48 arrested at police-brutality protest in Montreal

[B o d i]

Source: CBC

Sunday, March 15, 2009 | 9:25 PM ET Comments67 Recommend43

At least 48 people were arrested Sunday in Montreal during a march against police brutality that drew about four hundred demonstrators.

There were concerns that the 13th annual protest, organized by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, would turn violent as it has in recent years.

The fears were accentuated this year because of last summer's fatal shooting by police of 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva in a Montreal North parking lot, which sparked a night of rioting in the working class, multi-ethnic borough.

Several hundred protesters took to the streets Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. ET at Mont-Royal metro station, where they fanned out in an attempt to destabilize police officers who were trying to keep track of the roving demonstrators.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/03/15/que-policeprotest.html

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I wonder what percentage of the crowd were agents provocateurs?

[vadawg]

1. probuably less as a percentage than those who were just looking to start trouble

i love when every time violence happens its suddenly plods fault, sometimes these groups just attract people who want to set up confrontations with the popo

[ret5hd]

10. Could you restate your position in english?

[Lost in CT]

2. There is something funny about this.... nt

[BlooInBloo]

3. It's very difficult to beat state-sponsored terrorists.

[chollybocker]

4. The police in Montreal are out of control.

Agents provocateurs and arrogant thugs.

[Ravachol]

5. I was there.

There really isn't a lot of agents provocateurs per protest. I would say a maximum of two to five per protest. This time, me and a couple friends spotted two, we're still waiting for the photos to confirm/take a better look.

What was weird for this type of protest is that, usually, the SPVM (Montreal's Police Service) waits for something to happen and the crowd to disperse a bit and then circle everyone who's left and go on to mass arrest everyone. They have been heavily criticized for doing that 'cause it's not cost-effective at all since most charges (90%+) end up being dropped.

This time, they went on and did "preventive arrestations". It was really weird to see them spot people in the crowd and then procede to arrest them forcefully, right at the beginning. Thorough the protest, they kept on arresting more people but always one or two, never a lot and I didn't see a lot of arrests that made much sense. Either they saw some concealed weapon that I didn't see or they just randomly arrested people (they do that from time to time so the crowd will disperse quicklier). They must have arrested 60 or so people that way.

It was only by the end that they circled people massively, with a couple passerbys, and proceeded to handcuff another 130.

By the way, the number of arrests is 198, not 48. 48 is the number of people charged with criminal offenses. The other 150 were given a contravention and charged with "participation in an illegal protest".

[chollybocker]

6. Anyone wearing a face covering (despite the cold weather) can now be arrested.

The law was passed only a few weeks ago. Also, 'insulting' an officer in Montreal is now against the law. Yes, rolling your eyes at a cop in Montreal is now a criminal offence.

????

[New Dawn]

7. Video of Canadian agents provocateurs getting exposed:

Check this video out, it is educational: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow

[B o d i]

8. Beautifully done. Thank you for sharing.

2007 video, it should be noted, but the principle is the same.

[superconnected]

9. I hope they weren't beaten.