[Onthebarricades] Fw: [smygo] Quebec Police Deny, then Admit, Using Agents Provocateurs in Demonstration

[Andy]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Clore" <clore at columbia-center.org>
Newsgroups: 
talk.politics.libertarian,alt.society.labor-unions,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.activism,alt.fan.noam-chomsky,alt.anarchism,alt.society.anarchy,alt.politics.radical-left,alt.org.iww
To: <smygo at yahoogroups.com>; <secularhumanist at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 1:06 AM
Subject: [smygo] Quebec Police Deny, then Admit, Using Agents Provocateurs 
in Demonstration


> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> [After they first denied planting the agents as phony demonstrators, the
> story about other protestors giving them a rock and asking them to throw
> it at police may seem even more doubtful than it would have anyway. Far
> more likely, they were planning to throw rocks in the general direction
> of the other police, who would then use that as an excuse to violently
> attack the real protestors. It's notable that if not for the clip on
> YouTube, they would likely have gotten away with this use of agents
> provocateurs. Some of the following stories show a remarkable bias in
> favor of the police and against protestors, and should be taken with a
> very large grain of salt.--DC]
>
> *****
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2rzl3f
> Quebec police stand behind undercover trio
> MONTREAL
>
> Quebec provincial police stood by the actions of three officers who were
> undercover as protesters at the North American Leaders' summit, but say
> they will conduct an internal investigation to review their practices.
>
> "If there are methods or procedures that need to be changed or adjusted,
> you can be reassured that will be done," Inspector Marcel Savard said
> yesterday.
>
> Savard defended the three agents and said they were not there to provoke
> demonstrators in Montebello, Que., where Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
> U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon met.
>
> "At no time did the officers in question engage in provocation or incite
> anyone to commit violent acts," Savard told a news conference.
>
> A video clip of the officers showed up on the popular website,
> Youtube.com and has been viewed 190,000 times.
>
> Savard acknowledged that one of the officers was given a rock by
> protesters but did not use it.
>
> "One of the extremists gave the rock to one of our police officers and
> he had a choice to make," Savard said.
>
> "He was asked by extremists to throw the rock at the police, but never
> had any intention of using it."
>
> Meanwhile, the Canadian Union of Public Employees is demanding an
> independent, public inquiry into the actions of the Quebec provincial
> police. CUPE said the provincial police's waffling on the issue has only
> further damaged its credibility to answer questions and Canadians have a
> right to ask whether their governments recognize and protect the right
> to demonstrate peacefully.
>
> Public Security Minister Stockwell Day continued to brush off questions
> about a call for a public inquiry, saying in Vancouver that those with
> complaints can make a formal complaint.
>
> "The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three
> people in question were spotted by protesters because were not engaging
> in violence," Day said.
>
> "They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing
> rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That's the
> irony of this," he said.
>
> *****
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3a4tsc
> August 25, 2007
> Cover blown on Quebec police tactics
> By Licia Corbella
>
> It's common practice for police to go undercover and infiltrate
> potentially dangerous groups.
>
> When it comes to protest groups, their role is to identify those who are
> planning violence and to help de-escalate potentially volatile
> situations -- not to incite them.
>
> But that, shamefully, is what it appears the Surete du Quebec got up to
> during the recent tri-lateral meetings between Prime Minister Stephen
> Harper and the presidents of the United States and Mexico.
>
> Three balaclava-wearing police, posing as thug-like young anarchists
> were outed by Dave Coles, president of the Communications Energy and
> Paperworkers Union of Canada during anti-globalization protests of the
> Security and Prosperity Partnership summit Monday in Montebello, Que.
>
> A video available on YouTube.com shows Coles trying to de-escalate
> potential violence -- not created by members of his peaceful protest,
> but by the officers.
>
> At first, Coles demands: "Put the rock down, this is our line. This is
> for old guys, grandmothers, grandfathers," he yells.
>
> Eventually, Coles realizes that the provocateurs are police. When they
> are outed, the undercover officers embarrassingly inch towards their
> uniformed colleagues decked out in full riot gear.
>
> Initially, the Surete du Quebec denied they used undercover agents. But
> the video trapped them. On Thursday they admitted that the three
> arrested men were indeed cops, but insist they weren't attempting to
> provoke protesters into violence, rather they were in the crowd to find
> those seeking to cause violence.
>
> Nonsense. Their cover was blown by Coles who first thought they were
> thugs intent on disturbing his peaceful protest.
>
> The Quebec provincial government should investigate this.
>
> Better yet, it's long past due that police across the country have fully
> independent oversight groups looking into complaints against them.
>
> Having police investigate police usually leads to zero accountability.
>
> This time video made the police look like the bad guys and the usual
> suspects the good guys.
>
> With video phones increasingly common, they have to better watch
> themselves, not just others.
>
> *****
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2j4hln
> Probe required into police tactics
> TheStar.com
> August 25, 2007
>
> When Prime Minister Stephen Harper was asked Monday whether he was
> concerned about protesters outside a summit of North American leaders in
> Montebello, Que., he replied with a smile: "I've heard it's nothing. A
> couple hundred? It's sad."
>
> Harper was right about the protest being "sad," not because of its size,
> but due to the international controversy that has arisen after it was
> revealed that undercover Quebec provincial police officers had posed as
> protesters during the demonstration. Quebec police officials have
> admitted the officers were involved in the protest. The question now is
> whether they tried to provoke protesters to commit violence.
>
> The protesters say yes, pointing to a posting on video-sharing website
> YouTube that shows three men, their faces concealed by bandanas and one
> holding a rock, being confronted by activists before apparently being
> handcuffed and arrested by police.
>
> But the Sûreté du Québec denies allegations its officers were trying to
> incite the activists. Instead, it says the officers mingled with
> protesters to ferret out those bent on violence. It also says their
> cover was blown after they refused to throw rocks.
>
> Whatever the case, the incident has sparked legitimate concerns that
> cannot be casually shrugged off, as Public Security Minister Stockwell
> Day tried to do this week by suggesting unhappy protesters could lodge a
> complaint with the Quebec force.
>
> It may well be legitimate for police to go undercover to keep an eye on
> large demonstrations. But allegations that police may have tried to
> infiltrate a peaceful protest to provoke a violent confrontation merit a
> prompt independent investigation, preferably by a judge.
>
> Despite the Quebec force's firm denials, the YouTube video raises
> legitimate questions about how its officers conducted themselves.
>
> If their aim really was to thwart violence, why did the three officers
> don bandanas and camouflage pants typical of hard-core anarchists to
> infiltrate a bunch of mostly middle-aged union and social activists?
>
> Why did one of the officers have a rock in his hand in the first place?
>
> Who in the Quebec force approved these tactics? And what did the
> Mounties, which along with the Quebec provincial force policed the
> summit between Harper, U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President
> Felipe Calderón, know about the strategy?
>
> Canadians deserve answers to these questions without delay.
>
> The Quebec force said yesterday a protester handed one of the officers a
> rock, but he had no intention of using it. It also said it is launching
> an internal review of its procedures. That does not go far enough.
>
> The right to protest peacefully is a cornerstone of our democratic
> society. Allegations that Quebec police may have overstepped their
> authority in order to short-circuit a legal demonstration should be
> given the full public scrutiny that only an independent probe can provide.
>
> *****
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2yban7
> YouTube for dummies
> The Edmonton Journal
> Published: 2:08 am
>
> Chalk up another high profile outing for YouTube.
>
> Quebec provincial police officials initially scoffed at notions that it
> had attempted to infiltrate protest groups at the Montebello summit to
> stir up trouble. But there it is on the popular website: three agents
> preposterously attired as bandanna-wearing "Black Box" anarchists
> wielding rocks in an otherwise peaceful assembly of middle-aged and
> older unionists.
>
> Caught out, officials at Sureté du Québec admitted the identity of the
> constables while denying they acted as agents provocateurs or committed
> any crimes. They refused to comment further.
>
> Pressure is building for an investigation that will test the accuracy of
> that denial. As well, the RCMP -- the lead agency for summit security -- 
> would undoubtedly be asked if it signed off on the Keystone Kops 
> operation.
>
> Maintaining security at such events is obviously serious and important
> work, a matter of national pride in this case. Balancing the rights of
> public guardians and legal protesters is a tricky business requiring
> skill and subtlety.
>
> But Canadians can not sit idly by when police grossly overstep their
> role. Once again, we have been embarrassed at an international function
> by what seems to be overzealous policing. It's tedious to the point of
> infuriating, but a full airing is necessary to determine what happened,
> and why.
>
> *****
>
> http://tinyurl.com/ytfrsz
> Quebec police defend officers' actions at summit
> Updated Fri. Aug. 24 2007 8:06 PM ET
> CTV.ca News Staff
>
> Quebec provincial police on Friday defended the actions of three
> officers who posed as protesters during the North American Leaders'
> summit earlier this week in Montebello, but added there will be an
> internal investigation into their conduct.
>
> Authorities initially denied claims from protesters that officers had
> infiltrated their ranks but later acknowledged the three men were police
> officers.
>
> They admitted the officers were undercover after footage of a
> confrontation between the men and Montebello demonstrators surfaced on
> the popular video sharing website YouTube.
>
> Insp. Marcel Savard defended the three agents Friday at a news
> conference in Montreal, and insisted they were not there to provoke
> demonstrators.
>
> "At no time did the officers in question engage in provocation or incite
> anyone to commit violent acts," said Savard.
>
> He also said one of the officers was given a rock by protesters but the
> officer had no intention of using it.
>
> "One of the extremists gave the rock to one of our police officers and
> he had a choice to make," Savard said.
>
> "He was asked by extremists to throw the rock at the police, but never
> had any intention of using it."
>
> The SQ did not answer questions on whether the RCMP was involved in the
> summit incident or whether the Quebec police received political orders
> to infiltrate the protesters. But the police force did say it will
> conduct its own internal investigation of the incident.
>
> "If there are methods or procedures that need to be changed or adjusted,
> you can be reassured that will be done," said Savard.
>
> Calls for inquiry
>
> The Canadian Union of Public Employees is demanding an independent,
> public inquiry into police actions at the summit.
>
> CUPE said Canadians have a right to ask whether their governments
> recognize and protect the right to demonstrate peacefully. The union
> said the provincial police's waffling on the issue has only further
> damaged its credibility to answer questions surrounding the incident.
>
> Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, meanwhile, continued to brush of
> questions about a call for a public inquiry.
>
> "The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three
> people in question were spotted by protesters because were not engaging
> in violence," Day said Friday in Vancouver.
>
> "They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing
> rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That's the
> irony of this," said Day, adding the actions were substantiated by the
> video that he has seen of the protests.
>
> "Because they were not engaging in violence, it was noted that they were
> probably not protesters. I think that's a bit of an indictment against
> the violent protesters."
>
> A distraction
>
> Earlier Friday, the union president who exposed undercover cops posing
> as protesters at the summit said the controversy is distracting the
> public from the real issue.
>
> Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers
> Union of Canada, told CTV's Canada AM he's disappointed the controversy
> is shifting attention from the discussions that took place at the summit.
>
> "One of the problems we're having here is it's taking away from the
> issue, why we were there," he said. "We were there to demonstrate that
> we are opposed to the (Security and Prosperity Partnership). This covers
> it all up."
>
> Coles is shown in the YouTube video shot Monday from protests in
> Montebello accusing three masked protesters of being police.
>
> At first he confronted the men because they were holding rocks and the
> line they were in was meant for peaceful protests.
>
> "When I saw these three burly guys coming towards the line armed with
> rocks, I confronted them like I had others and immediately became
> apparent that these weren't protesters," he said. "They looked like
> police, they acted like police. I accused them of being police. You
> could see by their reaction in their eyes that they were caught with
> their hand in the cookie jar."
>
> In the video, Coles can be heard shouting and seen trying to pull down
> the masks from the men.
>
> "Put down the rock, cop!" Coles is heard shouting in the video.
>
> The men push towards the police line in the video and they are
> immediately pushed to the ground, arrested and taken away. Photographs
> taken by another protester shows the men on the ground wearing boots
> with the same emblem as the officers who are arresting them.
>
> The police say their men were just trying to pinpoint the real
> troublemakers in Montebello.
>
> After viewing the YouTube footage, security expert Martin Courcy told
> CTV Montreal he thought the Quebec police force was at best sloppy, and
> at worst dangerous, in their conduct.
>
> "The masked officers are adding fuel to the fire instead of defusing the
> situation," said Courcy, who trains police forces on security issues.
>
> But others, like retired Montreal police investigator Steve Roberts,
> told CTV the SQ did the right thing.
>
> "They can't be burned on a job. So if they're with a group that's
> throwing rocks, they'll throw the rocks, too."
>
> The two-day summit drew hundreds of protesters demonstrating against a
> number of issues.
>
> Their main focus, however, was the Security and Prosperity Partnership
> agreement that was set to be discussed by North American leaders, Prime
> Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George Bush and Mexico's
> President Felipe Calderon. The partnership would deeply integrate trade
> and security across the continent.
>
> Critics argued the partnership would force Canada to relax its high
> standards for worker and food safety in the interest of securing a deal
> with the U.S. and Mexico where standards are often lower.
>
> With a report from CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux and files from The
> Canadian Press
>
> *****
>
> http://tinyurl.com/28qhxy
> Yoni Goldstein
> The QPP's undercover blunder
>
> It was pathetic enough that three members of the Quebec Provincial
> Police force who posed as hard-core protesters -- garbed camo gear,
> faces covered by bandannas, one even bearing a rock -- at the two-day
> meeting of North American leaders held this week in Montebello, Que.,
> were so easily spotted by real protesters. Even worse was the QPP’s
> attempt to explain why it sent agents provocateurs into the protests in
> the first place: The three fake protesters weren’t trying to incite
> violence, the QPP claimed, they were simply working undercover to weed
> out potential troublemakers.
>
> Right. And they must have figured that a peaceful protest composed of
> Gap khaki-wearing, middle-age union folk was the best place to find the
> kind of raging, rock-throwing, police-bating protesters that usually
> cause trouble at these sorts of events.
>
> The star of the YouTube clip that outed the undercover cops is Dave
> Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
> Canada. As seen in the video, Mr. Coles confronted the QPP men as soon
> as they attempted to join his protest. He told them to get away -- that
> his was a peaceful protest, not the place for violent confrontation.
> “This is our line,” he shouts, “this is for old guys, grandmothers
> grandfathers. This is our line.”
>
> To his credit, Mr. Coles seemed to figure out quite quickly that the
> fake protesters were really undercover cops. In the video, he asks the
> “protester” clutching a rock to pull down his handkerchief from his
> face. The protester refuses and, soon after, shoves Mr. Coles. At that
> point, Mr. Coles begins to shout “These guys are cops” and “Put down the
> rock, cop.”
>
> As if that weren’t enough to rank this op as a complete bust, in the
> next part of the video, the protesters quickly move on to “confront”
> riot police (one seems to be having a fairly congenial conversation with
> the riot squad) and are quickly “arrested.” To top it all off, as riot
> cops are frisking one of the agents provocateurs, the video shows that
> both uniformed police and protester apparently prefer the same kind of
> footwear. Coincidence? Nobody thought so.
>
> In principle, I have nothing against police surveillance work. Those
> sorts of operations can be perfectly viable, especially at events where
> a small group of rabid, anarchist protesters have been known to incite
> full-fledged riot scenes. But there is fine line between reconnaissance
> operations and inciting protesters so that you can make the big arrest.
> The story at Montebello clearly appears to be a case of the latter, and,
> worse still, the pitiful work of amateurish incompetants.
>
> ygoldstein at nationalpost.com
>
> *****
>
> -- 
> Dan Clore
>
> My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
> http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1587154838/ref=nosim/thedanclorenecro
> Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
> http://www.geocities.com/clorebeast/
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> "Don't just question authority,
> Don't forget to question me."
> -- Jello Biafra
>
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