canada - Annual Demo Against Police Brutality:A March That Made the Bourgeoisie Hysterical

Annual Demo Against Police Brutality:
A March That Made the Bourgeoisie Hysterical
MONTREAL—This year’s March 15 demonstration against police brutality was the biggest one since it was launched 15 years ago. The Montreal Police first reported that between 4,000 and 5,000 people attended, before reducing its evaluation to some 2,000 people. Nevertheless, the participation was much greater than usual, and this is the main reason why the police were unable to use their usual tactics of encirclement and mass arrests.
Police declared the protest “illegal” only 30 minutes after it started. The cops then used stun grenades and charged the crowd in an attempt to disperse it. Contrary to the lies reported in most media, it was only after the police attacked the demonstration that the “trouble” emerged. In fact, it is only at around 7:30pm that a police car was smashed and overturned, a full hour after the dispersal order.
For over two hours, the police lost partial control of downtown Montreal, while groups of demonstrators refused to disperse. Around 9pm the police finally managed to encircle the last group of people. All in all, 226 people were arrested, 14 of whom had been arrested pre-emptively —Gestapo-style— a few hours before the demo.
Since March 15, the bourgeoisie has waged a furious campaign to restrict the right to demonstrate. Inspired by the Harper government, Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay announced his will to adopt a new regulation banning the wearing of masks or disguises during street protests. Notably, he received the support of the opposition leader, former PQ minister Louise Harel, who now claims that Canada is a “free and democratic” country and that there is no reason to wear a mask during a demo.
This hysterical campaign, which also targets student unions who are refusing to cooperate with the police during the current student strike, is a clear sign of panic on the part of bourgeois authorities, who see the anger brewing palpably among the popular masses and fear that this anger will intensify and spread.
This year, the March 15 demo had the theme of fighting political repression. Police intimidation and legal harassment against political activists have increased in recent years, especially after the G20 in Toronto. Four people were searched and will face trial as a result of their participation in the anti-capitalist May First demonstration last year. The Montreal Police established a special squad for targeting political activists called “GAMMA.” Activists of the “Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante” (a provincial student union) were also targeted by this squad.
The Charest government’s intransigence against the student strike, the numerous increases in fees imposed on the entire population (including the infamous “health tax” and higher electricity rates), the massive layoffs and attacks against labour all cause a lot of anger among working people. The government’s solution is to call in the pigs and expand their repression.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, in light of all this, that more people than usual took part in the March 15 demonstration. It shouldn’t be a surprise if a significant section of the protesters felt pride after inflicting a defeat to the cops — small as it may have been. Bourgeois commentators in the media, who conceive of the “problem of March 15” as a problem of delinquency or crime, are grasping at straws. The problem, in fact, is a social and a political one. Those responsible for “troubles” are the capitalists and their rotten system, the politicians and the cops to their service!
In Canada as in all imperialist countries, the economic crisis started in 2008 forced the ruling class to cast off its conciliatory disguise and show its real dictatorial face. The “civil rights and liberties” that the bourgeoisie used to praise throughout the 20th century are shrinking to a trickle. The people’s rights —whether the right to protest or any other right— will be ours only if we organize and fight the bourgeois class, its system and its State.
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