'There is no right to protest': Montreal police deny Charter rights

[whitecoast]

_http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2013/03/there-no-right-protest-montreal-police-deny-charter-rights#.UU6Iz-jVT0A.twitter

"This is approaching absurdist comedy," tweeted Montreal Gazette reporter Christopher Curtis Friday night, trapped in a police kettle from which Montreal's finest inexplicably refused to release him as his deadline approached.

"Did they really, actually arrest Anarchopanda????" replied well known Québécoise pundit Josée Legault.

Curtis never replied, no doubt caught up in extricating himself from police custody, so allow me to do so now: yes Josée, they really, actually did. Just call him Arrestopanda. At night's end the tally ran something like this: one panda, several rabbits, a few dozen journos and almost three hundred dull normals cuffed, processed and slapped with $654 fines. This after being held for hours in the cold kettles Montreal police formed around them.

An obscene over-reaction regardless of circumstance, kettling has been ruled illegal by England's High Court. In Toronto, the senior police commander who ordered protesters kettled at the 2010 G20 summit has been charged with discreditable conduct and unlawful use of authority. The Toronto Police Service have committed to never use the tactic again after an independent review found it to be unlawful. Kettling is a particularly disturbing tactic because it only works on peaceful protesters who offer little resistance, making it insidiously offensive to the concept of free speech and free assembly.

But, some would argue, once those damn kids started with the breaking of the windows and the throwing of the snowballs, what choice did the police have?
Sorry Dorothy, but we're not in Kansas anymore. The question of whether you can justify arresting hundreds of people because one or two did something objectionable is sooooo 2012.

Friday night, before the protest had even begun, and without so much as a hurtful word to serve as pretext, Montreal police descended on a crowd of protesters who were, without exception, peaceful and arrested the lot of them.

I don't go in for a lot of the alarmist stuff you see on Twitter and Facebook. I think Stephen Harper sucks, and I hate what he's done to our country, but I don't think he's a dictator or a fascist. I've always hated the SSPVM chant (the addition of an extra "s" to the name of Montreal's police service alluding to the Nazi SS) and I think such hyperbole often obscures, rather than illuminates, important issues.

So it's not for nothing that I tell you I woke this morning genuinely afraid. For the first time in my life I am afraid of what can happen to me, and to my friends and neighbors and strangers, if we exercise inalienable rights that we cannot, must not, forfeit. This is not hyperbole, it is fact, and the fact is that the world looks a great deal darker today.

How else to process the preventative arrest of 294 law abiding citizens for the sole crime of attempting to express their political views in a constitutionally guaranteed fashion? Worse, this is the third time Montreal police have moved in to preemptively arrest a protest in its entirety in the space of one week, this lovely new staple of police tactics having been trotted out at the annual anti-police brutality march on the 15th and again to pre-empt a student protest on Tuesday, when 45 people were arrested.

Last night's shameful spectacle came courtesy of Municipal By-Law P-6, the little known municipal counterpart to the universally denounced, and now repealed, Bill 78/ Law 12. The municipal bylaw shares the requirement that protests must submit their route for approval by the police 24 hours in advance. Among other goodies, it also allows Montreal's Executive Committee to prohibit any peaceful assembly indefinitely, at their discretion and without notice. It should be noted that this almost certainly unconstitutional bylaw was passed by a municipal government with all the credibility and moral authority of a turnip.

At last night's demonstration the police declared the protest illegal before it began for failing to provide a route and ordered protesters to disperse. However, they waited only seconds between giving that order and kettling protesters, giving them no chance to comply.

But don't worry, say the police, they aren't infringing on anyone's right to protest, because no such right exists.
"Starting with the last three demonstrations, we have been intervening faster," Sergeant Jean-Bruno Latour, a spokesperson for the SPVM, told La Presse. "We do not want to hold citizens who wish to go to downtown Montreal hostage. The Charter [of rights and freedoms] protects the right to freedom of expression, but there is no right to protest." [Translated from French]

This rather jaw-dropping statement raised the ire of Véronique Robert, a criminal lawyer in Montreal. Her scathing rebuttal on the website of weekly newspaper Voir titled "Fear the police, not the protests" is a delicious take down of this absurd position, and if you read French I recommend reading it in its entirety. Here's a taste:

"This screwball assertion by an officer with the Montreal Police is scary, alarming and frightening, and leads to two conclusions: first, our police urgently need more law classes as part of their training. Second, things are not at all well in Quebec right now, and that frightens me." [Translated]

Robert goes on to patiently explain that peaceful assembly and protest is an integral part of freedom of expression, without which the right cannot exist. She points out that not only is our right to protest clearly and explicitly protected by our Charter, it is also protected by every document dealing with the protection of fundamental rights in the world, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In 2005, the UN Human Rights Commission criticized, as it did again last year, mass arrests taking place in Montreal in the context of the last student strike, calling mass arrests by their very nature a violation of the right to freedom of expression. The commission called for a public inquiry into police actions, and questioned the article in the criminal code prohibiting illegal assembly.

"The state must ensure that the right to peacefully participate in a protest is respected, and that only those who have committed a criminal infraction during a protest are arrested." [Translated]
Robert concludes as follows:

"When the young, and the even younger, receive $614 [sic] tickets for participating in a public assembly, be afraid. When protest movements are bullied from the moment they are formed, be afraid. When the police detain citizens en masse for no reason, be afraid. When police conflate interrogation with arbitrary arrest for exercising a constitutional right, be afraid.

What should actually scare us, in Montreal, is the police and their totalitarian declarations. What we should fear is the state and our mode of governance. Not protesters." [Translated]

Strong words, but necessary ones. Robert is no wild-eyed radical, she's a criminal defence attorney, and is articulating a position shared by the vast majority of her colleagues. P-6 has been denounced by the Quebec Bar Association, representing the province's lawyers and prosecutors, and a march of lawyers against Law 12 last year drew over six hundred into the streets.

Right now, in Montreal, the very right to protest, that most fundamental right to freedom of expression, is under assault. If we give in, and stay home for fear of these preposterous tickets, we will have lost not just the battle but the war itself. Indeed, the worst part about these tactics is that they work. I know many friends who will no longer go to protests for fear of arrest and a ticket they cannot afford. What a sad state of affairs when the police bully and intimidate citizens out of exercising their right to criticize the government. So go to the demos, go to all the demos, and prove you will not let fear and intimidation win out. If you get a ticket, contest it. The legal resources to ensure you succeed are freely available.
When our police force denies that we have any right to peacefully express our dissent, there is no recourse but to fight tooth and nail to protect our rights. This is far too important an issue to let slide.

Robert and I both expect legal challenges to this law, which will hopefully be struck down, but in the meanwhile I think it's time we made municipal bylaw P-6 an election issue.

Montreal has a municipal election coming up in November. With the implosion of the ruling Union Montreal party after revelations of widespread corruption, revelations which also tarnished the reputation of opposition party Vision Montreal, the election is more uncertain than any in my memory.

Over the next year any number of politicians will be asking for your vote. Any time they do, make a habit of telling them that you will only vote for a party which commits to repeal bylaw P-6. This is for all the marbles folks, our right to freedom of expression is not negotiable.

The PQ campaigned heavily on a promise to repeal the wildly unpopular Law 12, and now it's time to finish what they started. The repeal of Law 12 is a Pyrrhic victory if bylaw P-6 remains in force.

I'll close with an oldie but a goodie: If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.

What the most ridiculous thing about the article is that there's almost no mainstream media coverage. It's like they're trying to hide or obscure some fact of reality or something Is anyone here from the greater Montreal area? Can any of you weigh in on events happening there? I've asked some fb friends of mine but haven't heard back yet. I'll try and follow up with what they say when/if I get a response.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

What the most ridiculous thing about the article is that there's almost no mainstream media coverage. It's like they're trying to hide or obscure some fact of reality or something Is anyone here from the greater Montreal area? Can any of you weigh in on events happening there? I've asked some fb friends of mine but haven't heard back yet. I'll try and follow up with what they say when/if I get a response.

I live in Montréal.

The situation is bad, really bad. I do not recognize my province anymore. But the picture is getting clear. There's nothing so surprising about this to be honest. Jean Charest (former prime minister) created a conflict which he knew would provoke agitation among students and immediately came out with his army of cops and unconstitutional rules. No wonder why hundreds of lawyers also protested. You don't see that often, especially not here. Big scam. Red flags everywhere. History repeating itself. Create a problem, propose impose a solution which means bye-bye freedom, hello totalitarian state.

Media coverage is just grotesque. Of course they are hiding facts and hiding what's really going on. And they twist everything to give reason to the cops and put the blame on protesters. Yet, they try to manipulate people into thinking that they are "objective" by also showing a tiny bit of police brutality but again, they take everything out of context and put it in a way that makes people believe that "yes, cops are sometimes brutal but they do their job and the real culprits are these anarchic hippies" if you catch my drift. "But they break windows so they need to be neutralized" - sort of thing.

In the general sense, most of the things you see in medias are all against protesters. Mainstream chroniclers especially take a great pleasure in "demolishing" them, comparing them to lazy kids that want everything for them not giving a crap about anything or anybody else but their own. One particular individual, mayor Stéphane Gendron, almost seems excited to call the students "little f*krs that only deserve to be thrown in jail" on TV, just like that, on his rediculous show called "ras-le-bol" (fed up). Last year, some teens have even been arrested for firing up smoke bombs in the metro and they almost got accused of "inciting people towards terrorism" which could have sent them to jail for a few years.

As far as police brutality goes, it's really awful. I know many people who have been there and man, I feel helpless. A guy got shot in the face point-blank with a "non-lethal weapon" and lost an eye. A girl was violently thrown onto the ground and have lost teeth as well as suffering from a broken jaw. People are being ran over by cops cars. Many people who do nothing wrong are being brutalized and called every sorts of names by the police. Some officers shoot at them (again with "non-lethal stuff") and you can see them [police] laughing at them and telling them to "get the f*k away". Innocent people get regularly beaten by cops just for the sake of being there and many injured ones are totally ignored by the police. They throw smoke grenades everywhere and don't give a darn about children and elderly people who are often among protesters. They circle groups of people and all arrest them, throw them in buses and make them wait for hours, letting them basically urinate in their pants because they can't get out before finally giving them very costly tickets - or taken to the police station for further abuse.

Many police officers and other suspicious people have been spotted/identified among protesters. They basically infiltrate the movement, often dressed in black to make it appear as if they are from the "black block" and provoke a lot of turmoil which gives the cops "reason" to make rough interventions. We call them "casseurs" (breakers). Just like at the G20 meeting. Again, old tactic. Nothing new.

The atmosphere in Montréal has deeply changed since the beginning of the movement last year. It's really sad. But as I said, not surprising at all. Many cops have quit their job because they couldn't support being ordered to do such atrocities. But there are always other people who take their place and obey (sometimes with great pleasure).

Anyhow, this is the gist of it. Haven't been following the events much for a while but as far as I understand from others who do, the cycle of crap is still ongoing.

Something's gotta stop the flow.

Here are some pics.

The guy who lost his eye.

The infamous "matricule 728", Stéphanie Trudeau, a real crazy perhaps psychopathic woman. She was eternally angry, intimidating, swearing at everybody, aggressive and physically violent (she could take on any men with ease). I mean, it was getting so absurd that they had to arrest her at some point. The criminal accusations fell the next day and she was only sent for a psychiatric evaluation. What a joke.

A unarmed person being brutalized by a cop for no apparent reason.

A guy during a protestation in Victoriaville was severely wounded and went into a coma. Cops refused to call an ambulance. "Can't do anything." So of course, others did but the police blocked the road preventing medics to come. So his friends had to transport him despite the risks.

That's it for now.

Peace.

 

[Wu Wei Wu]

This is despicable and quite frightening. Though I may be in British Columbia at the opposite end of the country, we also saw strange applications of municipal bylaws during the Stanley Cup Riot, where people were being illegally searched and their property seized on public and presumably private property.

Here is a podcast posted a few days ago regarding the P6 Bylaw.

http://fsrn.org/audio/montreal-activists-challenge-p6-anti-protest-law-with-civil-disobedience/11819

And here one of the participants (the one who linked the above article) reports he was arrested and kettle during the Friday Protest mentioned above.

http://aaron.resist.ca/fsrn-in-montreal-activists-challenge-p6-anti-protest-law-with-civil-disobedience

The podcast says a ruling is expected by the Quebec Supreme Court this fall. I think this is the beginning of a more overt descent into authoritarianism. We had a taste of it during the G20, but here the laws are coming out in force and the actions being revealed to the public at large. Canadians, not the bravest people in the first place, are being cowed into submission.

 

[Voyageur]

[...]
Many cops have quit their job because they couldn't support being ordered to do such atrocities. But there are always other people who take their place and obey (sometimes with great pleasure).
[...]
Something's gotta stop the flow.

Peace.

And this is the thing, what has happened to consciousness (in "peace" officers)? Who really are those types being recruited now, are the recruiters looking for a particular mindset? Is it becoming a more predominate mindset? Seems so.

Much has changed and yet people keep carrying on as if it is all the same. If things like the new Cyprus model bank "bail-in" happen in Canada as the government has set it up, things could get very nasty, very quickly.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

And this is the thing, what has happened to consciousness (in "peace" officers)? Who really are those types being recruited now, are the recruiters looking for a particular mindset? Is it becoming a more predominate mindset? Seems so.

That's exactly what I'm wondering. But as you say, it seems like so. It has to, at least that's what I'm thinking. I can't see why "normal" human beings would be so eager to act like this day after day of protestation. That's why many have quit. Not saying they only recruit psychopaths but I'm pretty sure some are among them. This seems like a perfect job - especially at that moment - for them to get into an easy position of power, domination and control over virtually anybody for whatever reason they feel is "justified". An "easy way" to do what they want (even be violent) without having to fear being uncovered as being so. They can just be seen as angry cops but nobody will wonder if they are psychopaths. But in reality, this could mean a lot. It would mean that we are stuck with law enforcement agents who have no conscience. And they are supposed to protect and serve? Anyhow, these are my thoughts. I could be wrong.

The thing is that these cops are now omnipresent. Whenever a protestation movement begins, they just immediately pop out of nowhere coming from all directions and charge on people. I mean, this is reality now. And protestations have lately been against police brutality. In return, we get more police brutality.

I forgot to mention something in my previous message and it is that many cops just hide their name tags and refuse to identify themselves when asked. This didn't seem to happen before - at least not that I have heard of. They have been filmed and just basically don't care. The medias, government and SPVM (Montréal police department) have their backs.

This is truly sad. I've had to deal with police officers quite a few many times in the past when I was in my dark days and they were always nice with me and spared me tickets, towing for the car and detention. They even brought me home twice. Once I had fell down blacking out on the sidewalk and another time I was just about 20 km away from home, intoxicated and had lost my bus ticket. Had to walk a few hours to go home but a cop offered me a ride and was very cool. He didn't criticize me. Just told me to be careful and that I should take care of myself. I mean, these are "real cops" if I may say so. They have actually protected me and helped me when I needed it instead of calling me names and punishing me.

Much has changed and yet people keep carrying on as if it is all the same.

Yep. Medias do a fantastic job at brainwashing people. Everything is a setup. Divide to govern. By doing this, they make sure people are far less likely to all put their efforts in common to fight the real threat. Only a bunch does (still a significant bunch) but the rest just hate them with deep passion. They don't realize that it's exactly what the PTB want and that by doing so, they condemn even themselves to live in a police state and sooner or later, they'll pay the price as well. "With deepest sympathy... though... you should really have been paying attention." -- SOTT

If things like the new Cyprus model bank "bail-in" happen in Canada as the government has set it up, things could get very nasty, very quickly.

Indeed. I mean, what to expect when your leader has no conscience?

 

[ajseph 21]

This is a cynical viewpoint but traditional protesting has lost it's effectiveness in today's society. We know about psychopathology ( though not everyone does) and protesting seems to be an appeal to conscience. Psychopaths don't have that and their followers buffer it away. It just doesn't work, although I'm not suggesting we quit. We can find more constructive elaborate ways of dealing with this FWIW.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

This is a cynical viewpoint but traditional protesting has lost it's effectiveness in today's society.

I understand and I agree (in a way). The main problem is that they don't know who they are dealing with. They still think that it's a matter of choosing the right government and so on. They still put their faith into politics and are sort of waiting for a savior of some sort.

It's very hard to try to discuss real things with so many of them. Actually I have never succeeded. Black and white thinking. Either you agree or either you are an arsehole. Subjective thinking. Wishful thinking. Ignorance. And lies.

So you know, it's hard for me because I want to help but like I've said to many people, if you don't know your enemy, your chances of wining are slim to none. Especially when dealing with psychopathy. But they don't get it. They think it's an expression and only think of psychopaths as being schizoid serial killers etc. They don't realize that they aren't necessarily violent and that it has nothing to do with mental illnesses per se.

We know about psychopathology ( though not everyone does) and protesting seems to be an appeal to conscience. Psychopaths don't have that and their followers buffer it away. It just doesn't work, although I'm not suggesting we quit. We can find more constructive elaborate ways of dealing with this FWIW.

I get what you mean and yes, I think we could find more constructive ways to deal with this. But the most fundamental and important thing is to first of all getting aware of the situation (Knowledge and Objectivity). Aware of what we are dealing with. Aware of who the enemy really is. But that's where they mostly fail to begin with so although I do not want to dismiss their efforts, so far it seems that it'll never work - at least not that way.

But unfortunately, "time" is running short. Soon, all that might not matter anymore (I mean free education which is what they want). Other things will need to be taken care of.

Peace.

 

[Voyageur]

This is a cynical viewpoint but traditional protesting has lost it's effectiveness in today's society. We know about psychopathology ( though not everyone does) and protesting seems to be an appeal to conscience. Psychopaths don't have that and their followers buffer it away. It just doesn't work, although I'm not suggesting we quit. We can find more constructive elaborate ways of dealing with this FWIW.

The system has certainly made many more people (traditional) afraid of protesting (fascist tactics and ensuring social division) resulting in the loss of effectiveness, as well as the distorted media coverage that creates whatever illusions the MSM are aiming for. In the end perhaps, being effective in the face of a pathological system by protesting would take a great great many people to say no, we are not going to take this anymore - and they know this and will use whatever means possible to ensue people can not gather together; this gathering together, this is what makes them afraid.

Not very often in history, yet sometimes, osit, all it takes is just one person to stand ground, to say no, and if it resonates, if the idea merits such attention as it has consciousness and bears on all, people will join to help and politicians will backtrack (to the voting public) when enough people join in and they understand the idea/cause is unstoppable. Sure hope we can find "constructive" ways, as you said, in dealing with these matters of social consciousness against those who suppress, yet we must understand our history and people tend to forget.

 

[loreta]

I am very sad with all this. I have good remembrances of police people when I was living there, some 14 years ago. I worked in a community center and the police of the district help us very much, participating in our activities, coming and talking to the kids and family, always ready to help us with anything.... It is really sad to see how things change gradually to the worst and the terrible, horrendous influence of America. I think the only thing we can do is being aware of all of this. Here where I live I am unable to talk about anything with anyone. So the only solution for me is being aware. But what is happening in Montreal is happening here also, it is something that is happening in every country of this planet, extending his tentacles like a virus. And even if some intelligent people talk about all of this situation and the consequences that will result of this situation, people don't listen. The fear and insecurity of humans are so strong that they become blind.

People who are not blind are seeing how this planet is becoming "1984" with a breathtaking speed.

 

[Voyageur]

Here where I live I am unable to talk about anything with anyone.

That is too bad loreta; hope you connect with some people.

I worked in a community center and the police of the district help us very much, participating in our activities, coming and talking to the kids and family, always ready to help us with anything....

There will always be some police people who try and help in the communities, they too are the sons and daughters, the mothers and fathers who are trying to find their way in a world that is hard to understand.

People who are not blind are seeing how this planet is becoming "1984" with a breathtaking speed.

Each day I wake, there are added definitions to this sicking reality. So perhaps like the C's say, help is on the way.

 

[ajseph 21]

One thing I've come to understand is the importance of a common understanding of objective reality through being on the network because this is constructive IMHO. What you said voyageur about forgetting our history is true, infact it's paramount. Even if enough people protest and overthrow the government it would result in a revolution and people would go back to sleep in the resulting good times like what's mentioned in Political Ponerology. All the blame thrown at the elite, without taking responsibility for our lives, amounts to begging them to fix our problems like an abused spouse going back to an abuser begging them to change. If we as a people don't become aware of the real issues within the world and ourselves and evolve, we're going to revolve back into the same hysterical cycle again. And it is sad loreta, that police have become ponerized. I've met some who get a thrill from being able to arrest and harass citizens.