Video: Quebec Provincial Police Try To Start Riot
August 26th, 2007 by gordo
On August 20, the leaders of Canada, the US, and Mexico met in Montebello, Quebec for the third annual Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) conference. The SPP is meant to promote free trade and coordinate security efforts within North America, so anti-globalization demonstrators came out to protest.
The protest nearly turned into a riot, thanks to the efforts of undercover policemen, who wore masks and tried to incite the demonstrators. When that didn’t work, they tried to provoke a violent reaction by shoving demonstrators:
.
When the story first broke, I was skeptical. Yes, the “anarchists” were a lot older than you’d expect them to be. Yes, it was suspicious that the riot police failed to arrest masked protesters who wore backpacks, carried rocks, and shoved demonstrators. And it was even more suspicious that the three masked men decided to end the confrontation not by walking away, but by rushing the police line. But I still had my doubts. Maybe they were just stupid, or crazy.
Then someone pointed out that the treads of the provocateurs’ boots had distinctive yellow marks that matched markings on the policemen’s boots. Still pretty thin, but I was getting very suspicious.
Then I learned that the three provocateurs were not among the four people arrested at the protest. I was convinced: these guys were cops. Sure enough, the Quebec Provincial Police (QPP) now admit that they infiltrated the protest:
.
Of course, the police now claim that the protesters weren’t trying to provoke the crowd, but there’s been no explanation for why they were dressed as violent anarchists instead of as peaceful protesters, or for why they were shoving middle-aged men, or for why they were telling young anarchist demonstrators to be more aggressive. For two days, the QPP denied that the provocateurs were police officers. Now they want us to ignore the evidence, and believe that the men were trying to prevent a riot, rather than start one:
.
To date, no member of the QPP has been disciplined for their role in this incident.
(cross posted at appletree)
August 27th, 2007 at 1:52 am
They won’t be disciplined because unfortunatly they did nothing illegal. Québec police forces (Sureté du Québec is SQ, not QPP) are protected from procecution if they commit an illegal act during an undercover operation. The aim of that law was to permit undercover agents to buy drugs without legal risk, but it’s so broad it doesn’t precise what crimes are permitted. It’s a legal fuck up and I hope this controversy will force them to at least review that law.
By the way, the Sureté is a fucking embarrassement. If the police boots weren’t enough, one of them was wearing a t-shirt from a right-wing radio station. They were out of Che Guevara t-shirts? Worst undercover cop EVER.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:44 am
That’s hilarious. I wish I’d spotted that.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
[…] Posted in Government at 2:38 pm by LeisureGuy Masked QPP, one carrying a large rock, tried to incite a riot among peaceful protesters. They failed, and were caught. After staying silent for two days, Quebec finally admitted that the police were indeed involved. Read the details here, with video clips. Oh, Canada! […]
August 27th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
sirkowski - interesting and tragic.
gordo - it gets worse. One undercover cop wrote “and justice for all” on his shirt. I’d call it ironic, but I think it is more like “contempt.”
Here’s a link to the t-shirt.
If anyone suggests the undercover agents were “just trying to blend in,” point them here:
Put the Rock Down Man!
September 25th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Actually this stuff is picking up more and more in the US. In Minneapolis if you stay downtown long enough on weeknights you might be lucky to see the cops come through with bandanas on their faces like in the old west.. they also come with tear gas and billy clubs.. they start at one end of a crowd and douse them with tear gas.. as they scramble to leave the area the cops just start beating them with the clubs as they try to leave.. ha.. and i work security down here and i get to watch this shit and hear about it all the time.. people dont believe in conspiracies and all this stuff well then how come we are starting to see cops with bandanas over their faces EVERYWHERE.. bilderberger conventions, abortion protests, war protests.. and the news cameras are always right there to catch it.. oh and im an iraq war veteran as well.. (3rd ID, C1/39 MLRS out of Ft. Stewart Georgia) Americans have no idea that there are other american agents over there “dressing up” like soldiers, putting on american uniforms and tricking the locals.. then they load their cars with explosives and send them to police stations for “check-ins”.. then they conveniently have a helicopter follow them to catch the crazy insurgents blowing themselves up on our news… wake up everyone.. remember those two british marines that the brits had to rescue from that police station a few years ago… yep.. they were arrested in civilian clothes with a shit ton of explosives… coincidence… oh and the yellow marking on the bottoms of their boots is the manufacturer of the soles… redwing boots have them as well but its pretty obvious that those boots were issued as most “anarchists” wouldnt spend 275 dollars on a pair of red wings… have a nice day anyone who reads this….
September 26th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Yeah, back in Nixon’s day, when war protests were thriving also, it was a strategy, so that the news organizations would note the violence, and the protesters actual message…”stop the war” or what ever gets “discredited” because they appear to just be a bunch a whackadoodles, troublemakers, because of the undercover provocateurs. Now though, those Rightwing/government/corporate (all one and the same) entities just own the media networks, so more often than not, the strategy is to just barely give a brief mention of the protest, and then, diminish its value by intentionally misrepresenting the numbers, diminishing the power of the protesters message. More dirty tricks from the Republicans. They never cease to amaze with their stunning LACK of honor or decency, or even regard for humanity as a whole.