-Caveat Lector- [radtimes] # 196 An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities. "We're living in rad times!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send $$ to RadTimes!! --> (See ** at end.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: --Report from Medic: Worst police brutality ever seen --Leaders Hunker Down Amid Summit Protests --Protesters Seize Day In Quebec --85 confirmed arrests, 50 unconfirmed --Demonstrators Turn Anger on 'Wall' --Police Fire Rubber Bullets at Summit --Quebec City: an armed camp --ADBWatch says media concentrating on violence in Quebec --Police, Anarchists Clash Near Americas Summit Site --Violent clash in Quebec --Cops accused of subterfuge =================================================================== Report from Medic http://vermont.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=773&group=webcast by IMC Sat Apr 21 '01 Worst police brutality ever seen According to street medic and clinician, Doc Rosen, this is some of the worst police brutality he has ever seen. He said the police are acting with more violence than N30 in Seattle. The medics have been treating many burns, broken bones, teargas related injuries, head injuries, and even a C-Spine injury from a rubber bullet. The QC police are intentionally aiming tear gas canisters and plastic bullets at peoples heads, beating people, shooting them with water cannons, and just being brutal in general. =================================================================== Leaders Hunker Down Amid Summit Protests By Saul Hudson Reuters QUEBEC CITY (April 21) - Western Hemisphere leaders hunkered down on Saturday to discuss free trade behind a security fence that was under attack from rock-throwing protesters determined to further disrupt their Quebec City summit. Defying riot police who repeatedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas at them, the anti-globalization foot soldiers created a siege-like atmosphere by massing at several points of the perimeter fence erected to protect the 34 leaders at the Summit of the Americas. Eye-stinging tear gas floated through the sealed-off zone in the historic city and entered venue building vents, reminding the presidents and prime ministers that violence marring major summits has become as predictable as their closing statements. Hardened by battles that derailed such events as the 1999 world trade talks in Seattle, masked militants dressed in black fought into the early hours of Saturday with helmeted police carrying shields. They threw burning rolls of toilet paper inside the fence as battles flared sporadically less than half a mile from where leaders, including U.S. President George W., Bush were staying. For about an hour on Friday, they breached the 10-foot-high chain link fence embedded in concrete, forcing a 90-minute delay to the summit's opening ceremony, where the key issue was the proposed creation of the world's largest trade area. Thousands of demonstrators, ranging from avowed peaceniks to hard-core anarchists, have crowded into the French Canadian city to protest a proposed pact to create by the end of 2005 a free trade area from Alaska to Patagonia. In contrast with the protesters, who threw rocks, bottles and hockey pucks, hippy-like demonstrators ignored the violence and, remaining at the front-line, danced, played drums and gently batted a large beach-ball over the heads of militants. FREE TRADE IS FAIR TRADE? Police said they arrested 28 people and five officers were injured, mainly in clashes at the metal fence that snakes for 4 miles around summit venues and has been dubbed the ''wall of shame'' by protesters. The prospect of the free trade zone embracing 800 million people has galvanized a generation of activists, as the Vietnam War and nuclear arms did previously. They say it is designed to benefit big corporations, not Latin America's poor. While the Friday-to-Sunday summit will officially discuss trade for only a scheduled 30 minutes, the protesters have shoved the issue to the top of the popular agenda and prompted leaders to defend their proposal. Bush, who has declared himself an aggressive free trader, will address the summit's first working session on Saturday. After Friday's violence, which upset his timetable for meetings with regional leaders, he said the protesters were wrong. ''Trade not only helps spread prosperity, but trade helps spread freedom ...,'' he told reporters. ''We need trade.'' Summit host, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, said in his opening speech: ''I welcome those who have come to Quebec City to make known their views on how best to advance the social and economic interest of our fellow citizens. But violence and provocation is unacceptable in a democracy.'' =================================================================== Protesters Seize Day In Quebec Trade Foes Tear Gassed At Summit of Americas By Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, April 21, 2001; Page A01 QUEBEC CITY, April 20 -- President Bush and 33 other Western Hemisphere leaders seeking to build the world's largest free-trade zone opened a summit meeting today as clouds of tear gas and violent demonstrations played havoc with schedules and delayed meetings. Bush remained holed up in his hotel as the summit's opening ceremonies were delayed more than an hour. He was forced to cancel one meeting and postpone or abbreviate others because the movements of heads of state around Quebec City were hampered by the anti-globalization protests. "If they are protesting because of free trade, I'd say I disagree," Bush said. "I think trade is very important to this hemisphere. Trade not only helps spread propserity but trade helps spread freedom." In the lobby of the Loews Hotel, confusion reigned, as Bush aides scrambled to keep track of the changing schedule while watching the riots on television. Colombian President Andres Pastrana waited out the delays in the cocktail lounge. Bush departed Washington this morning hoping to use the Summit of the Americas to boost his push for "trade promotion authority," or fast-track negotiating authority, which would allow him to negotiate trade agreements that Congress could only approve or reject, not rewrite. Bush would use that power to negotiate a 34-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005 -- a goal made difficult by foot-dragging in Brazil and opposition in Congress. Setting the countries on track toward that objective is the main business of this summit On the South Lawn of the White House, Bush made an appeal for domestic support for free trade in the hemisphere by citing its importance to Hispanics, an increasingly influential voting segment. "Many Americans trace their heritage to other parts of the Americas, which enriches our culture," he said. "Many American businesses are finding growth and trade in the Americas, which expands our economy. And all Americans have an interest in the peace and stability of our closest neighbors." "We must approach this goal in a spirit of civility," he said. In Quebec City today, however, there was very little civility as police and demonstrators clashed a half mile from the convention center where the summit was convening. There were few reports of arrests or injuries, but the demonstrators partially achieved their goal of disrupting events. The center of the city remained tense tonight, with very little traffic and officers in military fatigues stationed on most corners. The authorities had sealed off the city center with fences and concrete barricades, but demonstrators breached the barricades in places. The participating nations were determined to avoid a repeat of the disturbances that marred the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, but the summit's first day was badly disrupted. >From Washington today came an announcement that some protesters might welcome. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced that the Bush administration will subject future trade agreements to environmental reviews. The decision, which could ease some objection to trade pacts in the United States, affirms an executive order issued by President Clinton. It is the latest in a string of pro-environment decisions by the Bush administration, which had been stung by environmentalists' anger caused by earlier, pro-business decisions. "Environmental reviews are an important policy tool for involving the public in the development of the U.S. government's trade objectives and policies," Zoellick's office said in a statement. The president, who watched the protests on television, canceled a meeting with 15 Caribbean heads of state because many of the leaders couldn't make it to the Loews Concord Hotel where Bush was to host them. A meeting of Andean national leaders started 20 minutes late and without Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Bolivian President Hugo Banzer Suarez. Only three of seven Central American leaders arrived close to schedule for a meeting with Bush, which had to be delayed. Even without the demonstrations, the summit was not shaping up as an easy one. Cardoso of Brazil set a tough tone in a speech at the opening session, underlining his country's reluctance to join a free-trade accord with the U.S. "We will insist that free-trade benefits should be equally shared by all participants, that trade opening should be reciprocal and that it should lead to the attenuation rather than the aggravation of the disparities that exist in our region," Cardoso said. FTAA would be "welcome," Cardoso said, if it included changes in member nations' rules on dumping, the sale of foreign products at illegal prices, and if it included a number of other elements Brazil is seeking to open markets for its agricultural exports. "Otherwise, it would be irrelevant or, worse, undesirable," he said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was also critical. Since the concept of a free trade zone was endorsed at a summit in Miami in 1994, he said, "we have advanced very little -- almost not at all -- in the social objectives." Accompanied by his wife, Laura, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and several top aides, Bush was greeted on arrival by a Canadian military band. Bush arrived early for a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and the two posed for the cameras. When Chretien declared that they wouldn't be taking questions, Bush added: "Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican." Meeting with the Central American leaders, aides said, Bush reiterated his opposition to the Kyoto treaty on global warming, telling them it "could do serious harm to the U.S. economy." As an alternative, a senior administration official said, Bush is pursuing "various international processes to work toward a new and innovative approach based upon market-based incentives, new technologies and cooperatively working together." =================================================================== 85 confirmed arrests, 50 unconfirmed http://quebec.indymedia.org/viewarticle.ch2?articleid=1348&language=english Quebec Legal Collective Update April 21st 2001 Arrests: There have been 85 arrests confirmed thus far. Confirmation means that we have received calls from these people in jail. There are additional reports of over 50 arrests that have been witnessed by legal observers and the media. Detentions: The legal office has received more than thirty reports of people being detained on the street and questioned by the police. We have also spoken with and received reports from a number of vans, buses, and cars that have been stopped. Reports include incidents of police unlawfully demanding identification from all passengers in cars; unlawful searches of people on the street who are not under arrest and do not consent; and ticketing of people who have tear gas masks. Brutality: Many reports from legal observers include the use of noxious gases. Entire streets and blocks are filled with fog from the gas. Official CBC reports indicate at times the gas canisters have been thrown as fast as 30 canisters per minute. There have been a number of reports of the use of rubber bullets and possible plastic bullets. QLC legal observers have collected entire bullets and shells from the ground. There have also been reports of the use of bean bags shot from police weapons. We have one confirmed report of a man with a broken arm hit by tear gas canister fired at close range (two feet). Targeted Arrests: There are eye witness reports of over a dozen targeted arrests of individuals. Police have made targeted, pre-planned arrests of specific people, without regard to their current actions. For example three police cars pulled up on the side of the road, jumped out and tackled the person to the ground. In another situation witnessed by legal observers, two undercover police vans picked up three people as they were walking peacefully by a gas station. This practice is consistent with surveillance/secret service tactics at previous protests in Seattle, Philadelphia, and DC. Immigration Detentions: Over 300 people from the U.S. were turned back at the border attempting to enter Canada. People turned back had their personal belongings (including phonebooks, literature, and journals) photocopied and were interrogated about their political beliefs and activities before they were turned away. Over 15 people were detained at the New York and Vermont borders and have not yet been released. =================================================================== Demonstrators Turn Anger on 'Wall' By DeNeen L. Brown Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, April 21, 2001; Page A01 QUEBEC CITY, April 20 -- What most enraged the demonstrators was "the wall of shame." Running 2 1/2 miles around the convention center where the Summit of the Americas was convening, the hastily erected concrete and chain-link barrier confirmed to them that they and their views would be shut out of the deliberations inside. This afternoon, they got their revenge. Euphoric crowds of anti-globalization demonstrators marched to the wall and pushed against it. First a young man scaled it, and then others began rocking it. Soon an entire section gave way. The crowd cheered; its most daring members crossed the boundary into territory officially denied to them. Some threw bottles and sticks at the waiting riot police. A few picked up a metal barrier and used it as a battering ram against a row of helmeted officers. Police remained calm, throwing canisters of tear gas, ducking the rocks. Protesters ran as the gas burned their eyes, noses and skin. But often the wind was in the protesters' favor, wafting the white clouds of gas back onto police lines. The protesters were soon evicted back across the fence line, but they were happy. "It was a little victory," said one protester, who earlier was chanting "We are the champions." The fracas had successfully intruded on the carefully orchestrated schedule of pomp and consultation inside: Several of President Bush's meetings with leaders of other countries were put off, and the opening ceremony was postponed by an hour. It was the same basic scene that has erupted in the past two years wherever government or corporate leaders meet on a big scale. Seattle, Prague, Davos, Switzerland -- each has drawn a medley of organizations that contest the world's existing capitalist order. As in those other places, much of the violence today was the work of young "anarchists" wearing masks and black clothing. Early in the day, hundreds of students met to organize the movement in basements at Laval University, their main staging ground. The movement was working overtime. While world leaders slept, the protesters organized. "They are afraid of us," one of the demonstrators shouted to assembled students. "This is why they have 6,000 police. But we will be heard." Everyone knew that there would be violence. Demonstrators talked of which "zone" of protest they'd be in, based on how gutsy they were willing to be. The red zone was the front line, for those prepared to fight by any means, to get arrested, to tear down the wall. Yellow was a bit farther from the police, for those who favored nonviolent disobedience but would "offer support" to those in the red zone. Green was for those who wanted to avoid conflict. Over and over, anger was focused on the wall. "This is a symbol of the struggle -- to have a discussion behind the wall," said French activist Jose Bove, who's famous in his home country for his attacks on McDonald's restaurants. "I'm here to say what is happening in the Americas is important for people around the world." By midafternoon, thousands of people had converged at Laval, chanting "Down with FTAA," the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, the pact under discussion at the summit. Finally, they began to move down Boulevard Laurier toward the old city. As they marched almost five miles, they seemed to get more and more angry. "Corporations are liars and thieves," one man in a green mask shouted. Ahead they saw the fence, with riot police in rows behind it. When the marchers reached what they believed to be the weakest section -- some had surreptitiously tested its strength the day before -- they began shouting slogans. The police stood still. The protesters grew louder, shouting "So-So-Solidarity." And then they broke through. In ensuing hours came a general melee. Police threw grenade after grenade of gas. Anarchists sent many of them arcing back toward the officers' lines. Some reporters saw them hurl a few firebombs as well. Using loudspeakers, police called on demonstrators to leave, evoking defiant laughter from some of them. Soon arrests began. Police moved in, grabbing at arms and clothing. Demonstrators were pressed facedown on the pavement as police searched and cuffed them. By late evening, the street battles were still underway, with police helicopters buzzing overhead. Media vehicles were parked with smashed windows. For many protesters, this was just the prelude. Organizers hoped that a march scheduled for Saturday would draw thousands of new bodies and voices to the barricades. =================================================================== Police Fire Rubber Bullets at Summit <http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Summit-Protests.html?ex=988804355&ei=1&en=9508f0c20e5f0c8f> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 21, 2001 QUEBEC (AP) -- Police unleashed rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas against hundreds of rock-throwing activists Saturday while most of the nearly 30,000 demonstrators marched peacefully through this picturesque city protesting a proposed free-trade pact. Protesters shook the chain-link and concrete wall encircling a 34-nation summit and pelted police with stones and sand-filled bottles. Officers charged with night sticks and opened fire with the rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons, blowing one man back on the pavement. Police said nearly 30,000 protesters crowded around the summit site, with 2,000 growing violent. In two days of unrest, at least 34 police officers were injured, as were 45 demonstrators. There were at least 150 arrests, police said. Protesters tied a long rope to one section of the fence in an attempt to tear it down. At another point they used wire cutters and tore the barrier down with their bare hands, but a graveyard fence still stood in their way. Riot police took up positions among the tombstones to defend the perimeter. Another group tried to breach the fence a few blocks away but also was held back with water cannons and tear gas. The violence came as two peaceful marches wound through the city. Thousands of people converged on Quebec from across the hemisphere and Europe to protest the Summit of the Americas, where President Bush and other leaders debated a zone known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas. A delegation of activists trying to breach the gate met up with one of the marches and urged protesters to join them at the clashes. But the marchers, who filed through the 17th-century city chanting "solidarity," said their march was peaceful and continued on their planned route. At a separate march across town, a carnival atmosphere accompanied a crowd that included people of all ages. Cheerleaders with pompoms led anti-free trade chants and a float carried a guillotine draped with the American flag. One woman painted her bare chest with an anti-trade slogan. At one spot of frequent clashes between police and demonstrators, police brought in snarling dogs and positioned them just inside the fence in case any demonstrators broke through. Authorities also positioned snowmaking machines next to water cannons. The snow machines can hurl water farther than the cannons. Protesters broke open the fence in one area nearby, but police quickly rushed in and stood shoulder-to-shoulder on both sides of the break until the fence was repaired. Police continued to fire and hurl tear gas canisters into the crowds. But demonstrators often picked up the canisters and threw them back at the police. Several demonstrators used hockey sticks to slam the canisters away from them. At one point, a group of black-clad activists began to throw wooden barricades through the windows of a bank, shattering them. Other protesters quickly surrounded them and booed. "Go and confront the police. Don't destroy property. It gives us all a bad image," admonished Sel Burrows, a 57-year-old retiree from Thompson, Canada. He turned to a journalist. "They're just crazies," he said. "They don't represent the rest of us." Organizers of that march asked police to stop firing tear gas as they passed near the flashpoints, saying children in the protest group could be sickened by the gas. Police did not appear to let up in their barrage. The protesters represent a diverse range of activists, organized labor, human rights organizations, environmental groups and others who say the trade talks should be held in public instead of in a locked conference center. Many said that forced them to express their opposition through street protests. ------- On the Net: 2001 Summit of the Americas: <http://www.quebecsummitoftheamericas.ca/sommet.nsf/n--frames_etE0?OpenPage> Host's summit site: http://www.americascanada.org/menu-E.asp Summit security site: http://www.securitesommet.ca/pages/menu--e.html Anti-free trade activist site: www.stopftaa.org/ =================================================================== Summit of the Americas Security operation turns Quebec City into an armed camp <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/queb-a21.shtml> By Keith Jones 21 April 2001 This weekend's Summit of the Americas has been made the object of a massive security operation whose purpose goes far beyond protecting US President George W. Bush, the 33 other heads of government attending the summit, and their entourages. Quebec City has been transformed into an armed camp. According to police spokesmen, 6,700 police, 1,200 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel and hundreds of customs officers are participating in the summit security operation. Up to 3,000 additional military personnel have been stationed at a CAF base in the suburb of Valcartier and stand ready for possible deployment. A large prison has been evacuated, so it can be used to incarcerate any anti-summit protesters who run afoul of the police. The police have been equipped with water cannon, attack dogs, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullet guns. And they have begun using them. After protesters toppled a tiny section of the chain-metal fence that encircles a large area ordered off-limits to anyone without summit security authorization, the police responded with a massive show of force, firing rubber bullets and volley after volley of tear gas. Months in the planning, the 3.8 kilometer metal-chain fence is embedded in concrete blocks and encircles a 10-square kilometer area of Quebec City's downtown. Shortly after midday Thursday, the police began enforcing the no-go zone, limiting access to those with special summit photo identification cards. Those who live in the area or who work at the conference site or at the hotels where summit participants are being housed have been given IDs, but only after undergoing extensive police security checks. The imposition of the no-go zone came hours earlier than previously announced, forcing the evacuation of thousands of civil servants who work in the downtown core, but for whom the Quebec government decided not to seek security clearances. Asked the reason for advancing the imposition of the security perimeter a police spokesman declared, "For strategic reasons, we decided to [act].... We found there was a critical mass of protesters in the perimeter." Police surveillance and action are by no means limited to the area in and around the perimeter. Helicopters are patrolling the entire Quebec City region, while police intelligence officers are systematically checking the guest lists of area hotels and in some cases asking to search guests' baggage. Customs and Immigration officers have been instructed to closely question anyone whom they suspect might be headed for Quebec City and to refuse entry to anyone with a criminal record or whose peaceful intent they question. Even two of the principal organizers of the Peoples' Summit, a counter-summit to which the Canadian and Quebec governments contributed half a million dollars, were subject to lengthy interrogations when they arrived in Canada. Ostensibly for security reasons, all of Quebec City's CEGEPs (junior colleges) were closed Friday, as were many public schools. The real reason for the closure was to preempt student efforts to organize a strike in protest against the summit and the proposed Free Trade of the Americas Agreement There is no question that the government and police, with the support of the corporate media, have sought to create a climate of fear and panic around the summit. They have a double purpose: first to paint any and all opposition to the right-wing big business agenda of the Summit of the Americas and the 34 participating governments as irrational, if not violent; second, through a massive display of state power to demonstrate capital's resolve and its readiness to use force and run roughshod over democratic rights in pursuit of its objectives. In the weeks preceding the summit, police and government spokesmen sought to justify repeated increases in the size and scope of the security operation by claiming they had intelligence reports of plans to disrupt the summit. Declared the director-general of the Quebec Provincial Police, "You would have to be naive to think that there is not a threat hanging over the Quebec City Summit." As if to order, police held a press conference on Wednesday to announce that they had thwarted a plot to use explosives to attack the summit. The following morning, newspapers across Canada made the story their front-page lead. Typical was the report that appeared in the Globe and Mail. Headlined "Police arrest six in summit plot," it began: "Quebec police and the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] say they have thwarted a plan by a violent cell of activists to use explosives to disrupt this weekend's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City." But it soon emerged that the explosives were smoke bombs and army "thunder flashes," harmless devices which simulate grenade explosions by making a firecracker-like bang and a flash of light. Seven young men between the ages of 19 and 23 face a total of 17 criminal charges, including conspiracy to cause life-threatening mischief. A spokesperson for the ad hoc group to which the youths belong has accused the police of vastly exaggerating their purported arsenal and deliberately misconstruing their aims, saying their intention was merely to break through the security perimeter. That the timing of the youths' arrests was politically motivated and the charges against them are a frame-up is underscored by the fact that the police concede that they have had the group under surveillance for months. Two of the seven have connections to the military, one is a CAF reservist, the other a former soldier, which must raise a question as to whether the entire escapade was not a police provocation. =================================================================== ADBWatch says media concentrating on violence in Quebec <http://doit1.starbulletin.com/breaking/FMPro?-db=breaking.fp3&-format=record%5fdetail.htm&-lay=web&-sortfield=cpriority&-sortfield=serial&-sortorder=descend&public=yes&-recid=36632&-find=> The organization says the media aren't focusing on peaceful protesters By Leila Fujimori Star-Bulletin April 20, 2001 Footage of violent protests in Quebec City repeated on television newscasts today is the media's focus on a handful of protesters, according to Carolyn Hatfield, a member of ADBWatch. And that won't be the scene in Honolulu when the Asian Development Bank meeting is held in Honolulu next month, she predicts. "I know there have been different demonstrations every dayreligious people, environementalists, all kinds of people," she said. "But it wasn't news until CNN puts their piece of material only showing a very small minority." Television news coverage showed police in riot gear firing tear gas at crowds protesting the Summit of the Americas held in Quebec City. Hatfield said the ADB is less extensive than the Americas Summit, lesser known and Hawaii is less accessible to protesters. She added that opponents of ADB coming to Hawaii are from South and Southeast Asia who will speak on the effects of the bank in their countries, unlike the violent protesters in Quebec. However, Honolulu police and state National Guard have been preparing for a scene similar to Quebec and the Seattle World Trade Organization protests. But Gov. Cayetano downplayed the possibility of violent protests. "We are prepared for whatever contingency and the demonstrations will be peaceful and civil, unlike demonstrations we have seen in Seattle and Quebec," Cayetano said. "The ADB is a very important event for us...if we do a good job I think we will see that Hawaii becomes a center for these things," he said. The governor was careful not to agitate any ADB opponents and said, "That is why we are working very hard to make sure the right of free speech is not impinged in anyway, we want to make sure that the people who want to express their concerns to ADB have an opportunity to do so." But Liz Rees, a member of Refuse and Resist, a group aginst domestic repression, said the city and state's preparations works in the opposite direction. "The news focuses the blame on the protesters," Rees said. She said in Quebec, there is a clamp-down on preventing protesters from entering the city. "They're literally putting up barricades and walls to prevent people from coming in. "And that's the same kind of atmosphere and repression they're trying to do here." Members of Refuse and Resist will meet at 8 p.m. tonight at the Honolulu Zoo to march peacefully through Waikiki in solidarity with the protests in Quebec and to raise awareness on the Asian Development Bank. =================================================================== Police, Anarchists Clash Near Americas Summit Site By Gilbert Le Gras Friday April 20 QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - Protest groups stormed into the security zone ringing Quebec City's Summit of the Americas on Friday, tearing down fences and hurling rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas and baton charges. The clashes, involving small groups of black-clad anarchists, took place blocks from the conference center where leaders from 34 countries were scheduled to starting the three-day summit later on Friday to discuss trade and democracy. They were the first serious incidents in a weekend which anti-globalization activists have vowed to turn into a rerun of protests which disrupted trade talks in Seattle in 1999. Peaceful protests started with a march late in the morning well to the north of the area sealed off by police. The demonstrations gathered momentum as activists, divided into groups of red, yellow and green according to their readiness to get into trouble, neared the perimeter fence, a 10-foot chain link fence embedded in concrete blocks snaking round the center of historic Quebec City. Violence broke out in mid-afternoon, when small groups of anarchists from the red group tore down a dozen sections of the fence and stormed briefly into the security zone. Police replaced the fence with a human wall of officers wearing riot gear and raced in reinforcements. Early reports said two officers were injured and demonstrators had smashed window of a television car and of a nearby gas station. Eyewitnesses said both police and demonstrators used tear gas, but it was not clear whether the protesters were simply throwing back canisters fired by the police. Strong winds blowing toward the police made life easier for the demonstrators, many of whom were wearing black clothes and masks or motor cycle helmets. The vast bulk of demonstrators argue that free trade, one of the goals of the three-day summit of leaders of 34 countries in the Americas, hurts the poor and the environment. ``The crowd is huge and angry -- angry about the FTAA and about the wall that has been put up. I can understand their anger,'' Mark Fried of Oxfam Canada told CBC Television, referring to plans to introduce a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Some demonstrators waved red flags and a flag of communist-ruled Cuba, the only country in the region excluded from the summit. =================================================================== Saturday 21 April 2001 Violent clash in Quebec Demonstrators rupture fence, battle riot cops The (Montreal) Gazette At 11 last night, the opening night of the Summit of the Americas, and nine hours after clashes began between police and protesters, the streets of this city's Old Quarter continued to burn with rage and smell of tear gas. Plastic bullets and canisters of tear gas flew at the exact site where demonstrators marched up to the security perimeter at 2 p.m. and tore a hole into a chain-linked barricade that was supposed to withstand the impact of a speeding car. Hours earlier protesters shouted over and over one of their favourite slogans: "This is what democracy looks like. "This is what democracy looks like." For a few hours of bedlam on the first day of the summit, democracy looked like a sea of black-clad youths in bandannas and khakis, brandishing baseball bats and hurling water bottles. It looked like ranks upon ranks of police in riot gear thumping their shields. It looked like teenagers collapsing in clouds of tear gas, too overcome to shout for help. What police and protesters waged yesterday was not war, but it was ugly nonetheless - and ugly from the beginning. On one side: masked protesters with two-by-fours, rocks and chunks of concrete. On the other: armour-clad riot police with truncheons, tear gas, water cannons and plastic bullets. After a quiet morning of demonstrators milling restlessly in clusters around the security perimeter, teach-ins and a peaceful march from Universite Laval, several thousand people converged on one of the main gates around 2 p.m. with one thing in mind: confrontation. A tidal wave of people holding banners, chanting and beating drums marched up Rene Levesque Blvd. to Claire Fontaine St. They packed Parc de L'Amerique Francaise, a square within sight of the conference centre where many of the summit meetings are taking place and where the leaders of 34 countries were to meet for the opening ceremonies a few hours later. The leaders of the pack of protesters wore bandannas over their faces, hoods and gas masks. One group of identically dressed black-clad protesters carrying a banner reading "Anti-Capitalist Offensive" mowed down a news photographer and tried to spraypaint his lens as they approached the fence. Others lobbed bottles, soda cans, rocks, smoke bombs, snowballs - even a pink teddy bear - over the wall, aiming at the phalanx of police in helmets massing inside the security perimeter. As soon as the demonstrators reached the fence, they grabbed onto it and began shaking. One man climbed the barrier and for a few seconds, perched directly above the riot cops. Then he squeezed between two layers of chain link and began prying it apart with his lower body. Those below rocked it wildly, sending the man bouncing precariously between the layers to a resounding roar from the crowd. The fence seemed to crumple as easily as paper under the combined strength of dozens of husky activists who simply attached rope to the chicken wire and peeled it down. Others used the weight of their bodies to lean on the steel poles and push them over. In the end, it took only a few short minutes for the wall - which was supposed to be strong enough to withstand the impact of a speeding car - to fall. When they had ripped a gaping hole in the fence, 15 to 20 protesters infiltrated the perimeter and were quickly shoved back by police shields. Four people were arrested just inside the broken-down gate. Dressed in a white padded suit, one of them bled from a gash just below his wavy blond hair. "The police did this, man," he said, as he was hauled away by officers and thrown into a dark blue van. The second protester told police his name was George W. Bush, while a third yelled from inside the van that he was a student photographer from the University of Ottawa newspaper, the Fulcrum. Police unleashed an arsenal of weapons on the demonstrators, beginning with tear gas. They lobbed canisters into the crowd, but the gas wafted back toward the cops on a light northerly breeze. As the riot squad closed in on all sides, a defiant group of protesters remained in the middle, taunting police and throwing back the canisters of tear gas that were fired at them. One protester was hit square in the chest with a rubber bullet from one of the riot-squad officers, who received a slap on the back from a colleague for his good aim. Protesters also managed to pelt the cops with various objects from near-point-blank range after they tore down a stretch of the fence right next to the front line of officers. Police quickly subdued a handful of those protesters and dragged them away to a waiting police truck. Demonstrators on the front line stood their ground, having donned gas masks and vinegar-soaked bandannas to diminish the effects of the tear gas. Peaceful demonstrators in the back of the crowd alternately cheered, hurled snowballs or stood watching in stunned silence. They would retreat then creep back toward the action. One man on a soapbox near the fence screamed: "We do not want violence!" and "Calm down!" into a megaphone. Soon riot cops closed in on the park, pushing the demonstrators back down Rene Levesque Blvd. Two hulking white trucks with water cannons sped up the street and began firing into a crowd observing from the steps of the Grand Theatre. This sent demonstrators stampeding in all directions. As they escaped down side streets, the clash metamorphosed to hand-to-hand combat, with skirmishes in various areas of town. Police created a wide perimeter around the bedlam and formed a line across Rene Levesque. A number of the most aggressive agitators faced off with the riot squad there for several hours with police firing sporadic rounds of tear gas and plastic bullets. There were injuries on both sides. A squawking walkie-talkie in a protester-run station on Charest Blvd. told the tale of a demonstrator hit in the leg by a plastic bullet. Ten people were treated in four local hospitals, said Denise Lacoursiere, a spokesman for the Regional Health and Social Services Board in Quebec. Four protesters were treated for burns, probably caused by tear gas, she said. Another two protesters suffered fractures and minor injuries. Another person attending the demonstration was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia, an elevation of body temperature. Police officers were among the injured. Two suffered minor injuries. A third was treated for a heart condition. A police dog lay on the ground in the aftermath as his trainer bandaged his foot. Former Bloc Quebecois MP Daniel Turp, one of five human-rights observers dispatched by Quebec Public Security Minister Serge Menard to monitor protests and police intervention, was on the scene. He said his initial evaluation of police response when the fence came down was that officers were "fairly restrained." What ensued for the next several hours, however, looked far from restrained to most observers. Jane Buker, who came from Vancouver to protest at the summit, said she gave water to a man who had been hit in the neck with a tear-gas canister. "He seemed to be in quite a lot of pain," said Buker, as she sat on her bicycle after the crowd moved off Rene Levesque toward St. Jean St. "But then (the police) threw more stuff and he said he had to go." Buker said she also witnessed two police water tanks spray the crowd on Rene Levesque. "Some people were just sitting with their cameras on the curb and were just washed away," Buker said. She, like many, was overcome by tear gas. The police apparently followed one group of protesters who moved onto a side street, de Salaberry, and fired tear gas. The can hit a car parked in a private driveway, however. It broke the passenger window and started a fire. Two fire trucks put out the flames. The owner of the car arrived a short time later, apparently unaware of what had happened. The man, who refused to give his name, counted himself lucky. "I think it could have been a lot worse," he said. As most peaceful protesters fled, the battle between police and those who remained escalated. A group smashed the windows of a police car and yanked out some documents. They also trashed a CBC-TV van, tearing out gear and carting it off. Before 6 p.m., a marked Surete du Quebec squad car sped down the road, leading an empty yellow school bus. As it headed toward the front line, protesters attacked it, causing it to nearly lose control and swerve into the crowd. Around 6 p.m., a fire truck attempted to drive the same route. Demonstrators blocked it and pushed it back. They then opened hatches and ripped out helmets, yanked down the fire hoses and stretched them across the street to block the way. They turned on the taps and filled their bottles and buckets with the water pouring out, then used it to flush out their eyes. This allowed them to turn back and face the cops again. By 7 p.m., a couple of men with megaphones walked through the streets north of the perimeter, notifying protesters that the police presence was so strong that anyone who continued protesting risked arrest. Green-garbed police sealed off access not just to the perimeter, but to many of the narrow streets that circle it. As the sun set on the first day, it was impossible to find a gate that didn't have a phalanx of cops locked in an uneasy eyeballing contest with a group of demonstrators. The streets of Old Quebec were jammed with people, and reeked of tear gas. For a while, everything was quiet. But a once peaceful afternoon demonstration escalated late last night, as police in riot gear continued throwing tear gas over the fence at a large group of protesters. Smoke from a fire lit beside the fence mingled with gas fumes wafting up toward Place Quebec - an underground shopping mall that links the convention centre to the hotels where several dignitaries are staying. Several delegates sneezed and gagged on the fumes as they passed by. =================================================================== Saturday 21 April 2001 Cops accused of subterfuge by NICOLAS VAN PRAET The (Montreal) Gazette Police are using violence without reason and are disguising themselves as protesters to arrest demonstrators, two of Quebec's main activist groups charged last night. The accusations came hours after a violent clash with police delayed the start of the official Summit of the Americas. Representatives of CLAC (the anti-capitalist convergence) and CASA, the so-called "welcoming committee" of protesters here, denounced the police response to yesterday's demonstration, calling it "brutality, violence and repression." Helene Nazon, a member of CASA, recounted how she saw police disguised as protesters pin down, beat and arrest well-known activist Jaggi Singh. It happened at 5 p.m., in an area half a kilometre from where the clash with police occurred, the protest groups said. "He was just standing around talking," Nazon said. "He wasn't doing anything to warrant his arrest." Singh's whereabouts are still unknown, the groups said yesterday evening. He has not contacted his lawyers and despite calls to police and the Orsainville prison authorities, no one could tell them where he is being held. Protesters said they know it was police that arrested Singh because the three plain-clothes officers identified themselves. When other protesters approached to try to free Singh, the police shouted: "Back off! Police!" as they took out batons. 'A Cause They Were Defending' "It was the most violent arrest I've ever seen," Nazon said. At a press conference late last night, the groups said tens of thousands of people took part in the protests, which turned ugly when activists broke through the security perimeter. "All these people had a cause they were defending," said Helene Vallieres of CASA. "What happened will only reinforce people's will to oppose an oppressive state." Members of the Quebec Legal Committee, a group of activists with legal training who help protesters and watch that their legal rights are upheld, said police are illegally interrogating activists - even breaking into their homes at night. Three people arrested yesterday are still unaccounted for, they said. "We've seen a continuous pattern on silencing dissent," said John Viola, a member of the legal committee. "People have been stopped simply because of the way they look." Added Ian Renaud-Lauze, another member of the legal committee: "As soon as people try to take political action outside official institutions, they are repressed." CLAC is a group that supports a variety of protest tactics, including violence. Last night, its members accused the police of beating back protesters for no reason. "The entire world will see us as a police state," charged Louise Boivin, a CLAC member. "This is not a democracy. We do not have the basic rights of protest." Though clashes with police delayed the official start of the summit, the groups did not claim victory. They say what they really want is for elected leaders to scrap plans for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. =================================================================== "Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control." -Jim Dodge ====================================================== "Communications without intelligence is noise; intelligence without communications is irrelevant." -Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ====================================================== "It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." -J. Krishnamurti ====================================================== "The world is my country, all mankind my brethren, and to do good is my religion." -Thomas Paine ====================================================== " . . . it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds . . . " -Samuel Adams ====================================================== "You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no results." -Gandhi ====================================================== "The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable." -H.L. 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