CLAC Media Briefing
Wednesday, November 23rd at 10am
QPIRG Concordia, 1500 de Maisonneuve W., #204, Montreal
CLAC (Convergence of anti-capitalist struggles) invites members of the press to a briefing by Patrick Cadorette, the last CLAC organizer facing conspiracy charges related to the G20 protests in Toronto, and a member of the legal support committee.
Toronto G20: The last CLAC organizer still accused of conspiracy sees his charges withdrawn!
CLAC condemns the legal circus and the criminalization of dissent
Montréal, November 23rd 2011 – Yesterday, in a packed courtroom at the Ontario Court of
Justice in Toronto, the Crown counsel in charge of prosecuting the so-called “Main G20
Conspiracy Group” dropped all conspiracy charges against 17 organizers from Southern
Ontario and Québec.
One of the 17, Patrick Cadorette, an organizer from the Anti-capitalist Convergence of
Montréal (CLAC), had all his charges withdrawn by the Crown after almost 18 months spent
under restrictive conditions, including 11 months under house arrest.
This new development is a result of a plea agreement between Crown and Defense counsel.
Of the 17 charged with conspiracy, six pled guilty to “counseling” mischief, while the 11 others
have had all their charges dropped.
“The public has heard a lot about police brutality and mass arrests at the G20 summit,”
Cadorette says, “but the repression went a lot deeper than pictures of angry policemen beating
on demonstrators. We now know that there was a complex strategy aimed at criminalizing
political dissent and anti-capitalist organizing. This strategy included infiltration by undercover
cops, the surveillance of various movements, the intimidation and harassment of activists, and
hundreds of illegal searches and arbitrary detentions during the summit itself. The legal and
penal system also played a major role in this strategy to criminalize dissent. Through imposing
draconian bail conditions like strict non-association with targeted community organizations, long
term house arrest, and banning organizing or attending public demonstrations, legal authorities
clearly meant to weaken movements working for social and environmental justice and to
discourage people who identify with these movements from getting involved. Add to all this the
serious criminal charges targeting organizers, public defamation, and bail hearings held in the
climate of mass hysteria following the protests, as well as the staggering amounts requested
for cash bail, and you have all the elements of a perfect plan to demonize and criminalize
political activism.”
Jeudi le 3 novembre à 17h30
Rassemblement au Carré Phllips à Montréal
(rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, entre les rues Union et Aylmer, métro McGill)
Montréal, le 1er novembre 2011 - La Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) appelle toute la population à manifester dans les rues de Montréal contre le Sommet du G20 qui se tiendra à Cannes en France les 3 et 4 novembre.
This morning, in the context of a court appearance by two men and two women arrested following an anti-capitalist protest on May 1st, CLAC (Anti-Capitalist Convergence) held a press briefing in front of the Montréal Palais de justice. A statement signed by more than thirty groups was released to media.
Association de défense des droits sociaux du Montréal-métropolitain (ADDS-MM)
Association Facultaire Étudiante de Science Politique Et Droit de l’UQAM (AFESPED-UQAM)
Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ)
BASICS Community News Service-Toronto
Centre d'appui aux Philippines / Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC)
Centre de ressources éducatives et communautaires pour adultes (CRÉCA)
Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs (CFIA)
Centre social autogéré (CSA)
la Coalition Justice pour Anas
Statement Against Political Profiling by Montreal's "GAMMA" Squad
Montréal –September 20th 2011
[translated from the original French]
We strongly condemn the most recent repressive offensive by the Montreal police (SPVM) whose aim is to criminalize, intimidate and isolate several political organizations. We also condemn the formation of a political police squad (entitled “GAMMA”) which is a unit of the SPVM’s organized crime division.
Montréal, 12th of july 2011- On June 29th 2011, the Anti-Gang Squad of the Montreal Police Organized Crime Division arrested four activists, simultaneously searching their respective homes. The arrests are connected to the last May 1st protest, organized by the Convergence of anti-capitalist struggles of Montreal (CLAC).
Montreal, June 21, 2011 -- Today, Montrealer Jaggi Singh, a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), was sentenced for "counselling" people to tear down the G20 security fence in Toronto. Last April 28th, he pleaded guilty to encouraging people to tear down the illegitimate fence that shielded the heads of state of the G20 from popular rage on June 26th and 27th, 2010 in Toronto. The Crown has asked the judge to impose an exemplary sentence of six months' imprisonment, while admitting that no sentence, even the harshest, could make Jaggi change his political views.
Pour publication immédiate
Montréal le 1er mai 2011 - Pour la quatrième année consécutive, plus de 1 200 manifestant(e)s ont marché dimanche dans les rues du centre-ville de Montréal, dans le cadre de la Journée internationale des travailleurs et des travailleuses. La manifestation, organisée par la Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes Montréal (CLAC-Montréal), visait à dénoncer le système capitaliste, principal générateur d’exploitation et de pauvreté dans le monde.
"Sometimes you put up walls not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down." - Anonymous
News Articles:
G20 activist Jaggi Singh unrepentant after suspended sentence (Toronto Star):
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1012501--g20-activist-jaggi-si...
Jaggi Singh set free: "My only regret is that we didn’t succeed in tearing down that fence.” (NOW Magazine):
http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/news/story.cfm?content=181355
Activist Jaggi Singh Given Suspended Sentence for G20 Speech (Toronto Media Co-op):
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/activist-jaggi-singh-given-suspended-s...
Ici comme ailleurs, on a raison de se révolter!
Les banques et les grandes entreprises sortent gagnantes de la crise économique et continuent de générer des profits records! Mais il en va autrement pour la majorité de la population. En plus d’avoir injecté des centaines de milliards de dollars de fonds publics pour « sauver » le système financier, cette crise sert de prétexte aux grandes entreprises pour faire des mises à pied massives et aux gouvernements du monde entier pour couper les services à la population comme en santé et en éducation.
Montreal, November 11, 2010 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Crown’s Crackdown Can’t Stand Up to the Facts
Montreal, October 14th, 2010 -- The Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) is overjoyed at the Crown’s decision to drop its charges against the almost one hundred demonstrators who were arrested this past June during the people’s protests against the G20 Summit in Toronto.
Remember that several dozen people from Montreal who had taken advantage of transportation and lodging organized by the CLAC, found themselves arrested, detained and facing conspiracy charges following a brutal police raid on the University of Toronto gymnasium on June 27th. Lacking any evidence to back up its case, today the Crown Prosecutor announced that the conspiracy charges would be dropped against these people who were arrested at the gymnasium.
The CLAC is also pleased to announce that charges have been dropped against three of its members, who were “preventatively” arrested on the morning of June 26 and detained for over 72 hours on the basis of these makeshift charges.
This latest about-face by the Crown constitutes an implicit admission of defeat; it shows how flimsy the charges are and how scandalously the police behaved during the security operations around the Summit. It is now clear that the mass arrests at the gymnasium, like the vast majority of the arrests during the Summit, were arbitrary and uncalled for, and were intended to terrorize the demonstrators and to discourage them from exercising their right to protest in the future.
In that vein, the CLAC would like to remind people that the Crown is persisting in its prosecution of twenty organizers that it is wrongly accusing of being the “ringleaders” behind the events of June 26th. There are two CLAC members amongst these scapegoats; they are facing three charges of conspiracy and are currently subject to draconian bail conditions including house arrest.
Alex Hundert of Toronto is one of the twenty people facing conspiracy charges. He was arrested for a second time at his sureties’ home on September 17th for having, according to the Crown Prosecutor, breached his bail condition of “not organizing or attending any public demonstrations.” Earlier that day, Hundert had taken part in a panel discussion at Ryerson University about resistance to the G20. During a second bail hearing that took place on October 6th and 7th, an Ontario Justice of the Peace ruled that by displaying “the same kind of behaviour as he did in meetings prior to the G20,” Hundert had indeed breached one of his bail conditions. It seems that speaking at a university talk in Canada is now to be considered a “public demonstration.” This is a total aberration, a direct attack on the most basic form of freedom of expression: someone is being held in prison for having simply expressed his ideas in public! Recently, at Alex’s last bail hearing, the crown tried to impose harsher conditions, attempting to stop him from expressing his political opinions in public, or in the media. He refused these conditions and remains behind bars until he can appeal them. Besides Alex Hundert, four other people remain behind bars on charges stemming from the G20.
More than three months after the events in question, the police continue to carry out targeted arrests and to issue warrants, and all this is of course being done at the taxpayers’ expense. It is obvious that this judicial and police crackdown, like the strict bail conditions imposed on the accused, are on a completely different scale than the actual crimes observed. Given this pathetic and merciless witchhunt, we can only conclude that the State’s real goal is to criminalize and freeze dissent.
But we refuse to be silenced! In solidarity with the popular mobilizations against the next G20 Summit in Seoul this coming November 11 and 12, the CLAC is organizing an anti-capitalist family-friendly demonstration at Cabot Square, on November 12th at 5pm.
******
Here is a live report of the gymnasium arrest from CBC : http://bit.ly/9z7uD2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 28th, 2010.
The 24th, 27th, and 28th of September saw several court appearances of those arrested and accused during the G20 in June as part of the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Following these arrests, approximately 300 people are facing criminal charges for their involvement in the anti-G20 movement.
Alex Hundert Locked Up for Taking Part in a Discussion Panel and Anarchism on Trial in the Case of Juan Pablo Lepore
Montreal, September 20, 2010 – Juan Pablo Lepore was arrested in Montreal on September 2nd, and is has been charged with mischief in connection with the G20 summit. Given that the Crown refused his release at his first court appearance, Juan was back in court on September 17th, attempting once again to secure his release while awaiting trial.