradicts the soc-dem version of police having to plant agents in order to provoke mass arrests: if the cops wanted to try and nab everyone they had their excuse. (Note that in total only four people would be arrested during the entire day's events.)

As to the real Black Bloc and the maoists, each of which i assume did come prepared for heavier action... i can only guess as to why this was never followed through on. Again, not a condemnation, it is possible that these folks simply saw that the crowd was not choosing to engage in a heavier level of confrontation, and so chose not to up the ante.

Which would have been perfectly reasonable.

The Undercovers
On the famous youtube video one can see Dave Coles yelling at the undercover cops, who eventually retreat behind the police lines where they pretend to be arrested. Two things are not shown here, both of which have been told to me over the past ten days. First, the undercovers were first identified, confronted, surrounded, and "escorted" to the point where Coles joined the fray by the real Black Bloc. Second: Coles had previously accused other people, who were definitely "real" protesters, of being cops. Presumably because they were masked and acting militant.

In other words, it was the militant faction who were able to take decisive action against the State's agents, and in so doing they were obviously not motivated by some kind of liberal desire to "keep the peace". Coles' actions against the undercovers, while correct and perhaps involving some personal bravery, seem like a case of a stopped clock being right twice a day...

As for why the undercovers were there, the soc-dems explanation ("to provide police with an excuse to attack the demonstration") seems unlikely. As mentioned above, the cops don't need an excuse but if they did, well several comrades on the western flank could have provided them with one. In any case, that would have been the plausible place to try and start something heavier. Having been there all day nervously watching the line of cops on the north side of rue Notre Dame with nobody keeping them back, at the time my feeling was simply that they had strict instructions not to sweep the entire demo.

If not plain provocation, i can imagine two possible reasons why the undercovers were there.

At first i thought it was possible the QPP might be telling the truth: the undercovers may have been hoping to blend in with the crowd in order to arrest "extremists" (that means us, btw). Given that the militant edge of the demonstration is of critical importance, that we are not so weak as to simply "protest", that some people are intent on resisting... it seemed to me that this was plausible. And even now it still strikes me as more likely that the three pigs were there to target the Black Bloc than to frame the social democrats. (In which case their choice of wearing right-wing slogans on their shirts would be indicative of a major intelligence failure!)

But then when some comrades explained where the youtube video had been filmed (see map above), something else began to seem far more likely, namely that the three cops were part of the State's ongoing psychological operation which was intended to set the protesters against the townspeople.

Already, police had sent letters to everyone in the region warning them that rioters might loot their homes and businesses ("keep valuable objects away from windows" was one piece of scaremongering advice they offered). The media had played things up in the days before, talking about businesses boarding up their windows and people leaving town. Then after all this build-up, on the day of the demo itself the cops - who at all times had hundreds in reserve at the Chateau - made a point of maintaining no presence at all around local homes and businesses, practically inviting these phantom rioters - or perhaps their own undercovers - to attack.

Remember: the agents were not at the heavier western edge of the demo, but were back around a Crevier gas station on the corner of the 323, where protesters were being welcomed to come in to use the toilets and get water. What strikes me as most likely is that these three cops were waiting for some journalists to be around, at which point they would have attacked the gas station, or roughed up locals who were hanging out around their homes further east along rue Notre Dame. The anti-capitalist resistance would have then seemed completely depoliticized, transformed into pictures of irrational violence which could threaten anyone anywhere for no reason at all. Such images of "anarchists" attacking ordinary people would have scored a significant victory for the police and a defeat for our side.

As it happened, the undercovers were exposed, and amongst the protesters nobody had any intention of doing any damage to any of the townspeople. Nobody wanted to target their homes or their businesses. They were in no way viewed as the enemy.

For their part, the townspeople largely saw through the police crap quickly enough. Perhaps in this regard it is worth noting that in the days before the 20th activists (and not from the soc-dem groups!) had traveled throughout the area meeting with local people and explaining our intentions to them. As a result, people seemed broadly sympathetic. Indeed, two days after the protest the town's mayor thanked protesters for having such good manners and not damaging anything in the town!

************

Oh yeah, the tear gas...
Wrapping up the days events, i should mention that almost two hours after the undercovers were ejected, as things seemed to have begun to die down and there were less people up against the western edge, the police began a massive volley of tear gas which would last for over half an hour, supplemented by rubber bullets against those few individuals who bravely attempted to fight back. Many people were injured and one young person from Ottawa was shot four times by rubber bullets.

As the crowd was moving back at this point anyway, i don't think we can qualify this as a simple retreat, but the police did seem intent on clearing out any smaller group who might stay behind. Stressing that i just don't know, i'd like to mention that Reactionism Watch - who was also there - has suggested that one possible factor contributing to the police's decision to attack was that the maoists and the Black Bloc had withdrawn by this point. If this is the case, then this fact alone flatly contradicts the soc-dem worldview whereby militant demonstraters provoke police violence, instead indicating that they prevent it by assuring a degree of retaliation.

************

Different Classes, Different Angles
In the aftermath of Tear Gas Monday, as the youtube video was watched by tens of thousands of people and police scrambled to cover their asses, sections of the anti-SPP movement mobilized to capitalize on the situation. In Ottawa the Council of Canadians held a press conference with Coles, which was followed by other press conferences organized by trade unions including one yesterday by the Quebec Federation of Labour. The point of attack for the social-democrats has been to demand a public inquiry, and to accuse the police of trying to discredit a peaceful demonstration.

To truly appreciate what is going on, a few more points should be made clear.

For one, the August 20th protest was not organized by the Council of Canadians, the trade union movement or other similar groups. Which is not so say that some resources were not provided, that the soc-dems did not eventually come on board, or that every individual organizer was a revolutionary, but broadly speaking Monday's protest was pulled together by the People's Global Action network, which combines its opposition to the SPP with an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist and anti-patriarchal perspective.

In the lead up the Montebello there were pressures from the more social-democratic groups to focus on activities elsewhere. Of ten buses which were rented by the Canadian Labour Congress to come to Ottawa from Toronto for an anti-SPP protest on the 19th, which is a 6-7 hour trip, only one took the extra couple of hours to go on to Montebello the next day. Despite the fact that the activities on the 20th were not organized by them, the Council of Canadians had no problem pushing themselves to the front of the demo, where they at one point formed a barrier between the cops and people who were intent on challenging them.

When the Council held its Ottawa press conference about agents provocateurs, they did not contact local activists who had actually organized the protests. At the time one woman was still being held by police, in a school gymnasium in the Montebello area which had been transformed into a massive holding area with cages topped with barbed wire. This one protester had been alone there for days, and local activists asked the Council to mention her situation when they spoke to the media - they refused to do so. (The woman was finally released on the Thursday.)

None of which is shocking, for it all goes along with the class perspective represented by the Council and the trade unions, and also by the right-wing critics of globalization. It's worth thinking about this...

Canada is a class society with a large and diverse middle class which enjoys a standard of living significantly higher than those at the bottom layers of "Canadian" society: the First Nations who resist colonialism, the migrant workers who maintain the country's agricultural sector, the unemployed and precarious workers who are concentrated in the most profitable sections of the economy and yet are increasingly denied a "normal" First World standard of living.

People in organizations like the Council of Canadians often feel sympathetic to the plight of the most oppressed, but the hard truth is that they represent a divergent set of class interests, those of the better paid and unionized sections of the working class in alliance with sections of the middle class. That is why - regardless of their members' personal opinions - these groups limit their opposition to particular aspects of capitalism, specifically trade agreements with the United States. The key question for these organizations is one of "Canadian sovereignty", this nationalism often expressed with a hocus pocus belief in Canada's (or Quebec's) "progressive" national culture and role in world affairs.

Such an uncritical attitude towards the racist Canadian State is in fact itself an expression of Canada's racialized class structure, where white people and certain select immigrant groups predominate in the middle class, while people of colour and the majority of immigrants from the Third World are funneled into the working class and most impoverished and excluded communities.

Not meaning to be reductionist, but looking at the classes represented by these different strands of the anti-SPP campaign is a useful way to understand the different positions these groups take. It's not a matter of them being "bad people", but it's also unlikely to be something they will grow out of when they become more experienced or better educated in the struggle. They hold these different positions because they are fighting for a different set of goals than the radical left. As such, Canadian (or Quebec) nationalism will likely remain an important aspect of their politics, which not only creates real limits to how much we can work with them, but also leaves them open to working with some of our worst enemies.

To whit: in a particularly egregious example of where such a nationalist approach can lead, the day of Monday's protest the Canadian Action Party held a press conference against the SPP... alongside various far-right groups from the United States, such as the John Birch Society, the Conservative Caucus, Veterans for Secure Borders and the American Policy Center. Thus at the same time as many people of colour, immigrants and refugees marched in Montebello against the SPP, some of the most vicious racists were being welcomed by the Canadian Action Party in Ottawa as part of the "same" campaign.

The CAP may not be a left-wing party, but it does try to swim in the same waters as the broad progressive movement, and is often tolerated by social-democrats as a legitimate voice on issues pertaining "Canadian sovereignty". In a way, it can be seen as the reactionary expression of the same class interests which, in more progressive form, also see themselves represented in social-democratic opposition to globalization.

While one must be careful in distinguishing between these different strands of opposition to the SPP and other trade agreements, even at the overwhelmingly left-wing demonstration on the 20th one could see a few people with signs saying "Ron Paul for President". Of course most Canadians have no idea who Ron Paul is, but the fact that people backing a far right candidate in the American elections should be attracted to the same campaign as we are is another sign of the different classes and political agendas which are brought together by opposition to trade pacts like the SPP.

Our strategy as anti-capitalists should be to retain and reinforce our differences from both the social-democratic and the right-wing critics of corporate globalization. This means continuing the work many of us are doing, in day to day struggles alongside the classes and nations which are most oppressed by Canadian capitalism. It also means promoting aggressive tactics at demonstrations and emphasizing our hostility to police and to the State, weak points for both the social-democrats and right-wingers.

Finally, it means keeping in mind that not everyone at our protests are our allies, even if they may claim otherwise.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Montreal Cops & Racist Abuse in Cote-des-Neiges

Print PDF

Lynwald Cox Being Arrested by Police : photo taken on someone's cell phone

It would seem that Montreal police have been harassing and brutalizing Black people in Cote-des-Neiges neighbourhood more than they usually do, and now city politicians are moving to defuse the situation... note the pig in this article telling people not to intervene when they see police abuse going on... remember too that this is the same neighbourhood and the same police station (#25) implicated in the killing of Mohamed Anas Bennis a year and a half ago: police have refused to provide any credible story about the events that led to Bennis' death...

City councillor to mediate in dispute over harassment
Complaints about police soared this summer among black residents of Côte des Neiges

KATHERINE WILTON
THE GAZETTE

Allegations of police harassment and abuse of black residents in Côte des Neiges have become so numerous this summer that a city councillor will meet with both parties tomorrow to try to defuse the tension.

“I have had more complaints (about police harassment) over the past six weeks than I have had over the past 10 years,” said Marvin Rotrand, councillor for Snowdon, which is part of Côte des Neiges/N.D.G. borough.

“We have made a lot of progress over the past several years. If there is a problem now, we need to fix it.”

Rotrand said at least 10 or 12 people have stopped him on the street or at civic functions to complain about heavy-handed tactics by local police officers and members of Project Advance, a special unit set up to crack down on street gangs.

Simonetta Barth, commander of Station 25, will be at tomorrow’s meeting.

Inspector Paul Chablo, head of public relations for the Montreal police department, welcomed the meeting. “It is always better to sit down and discuss things than go to the media,” he said.

Black leaders say their community is outraged by two cases of alleged abuse this summer.

On June 13, a 26-year-old Châteauguay man and his mother were arrested for obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest after a confrontation with a police officer from Station 25.

Lynwald Cox claims an officer provoked a confrontation after ticketing him for making an illegal left turn.

Police contend Cox became agitated after receiving the ticket and pursued a police officer in his cruiser, leading to the clash.

About one week later, police arrested Charles Ross, a tourist from New York, after he asked why they were manhandling a woman who they believed was taking pictures of them with her cellphone camera.

Ross was slapped and roughed up by members of Project Advance, said Noel Alexander, the president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal, who witnessed the confrontation near Victoria Ave. and MacKenzie Sts. at 10:45 p.m. on June 21.

Alexander said two officers were manhandling Karla Kirkos, 32, when Ross yelled out: “Hey, fellas, what are you doing?”

According to Alexander, two or three other officers rushed toward Ross, slapped him, handcuffed him and dragged him across the street, forcing him to sit on the sidewalk.

Ross was arrested and charged with assault. Alexander said he asked the officer in charge what was going on and said he was told: “This is a police operation.”

The Gazette was unable to contact Ross at his home in New York this week.

Kirkos told The Gazette she was standing outside a restaurant when the officers tried to take her cellphone from her, saying she wasn’t allowed to take pictures of them. She said she had taken out her phone to call a friend who was supposed to pick her up after she had ordered food.

Chablo said officers involved in the incident have a completely different version of events.

According to the police report, Kirkos began taking pictures of the officers as they were questioning a man.

The report said she started yelling hysterically at police after they asked her to move on. Chablo said the officers didn’t try to take her cellphone.

As for Ross, the report says it was he who grabbed a police officer and punched him in the face.

Chablo urged members of the public not to get involved in police interventions because “you are obstructing justice.”

“If you aren’t happy (with what you see), take down the car number or police officer’s name and call the local commander.”

He said he isn’t surprised that versions of events differ greatly.

“Sometimes people come in the middle of a situation and they don’t know what happened before,” he said.

Michael Gittens, president of the Côte des Neiges Black Community Association, said he is concerned by the reports of harassment, particularly since relations with police had been good over the past few years.

For five or six years, the association has given one-day training sessions to new police officers assigned to Côte des Neiges to help them better understand the multicultural community.

Gittens said members of his association, who were running a leadership program for youths in Nelson Mandela Park, had to go to Station 25 recently to complain that a few officers were harassing teenagers in the park.

“Why is this happening now after all the work that we have done? We expect more understanding from the officers.”

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST