Montreal Police Harrass Attendees of Political Meeting

On April 20, 2006, Montreal police did the following:

• lied about an assault at a political meeting on April 19


• harrassed attendees at the meeting


• sought to arrest Jaggi Singh for attending the meeting


• lied about their involvement

The political meeting was actually a benefit for child political prisoners in Palestine. It had nothing to do with violence until the police batonned youth activists who were leaving the scene. The police acted this way in response to being refused exit by the attendees who were provoked by earlier harrassment by the police.

In order to fulfil court judgment against Singh (he is not allowed to attend political meetings), Montreal police did make up the story of a physical assault in order to hide the fact that they would be arresting Jaggi Singh in order to limit his right to attend political meetings.

It is ironic that the most non-violent man in Montreal has made Montreal police so fearful of him that they need to be violent to other non-violent social activists.

However, this proves that State terrorism consists of the police provoking violence and causing greater harm to social activists who are perceived to be a threat by the State.

Here is Jaggi Singh's account about what actually happened on April 19, 2006:

At El Salon, he helped organize an event 'called "Break the Chains", an evening of speakers, spoken word, poetry and music on the theme of child political prisoners in Palestine, as well as political prisoners in general.'

Afterwards, there was a musical 'show by local hip hop artist Narcicyst of Euphrates, to be followed by DJ Leila P.'

Outside El Salon, he confronted a man who was wearing an earpiece, who had been staring at attendees of the political event.

Jaggi goes on to state:

At one point the man, who was much larger, pushed me, as well as another older participant at the event. There was no fight. The man pushed me, and the other person, and we held our ground. We continued talking with the man after the pushing, and eventually, I left to return to the event.

Someone, maybe a bystander, phoned the police. A few officers arrived outside, and then entered the venue, with the man who had the earpiece directing them towards me. One officer asked me to go outside. I asked if I was under arrest. The officer said no, but that I had to go outside. I refused, stating that if he wanted to talk, we could talk inside, in a corner, or he could phone me later (I even gave him my number). My position was quite clear: I did not have to do anything the police were asking of me, unless I was under arrest. I wanted to spend the rest of the evening at the event, and I didn't have to cooperate with police unless I was under arrest.

Very quickly, many police officers entered the venue, and many of the people attending the event, objected to their presence, and asked for a clear reason why they had to remove me. None was ever provided by the police, beyond the basic sentiment, expressed in various ways: "You have to do what we say."

I myself counted, as I was dragged out and waited in a police car, at least twenty police cars. Others said later that there were thirty police cars on site. A friend says there must have been 30-40 police who entered the venue. It was a completely disproportionate and excessive response by the police.

Moreover, if they had provided a clear reason why I had to leave the event (such as being under arrest), then I would have left. The police do not have the right to expect people attending a political/cultural event to do exactly what they want without any questions, and without providing a legitimate response. It was the police who escalated this matter. The police response was totally disproportionate and unnecessary.

It is not true that any chairs or tables were thrown at the police (I did not see any from where I was, which was in the middle of police officers who were dragging me out of the venue). In the end, five people -- 3 women and 2 men, including me -- were briefly arrested by police. None of us was jailed, or even taken into a police station. To the best of my knowledge, me and another woman were given a "promise to appear" on the charge of "obstruction" two others were given tickets for "obstruction" and the fifth person was just let go.

(I also want to mention that while I objected to the man with the earpiece staring at folks, I do not know for sure who he was -- that's exactly one of the questions I asked him. In retrospect, he probably was not involved with the police, and was likely private security for someone in the area; but, the police certainly let him give them direction at the beginning of their intervention).

This was a minor incident (an interaction outside with a man who pushed me and another person during an argument) that was turned into a major incident by an overzealous and unnecessary police response. In the end, the police couldn't even justify holding anyone longer than the time it took them to write a few tickets and citations (to which all of us, I'm sure, will plead "not-guilty"). I was able to look at the police computer while handcuffed in the backseat of the police car. When my file came up, aside from personal information (including information about my political affiliations), the file mentioned that I had no criminal record. -- http://sumoud.tao.ca/?q=node/view/613