[R-G] Police accused of using provocateurs at summit

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/08/22/ot- 
police-070822.html?ref=rss

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.