Activists Question If SPP Provocateur Orders Came From Prime Minister

Ben Russell
Raw Story
Monday Aug 27, 2007

Flashback: Canadian Police Caught Attempting To Stage Riots

A video recently posted on YouTube documents a strange occurrence at a recent protest during the recent Montebello Summit in Québec, Canada, which has activists questioning the motives of police, and suspicious that the orders came down from the Prime Minister's office.

Masked men were spotted near the riot police, who held back despite one man holding a large rock, himself and two others appearing to attempt an incitement to riot. The three were confronted by other attendees and eventually handcuffed and taken away.

During the confrontation, one of the three appears to be talking directly to one of the officers.

Union President Dave Coles at a recent news conference: "The Communications, Energy and Paper Workers Union of Canada believes that the security force at Montebello were ordered to infiltrate our peaceful assembly and to provoke incidents."

In addition to the video footage, the three suspected plants wore the same brand boots, as evidenced by the soles, as the Sûreté du Québec riot police. Neither the SQ, nor the RCMP, commented; each initially denied planting agents provocateurs.

"Oops. Somebody took a picture," quips Coles.

Former police officer Doug Kirkland, who runs a private security, says that planting undercover police at protests is beneficial when used to root out true troublemakers, but, says Kirkland while viewing the video footage: "That's a very slippery slope."

Continues Kirkland, "I think you're stretching the bounds of proper police intelligence when you're doing that kind of work."

Sûreté du Québec later issued a press release confirming that the three men in question were indeed officers, there to maintain order rather than disrupt the protest, and that no crime was committed.

Long-time lawyer for activists Lawrence Greenspon calls for politicians to act.

"There's a serious issue about proper police conduct here," says attorney Lawrence Greenspon, a longtime defender of protesters.

"I think the people that represent us in the legislature should be looking at some form of legislation that says 'Wait a second. This is not proper use of police resources, and we should be setting guidelines.'"

"This is the face of it," says Dave Coles, "where people can't even ask a question without having to face these kind of goons," referring to riot police, who are said to attempt to incite violence with aims to suppress speech, even when the activity takes place in designated spaces.

"It's time that all the secrecy and backroom deals end."

Minister of Safety Stockwell Day deflects blame from the RCMP, encouraging utilization of the "complaints process" available through the SQ.