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Provocateurs caught at Montebello protest

anarchoteapot | 03.09.2007 17:13 | Repression

After 4 days of denials, police in canada admit that 3 'black bloc', one with a rock, were undercover cops

The youtube video at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&mode=related&search= is a TV report on the Surete de Quebec finally admitting after 4 days of denials that 3 men posing as 'black bloc' protesters at the SPP protest at Montebello Quebec. At 3.07 pm eastern standard time, the CEP (communications union) President Dave Coles confronted 3 men who had been pointed out by other bloc-ers as police, two had identical bandanas on, one had a rock in his hand, all three were riot-squad sized and looked really uncomfortable. when challenged, they stuck in a group, pushed back, and refused to de-mask or to confirm they were police (they have to in UK, unless that's just hearsay?). They eventually backed up to a line of riot police, and then pushed a little to get arrested. Another youtube vid shows the riot gas exchanges that happened later as protesters refused to be penned in a field as a protest zone, and approached the front gates. the voiceover says that 4 were arrested, and shows the undercover cops being lead away, so maybe there was only one legit arrest? For the full film of the identification, see  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow . Another 'vid' shows the 3 on the floor, and the soles of their boots have a distinctive yellow hexagon on, identical to those on one of the 'arresting' cops.

you couldn't make it up. such amateurism. The most ludicrous aspect is probably the denials.

The SPP was a 'summit' complete with security fence and over-policing, between US, Canada and Mexico (Mexico cut out of some of the talks, of course), that was described as a 'dialogue'. Even after the failures of NAFTTA etc to create an all-america economic agreement, they keep pushing...

anarchoteapot

Additions

pix

04.09.2007 07:00

cops boots
cops boots

not only the sole...

uppers


Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

soles of boots

03.09.2007 22:37

you hardly help the case by saying 'distinctive yellow hexagons'...that's on the sole of my boots too - all it means is that they are Vibram hard-wearing sole, pretty standard in walking boots etc

poor evidence


to 'poor evidence'

04.09.2007 11:41

quoting another's comment on another blog in this issue:

"Homework?

As cited several times above, the police eventually admitted that the three were undercover officers. After initially denying it.

Reading comprehension much?

(No, the boots didn't prove anything, but it was implausible that all three random unknown violence-inciting "protesters" would just happen to have exactly the same boot type as the police...)"

Why are you trying to defend them/cast doubt?

The funniest line was the police saying that the three were caught out 'because they refused to throw rocks at police'.

That's why they were the only ones with a rock then, and their huge build didn't single them out from scrawny anarchists at all...

anarchoteapot


Globe Editorial Reveals Bias

06.09.2007 13:45

Responding to revelations that police at the SPP Summit in Montebello had planted Agents Provocateurs at the protest, the Globe & Mail’s Editors began “In years past, it would have been dismissed as the sort of conspiracy theory that professional protestors are fond of” (Blown Cover, August 24).

Dismissed by whom?

By editors of corporate “news” outlets, of course, who increasingly seem to think that investigative journalism is something to be found only in history books, not a central concept to be practiced.

This statement, as well as the implied suggestion that “professional protestors” are some sort of irrational reactionaries, are very enlightening, and a great example of the well-documented (1) and consistent mistreatment of protest movements by the media.

The timing of this Disinformation (2) was rather ironic because, on the same day the video came to light, the Italian media was reporting on an investigation into police misconduct at the 2001 G8 Summit in Genoa (3). Italian Police raided a school housing protest organizers, alleging that protestors were making Molotov cocktails for use against the police. The report states that police had actually planted several petrol bombs in the school after the raid was completed, and used this “evidence” to justify their detainment of 93 prominent activists. It also found that police used brutal measures against protestors throughout the summit, and a reported knifing, used to paint a picture of protest-created chaos in the streets, simply never happened. One activist was shot in the head, and then backed over by an armoured vehicle. The police later justified this by citing the “widespread violence” of the protestors, but it now appears to have been the sad result of a corrupt process. This, coupled with the Montebello revelations and reports of police misconduct (the most common are of illegal mass arrests, used to clear the streets) at other such summits, presents a clear pattern of repression at events where politicians meet behind closed doors to negotiate questionable policy agreements, collectively referred to as “Globalization”.

Honest leaders, who respect the democratic process, do not act in such a manner.

I hope that these revelations will cause the media to begin investigating and acknowledging this pattern, and take protestors’ (whether “professional” or not) concerns more seriously in the future.

But if the Globe’s editorial is any indication, I guess it would be unhealthy for me to hold my breath.

Here's the Globe & Mail's editorial:

Blown cover
 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20070824.wercmp24%2FBNStory%2FspecialComment%2FQuebec%2F&ord=1010479&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false

1) See: "Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media" by Michael Parenti

2) 25 Tactics for Truth Suppression
Tactics used by Disinformation Agents
 http://alaskafreepress.com/msgboard/disinfo/index.html

3) Genoa Police 'Admit Fabrication'
 http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?5981S

Jordan Thornton
mail e-mail: pilgrim112@hotmail.com