[IPSM] Olympics Resistance Network News Release to Mainstream Media:

[Macdonald Stainsby]

==> Olympics Resistance Network News Release to Mainstream Media:

CP-VANOC SPIRIT TRAIN DERAILED WITH ‘SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE’; POLICE MAKE 
TWO UNPROVOKED ARRESTS

* For photos please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkflip/sets/72157607424169310/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30781453@N08/

Monday September 22 2008- Amidst pots, pans, sirens, and chants of “No 
Olympics on Stolen Native Land”, Olympics Resistance Network (ORN) 
activists- including families with children- successfully shutdown 
yesterday’s Canadian Pacific’s Olympics Spirit Train launch in Port 
Moody as intended.

According to Gord Hill, member of the Olympics Resistance Network, “With 
protestors nearly outnumbering spectators, the most spirited part of 
today was the spirit of resistance against the Olympics. We are 
confident that the forced cancellation of the Spirit Train launch 
ceremonies will inspire others as the train travels across Canada."

The action in Port Moody was the first in a series of actions against 
the Olympic Spirit Train planned across the country including in 
Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto over the next month.

Activists further state that they are outraged by the unjustified and
unprovoked arrests of two people, including one elderly woman. The two
have since been released.

According to protestor Peter Haywood “At no point during this protest did
we threaten, provoke, or assault anyone. However, some members of the 
public as well as identified and undercover police officers aggressively 
shoved and assaulted protestors, escalating the situation.”

For example, a woman with two children entered into the crowd and very
aggressively confronted protestors. Although protestors made space for 
her to leave, she – despite having two young crying children with her – 
decided to remain and hurl abuses at protestors. During this time, one 
young male protestor was shoved by a photographer into a police officer,
who promptly arrested him for no apparent reason. An elderly woman who, 
along with other concerned people, was following the police to question 
them about the arrest was violently pushed against the hood of a vehicle 
and arrested.

“The police refused to read the arrested people their rights or explain 
their charges. These arbitrary arrests are an expression of police 
fascism, who make freedom of expression expendable in order to protect
Olympic interests”, according to Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, a witness to
the arrests.

According to the Olympics Resistance Network, “Far from being simply 
about ‘sport’, the history of the Olympics is one rooted in 
displacement, corporate greed, repression, and violence. In Canada, the 
effects of the
upcoming Winter Games are already apparent – expansion of sport tourism 
on Indigenous lands; increasing homelessness across the province; 
ballooning public spending; unprecedented destruction of the 
environment; and unparalleled police and security spending.”

* For more information or if you are interested in actively organizing or
coordinating anti-2010 Olympics resistance efforts, please visit
www.no2010.com or email olympicresistance at riseup.net. A previous ORN 
communique is posted at: http://no2010.com/node/295

* Take action against the Spirit Train in your city! For Spirit train
schedule and stops, please visit: http://www.no2010.com/node/295


==> COVERAGE OF SPIRIT TRAIN DISRUPTION:

* Dominion article "Protesters Disrupt "Spirit Train" Sendoff":
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2103

* CKUT Audio:
http://www.ncra.ca/exchange/dspProgramDetail.cfm?programID=75602

* 24 hours "Train buoys the spirits - of protesters" by Bob Mackin
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2008/09/22/6836936-sun.html

* Additional Mainstream news coverage:

Canadian Press:
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2sZ79pilyGuihiW34W6BIVrd3yw

Vancouver Sun:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=22ca5328-e430-4f40-bbd7-151289e57151

Vanocuver Province:
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=e46b84d5-98fe-4c86-ba6d-603db2be7b3a

CTV BC (includes video footage):
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080921/BC_2010_train_protest_080921/20080921?hub=CTVNewsAt11