Canada - No to Political Repression! Free Our Comrades!

COURT APPEARANCE OF THE MAY 1ST 2011 DEFENDANTS
No to Political Repression! Free Our Comrades!
The four comrades who were arrested after the anti-capitalist May 1st demonstration in 2011 will undergo their preliminary inquiry on December 10th at the Montréal courthouse. The judge will determine which legal steps will be taken after this, once it is determined whether there is sufficient evidence for holding a trial.
Recall that on June 29th, 2011, the Anti-Gang unit of the Montréal Police’s Organized Crime Division raided the homes of and arrested four political activists they suspected of being part of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP Canada), in connection with an incident that occurred at the May 1st demonstration organized by the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC Montréal). Police officers were allegedly injured when protesters opposed a provocative attempt to arrest one of the Partisan’s photographers, who was apparently shouting anti-police slogans too loudly.
The four comrades are facing serious criminal charges, including “assault with a weapon,” “assaulting a police officer,” “obstruction of justice” and “possession of a weapon with intent to cause harm.” Two of them were arrested again during subsequent demonstrations for alleged “breach of condition.”
The operation that led to the arrest of the four comrades was supervised by an investigator from the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM, Montréal’s municipal police force), who is also part of the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, along with representatives from the Québec Provincial Police (SQ), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
For nearly two months, the Maison Norman Bethune —a bookstore supported by the PCR-RCP Canada— had been under constant surveillance by the police. Harassment also continued after the arrests, with a dozen activists suspected —rightly or wrongly— of being revolutionary communists were visited by the SPVM, the RCMP and CSIS, both at home and at their workplaces.
The arrest of the four comrades forced the SPVM to disclose the existence of its now-infamous GAMMA squad (GAMMA stands for “Guet des activités et des mouvements marginaux et anarchistes”, or “Surveillance of the activities of marginal and anarchist movements”). The objective of this political squad is to harass and monitor revolutionary and anti-capitalist networks. The establishment of this squad generated a wave of condemnations across the country. Several groups and individuals have signed a public statement against political profiling. On December 16, 2011, more than 175 people took part in a solidarity event in Montréal to raise funds to helping the May 1st defendants prepare for their trial.
The December 12 preliminary inquiry and the trial that will eventually follow will provide an excellent opportunity to sheding light on the political activities of the Montréal police, including the harassment in which they engage against communist and revolutionary activists. SPVM representatives will especially have to explain their provocation at the May 1st, 2011 demonstration. It appears from the written testimony of some cops involved in the altercation that they were sent unprepared to arrest our photographer and even that they seemed to have absolutely no idea of the reasons for his arrest.
In an interview he gave to La Presse newspaper, the head of SPVM specialized investigations team Jacques Robinette explained why they set up the GAMMA squad: “We are no longer able to control the demonstrations. There is popular uprising and provocation, including assault and harm against police officers, in all demstrations.” We can expect these outbursts and uprisings to expand and multiply, as the crisis brings more and more people to resist and radicalize.
In fact, despite the unprecedented repression with which it was confronted, the glorious red spring from Québec students has shown that nothing can stop the march of the oppressed when they mobilize to win their liberation. On the judicial front, this is also what the trial of the May 1st, 2011 defendants will show!
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