PCR-RCP Responds to RCMP Raids and Repression
The following is a translation of a statement issued by the Parti Communiste Revolutionnaire / Revolutionary Communist Party in response to a series of police raids and searches carried out last week. The French original can be found here.
Denounce the RCMP Merry-Go-Round!
The RCP condemns the maneuvers and harassment of the federal police!
Wednesday, February 27, an alleged Revolutionary Communist Party sympathiser had his home searched for almost ten hours by police led by the RCMP and its dubious “Integrated National Security Team”.
The RCMP claimed this was concerning the commission of supposed acts of terrorism, specifically the 2010 attack on offices of the Canadian Armed Forces in Trois Rivieres, which was claimed by a group acting under the name “Initiative de résistance internationaliste.” (“Internationalist Resistance Inititative”)
At the same time, another raid was taking place at the offices of the Association étudiante du cégep Lionel-Groulx (Lionel Groulx College Student Association) in St-Therese north of Montreal, where the RCMP seized most of the material necessary for the association’s day-to-day activities.
The RCMP claims to have carried out similar raids in Saguenay and in the Saint-Hubert neighbourhood in Longueuil, but refuses to disclose the identity of the people in question.
One day beforehand, on February 26, a student from Sherbrooke who was also in touch with RCP supporters was intercepted by police at Ange-Gardien. At the time, he was on a bus with a group of students from his area on their way to Montreal to attend a demonstration; he was brought to the RCMP’s headquarters in Westmount where he was held for several hours. In this case, as in all the others, no charges were laid.
The RCMP is up to its old tricks once again. It seems clear that the RCMP periodically wants to remind the Quebecois people (which has a tendency to “royally” not give a crap about this reactionary police force) that they are there in order to be then be able to go fishing for information in areas that they have been interested in for years.
The investigators from the “integrated team” are shamelessly seeking media attention to let the activist scenes know how desperately clueless they are. Her royal majesty’s investigators have been looking for the big bad wolf for years, and they think they have spotted its den in all the activist scenes.
Of course, politics being politics, the RCMP takes advantage of its annual expeditions to put together its files, to map out the activist scenes and collect loads of computer material and documentation.
But what have they gotten out of this?
- Big banners that have walked the 400 steps in our streets!
- Beautiful red flags!
- Documents that provide hundreds of reasons to fight against capitalism!
- Documents that provide hundreds of examples of popular struggles here and abroad!
- Documents that provide hundreds of examples of courageous and inspirational actions and demonstrations!
The Revolutionary Communist Party denounces these RCMP raids, along with any and all police activities currently being carried out against activists and their organizations, especially against revolutionary organizations struggling against the power of the big capitalists.
The PCR-RCP supports all activists who serve the people through their actions, their devotion and generosity, and their engagement on behalf of those oppressed by bourgeois society.
The PCR-RCP invites all activists to continue their good work in ongoing struggles, and to not let the police distract them from pursuing their objectives.