A day after Sunday’s highly successful “No One is Illegal” march which drew nearly 2,000 people to the streets of Montreal in solidarity with indigenous and immigrant rights, 700 protesters woke up early Monday morning to oppose the first day of the World Trade Organization’s mini-ministerial meetings.

The snake-march demonstration was called in the hopes of disrupting the meetings. However, it quickly became obvious that disruption of the meetings was unlikely. Hundreds of well-armed riot cops supervised a barricaded perimeter that blocked protesters from getting within 100 metres of the hotel where the WTO delegates were meeting.

Frustrated by a police force that went to such lengths to defend what most consider an undemocratic institution, people’s anger intensified. A handful of demonstrators removed plywood from a construction site to stop pursuing police vans. And police, searching for a justification, moved in.

As the police read the riot act they immediately attempted to encircle the demonstration with the intent of stopping it and probably arresting us all. Fortunately, most protesters were able to escape through a nearby alleyway. However, subsequent events were disappointing to those of us who wanted to target the violence of the world economic system rather than focussing on a display of marginalized anger.

About a dozen windows of companies such as the Bank of Montreal and GAP as well as a Canadian army-recruiting centre and a Porsche automobile were smashed. After the car’s window was broken, a confrontation between the owner of the Porsche and a handful of protesters resulted in the man being knocked over. Seconds later other protesters came to his aid.

While most protesters don’t strongly object to the destruction of a handful of corporate windows, generally the feeling is these are marginal acts. A genuine debate over the role of property damage in garnering media coverage exists, as CBC Newsworld’s non-coverage of the peaceful “No One is Illegal” march but heavy coverage of Monday’s broken windows demonstrated. Nevertheless, destroying property is usually a misguided form of rage that hinders the broadening of the global social justice movement.

Still, the anger that underlies these acts is understandable. And last Friday’s comments by Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew only fuelled this fury. According to Pettigrew, disruptive protesters would “screw the African cotton farmers and the African HIV victims” since negotiators plan to discuss farm subsidies and generic drug access.

Contrary to Pettigrew’s claims, the plight of African cotton farmers and AIDS victims is not attributable to protesters, but the consequence of Western African countries following the very neo-liberal policies that the WTO supports. The devastation felt by African cotton farmers is the outcome of following International Monetary Fund policies of increasing cotton production for export while decreasing the production of domestically consumed foods. Similarly, at best, current WTO negotiations will return to African countries much-needed drug access that the WTO has already taken away.

Demonstrators weren’t only angry with Pettigrew for his recent statements on the WTO but also his role in establishing a “security” climate prior to the meetings. Pettigrew said:

“If they want to stop us, fine, good luck.”

“I tell you that we have very impressive security.”

“I trust the police of Montreal.”

And the police didn’t disappoint.

The police once again apprehended noted organizer Jaggi Singh while he was blocks away from the demonstration doing media work. Initially the police said they stopped him for unlawful assembly, only to change it later to a violation of legal conditions on outstanding charges.

His arrest was only the tip of the political crackdown. Two hours after the snake march ended, over 300 people were surrounded by the police while eating, listening to speakers or just relaxing in what was supposed to be a “safe”green zone. A tactical team of the police surrounded the space more than ten blocks from where the march had passed and encircled everyone. While the police claim they warned people to leave, by all accounts — including one from a La Presse reporter and another from prominent Montreal area doctor Amir Khadi — the police didn’t provide people with sufficient time to do so.

In all, they arrested 342 people. These mass arrests have become a commonly used tactic of the Montreal police force. At two other demonstrations I’ve attended in the past two years the police have arrested over 300 people and prior to yesterday’s arrests their three year political arrest total stood at over 1,200.

Those unfortunate protesters who chose the “safe” zone were then subjected to what can only be described as low-level torture. Srinivas Murthy from the McGill International Health Initiative told rabble that the police said they were under arrest at 10:30 a.m. At 2:30 p.m., they were handcuffed and put on a bus. Four hours later, the handcuffs were finally taken off. Murthy said, “the handcuffs weren’t comfortable at all.” Finally, as a Montreal resident, he was one of the first to be released though not until 1:00 a.m. Those from out of town spent the night in jail and were to appear in court this morning — Tuesday.

Inside the holding cell the conditions weren’t good. According to my sister, who was arrested, no food was provided until 8:00 p.m., and it was awful. Twenty women were crammed into a cell that should handle four people. While the men were able to get blankets after creating a hassle, the women were refused them until late.

Underlying these arrests are a number of questions that activists are asking themselves. Who broke the windows? Was it angry protesters or did law enforcement authorities have any role in the affair? While these questions may seem conspiratorial to some, after the recent G20 trials (where all three activists including Jaggi Singh were acquitted by a jury) here in Montreal, these questions no longer seem far-fetched.

During those trials the police were forced to admit that the Surete de Quebec had at least 23 plainclothes crowd infiltrators amongst the crowd of 1,000 protesters in addition to eight Montreal police undercovers, the riot police, mounted police and RCMP.

Videos shown at the trial pointed to a potential link between undercovers and those involved in throwing objects and creating disturbances. It is unlikely we will ever know. It’s something for those in the movement to think about next time we decide to try and “shut down” a meeting using a “diversity of tactics.”

Yves Engler

Dubbed “Canada’s version of Noam Chomsky” (Georgia Straight), “one of the most important voices on the Canadian Left” (Briarpatch), “in the mould of I. F. Stone” (Globe and Mail), “part...