skippy the bush kangaroo: quebec...quebec...quebec to where you once belonged

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

quebec...quebec...quebec to where you once belonged

up at the north american leadership meeting in quebec, police provacateurs have been accused of attempting to start violence at an other-wise peaceful protest. toronto star:

protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the north american leaders' summit in montebello, que.

such accusations have been made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged "agents provocateurs" have been caught on camera.

a video, posted on youtube, shows three young men, their faces masked by bandannas, mingling monday with protesters in front of a line of police in riot gear. at least one of the masked men is holding a rock in his hand.

the three are confronted by protest organizer dave coles, president of the communications, energy and paperworkers union of canada. coles makes it clear the masked men are not welcome among his group of protesters, whom he describes as mainly grandparents. he urges them to leave and find their own protest location.

coles also demands that they put down their rocks. other protesters begin to chime in that the three are really police agents. several try to snatch the bandanas from their faces.

rather than leave, the three actually start edging closer to the police line, where they appear to engage in discussions. they eventually push their way past an officer, whereupon other police shove them to the ground and handcuff them.

late tuesday, photographs taken by another protester surfaced, showing the trio lying prone on the ground. the photos show the soles of their boots adorned by yellow triangles. a police officer kneeling beside the men has an identical yellow triangle on the sole of his boot.

here is the video:

unfortunately, the video doesn't show the arrest, but it does show the protesters demanding that the interlopers drop their rocks, take off their masks and leave the protest.

(tip of the kangaroo tail to weaseldog commenting over at c&l for the link to the star; kudos to our interns for finding the youtube vid.)

addendum: anonymous tells us you can find more about this at reddit, at cbc news, at the globe and mail (including a video), and les enrages.

double addenum: drinking liberally in new milford does have the pics showing the bottoms of the boots of both the "protesters" and the police. yep, they look awfully similar.

Labels: police, protest

posted by skippy at 12:44 PM |

4 Comments:

Reddit coverage here:
http://politics.reddit.com/info/2hj5a/comments

Two more recent news articles:

Fake summit protesters provoked violence: Union
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070822.wfakeprotestors0822/BNStory/National/home

Undercover cops tried to incite violence in Montebello: union leader
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/08/22/ot-police-070822.html

Here is some television coverage on a Canadian 24 hour news channel:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/video/vs?id=RTGAM.20070822.wvfakeprotesters0822&ids=RTGAM.20070822.wvfakeprotesters0822,RTGAM.20070822.wvstephencolbert0822

DIGG coverage:
http://www.digg.com/politics/CAUGHT_Police_using_Agent_Provocateurs_at_SPP_Summit_in_Quebec

commented by

Anonymous, 2:04 PM PDT

Just so you know... I have the photo evidence that gives away the police officers up here if you want to yank them.

commented by

Connecticut Man 1, 6:55 PM PDT

Canadians need to know if this report is true. These actions erode our democracy by undermining Canadians' right to express themselves peacefully.

Visit http://www.RightOnCanada.ca to send your letter to Prime Minister Harper demanding police accountability:

Click here to take action and send your letter on RightOnCanada.ca.

commented by

Right On Canada, 12:45 PM PDT

The Sûreté du Québec blinks and admits the three amigos are their cops...

commented by

Connecticut Man 1, 2:06 PM PDT

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