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Police accused of using provocateurs at summit (Canada)
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248608
Police accused of using provocateurs at summit
Aug 21, 2007 09:14 PM
Canadian Press
OTTAWA – 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.
Kevin Skerrett, a protester with the group Nowar-Paix, said the photos and video together present powerful evidence that the men were actually undercover police officers.
"I think the circumstantial evidence is very powerful," he said.
The three do not appear to have been arrested or charged with any offence.
Police confirm that only four protesters were arrested during the summit – two men and two women. All have been charged with obstruction and resisting arrest.
Veteran protester Jaggi Singh, who is helping to circulate the video as widely as possible, said all four of those arrested are known to organizers and are genuine protesters.
"But we see very clearly in that video three (other) men being arrested . . . How do (police) account for these three people being taken in, being arrested? Where did they go?" Singh said.
"I have no hesitation in saying they were police agents . . . and they were caught red-handed."
Singh, a member of the Montreal-based No One is Illegal, believes the agents were meant to provoke a confrontation and give the police an excuse to use some of their "toys," such as tear gas and rubber bullets.
"To a certain extent it's self-fulfilling logic. You provide police with this kind of equipment and they end up using it and one way to justify it is to plant some people that toss a rock or two."
Neither the RCMP nor the Surete du Quebec would comment on the video or even discuss generally whether they ever use the tactic of employing agents provocateurs.
"I cannot answer your question because I don't have the information," said Const. Kane Kramer, a spokesman for the RCMP at the summit.
Video:
Both protestors in this picture are wearing the same boots as the cop -- that together with the way those protestors behaved in the video makes this all very fishy...
Re: Police accused of using provocateurs at summit (Canada)
Thanks, Swamper!!
It's good to know that not everyone's asleep!!!
Note how they tried to disguise their shoes with duct tape. I guess they never suspected that they'd be laying on the ground, wearing their own zip-tied handcuffs 
How nefarious of them! I'd almost have to give them credit if their efforts were being put towards something that wasn't so... pathetic.
Woot! Swamper is here!!! Woot woot ... 
Great work.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Arbiter How nefarious of them! I'd almost have to give them credit if their efforts were being put towards something that wasn't so... pathetic. |
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248866
Police deny using 'provocateurs' at summit
August 22, 2007
Joan Bryden Canadian press
OTTAWA – The Mounties and Quebec provincial police deny using agents provocateurs at this week's Montebello summit, despite video evidence that suggests undercover cops tried to incite violence.
The denials Wednesday did nothing to quell mounting outrage over police tactics. Anti-globalization and union activists joined with opposition politicians to demand an independent investigation.
They also questioned whether police were acting on orders from the Prime Minister's Office and called on both Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest to denounce the use of agents provocateurs.
"In a free and democratic society, people have the right to peacefully protest something they don't like," said union leader Dave Coles, who confronted the alleged undercover officers outside the summit site Monday.
"Are Canadian citizens going to have to face these kinds of provocateurs just because Stephen Harper seems to think we're some sort of loony-left group?
"Quite frankly, that's insulting and we don't accept it and we want answers from him."
The three alleged provocateurs were caught on camera (view YouTube video) – with bandanas masking their faces and at least one carrying a rock in his hand – approaching a line of Surete du Quebec police in full riot garb. They refused to back away, despite the insistence of Coles and other protest organizers that they leave the area.
As protesters surrounded the men and tried to snatch off their masks, one of the three spoke to an SQ officer. The trio got through the police line, were forced to the ground and handcuffed.
Photos of the men lying on the ground show the three were wearing combat boots with identical markings to the ones worn by an SQ officer kneeling beside them.
Video also shows the three eventually being led quietly away to police vans. By contrast, Coles said four legitimate protesters – whom police say were the only people arrested and charged at the summit – were "roughed up pretty good and dragged away."
A spokesman for Harper denied any role by the prime minister in the fair, saying "the PMO is not involved in security for events." Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office referred all questions to the RCMP.
The Mounties and the SQ, the two police forces involved in summit security, continued to refuse specific comment on three alleged undercover officers caught on camera in an apparent bid to incite a confrontation.
But they denied using agents to provoke violence.
"I confirm (to) you that there are no agents provocateurs in the Surete du Quebec. . . It doesn't exist in the Surete du Quebec," said Const. Melanie Larouche.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Luc Bessette said the Mounties do "not use tactics that would encourage confrontation or incite violence."
Bessette said the RCMP cannot discuss details of security measures for major events such as the summit because "to do so could jeopardize the integrity of our operations for future events."
Liberal justice critic Marlene Jennings said the evidence is ``quite incriminating" and called on the two police forces to ``clear this up." She said it's one thing for officers to pose as protesters in a bid to keep an eye on potential trouble-makers, ``but to be instigators is completely unacceptable."
Jennings suggested protest organizers may want to file a complaint with the two forces. Coles said his union has not done so yet but is seeking legal advice.
New Democrat MP Libby Davies, who participated in the summit demonstrations, said the video evidence raises "hugely serious questions" about the role of the police at contentious international meetings.
"It seems like they create this environment, a show of force, that sets it up for a confrontation," she said.
"I think we need to know who authorized this, how high up does this go?"
Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, speculated on two possible motives for the police to try to incite a riot at the summit, where Harper, U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon were discussing the Security and Prosperity Partnership between their three countries.
He said police may have wanted to justify the millions spent on security for the summit by creating an incident they could quell. But he said there may also have been a political motive to discredit the protesters as violent radicals, thereby deflecting attention from the substance of their opposition to the SPP.
"This is the face of (the SPP), where people can't even ask a question without having to face these kinds of goons. It's time that all the secrecy and backroom deals end," said Coles.
"The SPP is a fraud, just like those three so-called activists were."
While I'm not dismissing it, I do fail to see the point of provocateurs to begin with?
Are we that hard up on Harper that we believe he'd use them just to make the protesters look bad? Why bother when there's hooligans in the crowd already?
Anyone who's ever been in a 'mobbish' scene knows exactly what I'm talking about here. Large crowds can easily turn to mob-rule as soon as any authority is in view. Especially if there's no love to begin with...
Its not the first time this type of stuff happens. During a WTO meeting in Seattle few years back, agent provocateurs ransacked, destroyed shops, while police stood and watched them. They even had kick-ass hotels rented as well. Hopefully someone on here can bring up good video footage on that that I've see some time back, articles are not good enough for this ;-)
As for the reasons, Firestarter, you havent really read the article then, have you? Its pretty clear ...
NO, NO ... THIS IS ALL A CONSPIRACY, DAMMIT ... come on, pkc, show your face here along with your neo-con gang ... this is a c-o-n-s-p-i-r-a-c-y, a coincidence, no evidence and such! Why would the Canadian government do this to the small group of peaceful Canadian protesters? Whats to gain, right pkc? LOL
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Magnetonium NO, NO ... THIS IS ALL A CONSPIRACY, DAMMIT ... come on, pkc, show your face here along with your neo-con gang ... this is a c-o-n-s-p-i-r-a-c-y, a coincidence, no evidence and such! Why would the Canadian government do this to the small group of peaceful Canadian protesters? Whats to gain, right pkc? LOL |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by colonelcrisp the protesters here in canada pull this shit all the time. Those boots are bellville vanguards..... i have 3 pairs. great for hiking, paintball and cutting my grass. you can buy them at one of 25423452 stores in the ottawa area including marks work warehouse. there is no need for the rcmp or the surete to hire "agents provacateurs" when the protesters will do it on their own. im sure the grandma and granpa's werent a threat. but the hundreds of much younger idiots were. Its the same old story. even with the protests here in ottawa there are a handfull of genuinely concerened citizens excersing their rights to protest and doing so in a peaceful, respectful and informed manner. then there are the legions of morons who follow them and bungle everything up. go put your tinfoil hats back on |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Magnetonium I mean, its one thing when you and your gang think that just 9/11 was not a conspiracy. But seriously, people like you go around everywhere and say on every single occassion that the government never does thing and that, and cant do it. I mean, they must have you on a payroll or something. You really have to be a one very abiding sheep tuned to their frequencies to be like that. How can you trust them when they continue to lie, and just look at history for Christ's sake ... or is it just ignorance is bliss? Ahhh, we may never know ... |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Magnetonium I mean, its one thing when you and your gang think that just 9/11 was not a conspiracy. But seriously, people like you go around everywhere and say on every single occassion that the government never does thing and that, and cant do it. I mean, they must have you on a payroll or something. You really have to be a one very abiding sheep tuned to their frequencies to be like that. How can you trust them when they continue to lie, and just look at history for Christ's sake ... or is it just ignorance is bliss? Ahhh, we may never know ... |
Re: Police accused of using provocateurs at summit (Canada)
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Swamper http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248608 Police accused of using provocateurs at summit Aug 21, 2007 09:14 PM Canadian Press OTTAWA – 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. Kevin Skerrett, a protester with the group Nowar-Paix, said the photos and video together present powerful evidence that the men were actually undercover police officers. "I think the circumstantial evidence is very powerful," he said. The three do not appear to have been arrested or charged with any offence. Police confirm that only four protesters were arrested during the summit – two men and two women. All have been charged with obstruction and resisting arrest. Veteran protester Jaggi Singh, who is helping to circulate the video as widely as possible, said all four of those arrested are known to organizers and are genuine protesters. "But we see very clearly in that video three (other) men being arrested . . . How do (police) account for these three people being taken in, being arrested? Where did they go?" Singh said. "I have no hesitation in saying they were police agents . . . and they were caught red-handed." Singh, a member of the Montreal-based No One is Illegal, believes the agents were meant to provoke a confrontation and give the police an excuse to use some of their "toys," such as tear gas and rubber bullets. "To a certain extent it's self-fulfilling logic. You provide police with this kind of equipment and they end up using it and one way to justify it is to plant some people that toss a rock or two." Neither the RCMP nor the Surete du Quebec would comment on the video or even discuss generally whether they ever use the tactic of employing agents provocateurs. "I cannot answer your question because I don't have the information," said Const. Kane Kramer, a spokesman for the RCMP at the summit. Video: Both protestors in this picture are wearing the same boots as the cop -- that together with the way those protestors behaved in the video makes this all very fishy... |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Fir3start3r Why would Harper need provocateurs to begin with when there's asshats that will do it for free? |
| quote: |
| White House Manual Details How to Deal With Protesters By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 22, 2007; A02 Not that they're worried or anything. But the White House evidently leaves little to chance when it comes to protests within eyesight of the president. As in, it doesn't want any. A White House manual that came to light recently gives presidential advance staffers extensive instructions in the art of "deterring potential protestors" from President Bush's public appearances around the country. Among other things, any event must be open only to those with tickets tightly controlled by organizers. Those entering must be screened in case they are hiding secret signs. Any anti-Bush demonstrators who manage to get in anyway should be shouted down by "rally squads" stationed in strategic locations. And if that does not work, they should be thrown out. But that does not mean the White House is against dissent -- just so long as the president does not see it. In fact, the manual outlines a specific system for those who disagree with the president to voice their views. It directs the White House advance staff to ask local police "to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in the view of the event site or motorcade route." The "Presidential Advance Manual," dated October 2002 with the stamp "Sensitive -- Do Not Copy," was released under subpoena to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of two people arrested for refusing to cover their anti-Bush T-shirts at a Fourth of July speech at the West Virginia State Capitol in 2004. The techniques described have become familiar over the 6 1/2 years of Bush's presidency, but the manual makes it clear how organized the anti-protest policy really is. The lawsuit was filed by Jeffery and Nicole Rank, who attended the Charleston event wearing shirts with the word "Bush" crossed out on the front; the back of his shirt said "Regime Change Starts at Home," while hers said "Love America, Hate Bush." Members of the White House event staff told them to cover their shirts or leave, according to the lawsuit. They refused and were arrested, handcuffed and briefly jailed before local authorities dropped the charges and apologized. The federal government settled the First Amendment case last week for $80,000, but with no admission of wrongdoing. The manual demonstrates "that the White House has a policy of excluding and/or attempting to squelch dissenting viewpoints from presidential events," said ACLU lawyer Jonathan Miller. "Individuals should have the right to express their opinion to the president, even if it's not a favorable one." White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that he could not discuss the manual because it is an issue in two other lawsuits. The manual offers advance staffers and volunteers who help set up presidential events guidelines for assembling crowds. Those invited into a VIP section on or near the stage, for instance, must be " extremely supportive of the Administration," it says. While the Secret Service screens audiences only for possible threats, the manual says, volunteers should examine people before they reach security checkpoints and look out for signs. Make sure to look for "folded cloth signs," it advises. To counter any demonstrators who do get in, advance teams are told to create "rally squads" of volunteers with large hand-held signs, placards or banners with "favorable messages." Squads should be placed in strategic locations and "at least one squad should be 'roaming' throughout the perimeter of the event to look for potential problems," the manual says. "These squads should be instructed always to look for demonstrators," it says. "The rally squad's task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drown out the protestors (USA!, USA!, USA!). As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event site." Advance teams are advised not to worry if protesters are not visible to the president or cameras: "If it is determined that the media will not see or hear them and that they pose no potential disruption to the event, they can be ignored. On the other hand, if the group is carrying signs, trying to shout down the President, or has the potential to cause some greater disruption to the event, action needs to be taken immediately to minimize the demonstrator's effect." The manual adds in bold type: "Remember -- avoid physical contact with demonstrators! Most often, the demonstrators want a physical confrontation. Do not fall into their trap!" And it suggests that advance staff should "decide if the solution would cause more negative publicity than if the demonstrators were simply left alone." The staff at the West Virginia event may have missed that line. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Swamper That's a good question, and I doubt it was a high level thing - however, looking at the behaviour of these guys in the video, the boots, and the fact they weren't charged with anything makes things a little fishy. No? |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Fir3start3r I'm almost willing to guess it was Indians off their reserve with nothing better to do. I know that sounds bad, but I seriously wouldn't put it past them. They've done standoffs with military garb before... I have a pair of those boots, but that doesn't make me an asshat |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Fir3start3r I have a pair of those boots, but that doesn't make me an asshat |
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.
Wow, authority and monkeys do not mix.
and damn, the cops in that photo look like something out of 1984... do they have to dress so ... evilly? lol
| quote: |
| Originally posted by colonelcrisp the fact still remains that I went to school with alot of the local "protesters" and they were and still are very militant asshats. they promoted confrontation on teh protest marches because the view it is the only way to get media attention. so i ask you again what did harper have to benefit from hiring peopel when there are a plethora of heinous douchebags from carleton U who will do it for free |
WOW, all of a sudden every neo-con and pro-government tyranny supporters on here have at least TWO pairs of those boots ... while many others, including me, HAVE ZERO. I mean, I dont have or seen ever any shoes with a yellow triangle on the bottom like that ... dam, we all must be very unlucky ... or not on a government payroll.
Someone care to explain why the 3 idiots would go through all the trouble to try to camouflage their boots? Huh? What up with the tape on the front and the paint-like substance on the sides? Obviously not to look cool ...
I guess not one of you has played outdoor paintball much... 
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Fir3start3r I guess not one of you has played outdoor paintball much... |
What?
We simply dismiss:
| quote: |
"I cannot answer your question because I don't have the information," said Const. Kane Kramer, a spokesman for the RCMP at the summit. |
| quote: |
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