"When I see blood and muscle worker struggle with his/her natural enemy - the policeman, I do not need to ask myself on whose side I am".

--George Orwell

From Wikepedia:

The International Day Against Police Brutality occurs on March 15. It first began in 1997 as an initiative of the Montreal Collective Opposed to Police Brutality and the Black Flag group in Switzerland. The date was initially chosen for convenience (March 15 1997 fell on a Saturday), although since the year 2000, it has often been linked to an alleged incident in which two children, aged 11 and 12, were beaten to death by the Swiss police.

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MARCH AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY - Friday, January 30, 2009
http://m-kula.blogspot.com/2009/01/march-against-police-brut...

It first began in 1997 as an initiative of the Black Flag collective in Switzerland along with the help of COBP (French acronym for [Collective] Opposed to Police Brutality) of Montreal. Since its first year, the International Day Against Police Brutality (IDAPB) has been a success. This date was chosen because on March 15th, two children, aged 11 and 12, were beaten by the Swiss police.

This day of denouncing police brutality is also an opportunity to create and strengthen ties between groups that work directly or indirectly against Authorities' brutality around the world. It permits the creation of an indispensable international solidarity in the fight against police forces that collaborate world-wide and are extremely well organized. The IDAPB, which concretely represents this solidarity, should not be overlooked as an element in the development and need to denounce police brutality. The day shatters the myth of unanimity about the virtues of the police (positive values promoted especially by TV cop shows and mass media). It also ends the isolation of groups and individuals who, engaged in this struggle, are subjected to daily repression.

The modern State's favoured instrument of repression, the police, is a fairly recent development in history: In the early 1800s, industrialisation is in full swing, people are migrating to the cities, becoming urban workers and swelling the proletarian class. Class conflicts increase when the bourgeoisie (urban ruling class) and industrial property (capital) live in close proximity to workers. With the increasing agitation and organisation of workers, the police are instituted to fight labour and protect industrial property.

Which "crime" shall be punished or not is left to the police's discretion; which laws shall be enforced, where and at what time, and especially who is forced to respect the law, is decided by the police. In effect, the police, the right arm of the Authorities, abuse its power on a daily basis and exercise its violence with near total impunity. The police continuously and everywhere violate the very laws that they are supposed to uphold. The police check identity, spy, double-deal, hustle, repress, ticket, despise, pursue, arrest, imprison, deport, harass and beat up; they inflict indignity, they torture and they kill. Their primary targets are the "undesirables of society," (the dangerous classes): the poor, the homeless, people of colour, immigrants and persons with irregular status ("illegal immigrants" and people who work under-the-table), sex workers, activists, the marginalised, student activists, organised workers, queer, gender-based and feminist activists and people who question and don't accept the legitimacy of the authorities.

In response to the widening gap between rich and poor, the deepening of poverty and the general deterioration of living conditions, governments invest in police forces to do what it takes to maintain order and social peace.

For example, there is the deplorable tendency during demonstrations of resorting to so-called less-than-lethal weaponry (tested in hardened regional conflicts like Northern Ireland, Palestine, Indonesia, etc.). In opposition to the State's drift towards fascism, we have the responsibility to act and support all victims of Police force.

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The Dziekanski Inquiry & International Day Against Police Brutality - Tuesday, March 3, 2009
http://nefaeriaofetsy.blogspot.com/2009/03/dziekanski-inquir...

Right now in Vancouver there is an inquiry going on for the tasering death of Robert Dziekański, who died at the hands of the RCMP.

I am not surprised to see that through out this whole inquiry that previous lies are coming to the surface, as the police were saying one thing, and a video of the incident shot by Paul Pritchard says something completely different.

Here is a tidbit of some of the latest from the CBC:

Dziekanski jolted again after falling to floor, Mountie testifies

After Robert Dziekanski fell to the floor, screaming and in pain from the first jolt of a Taser, the officer who deployed the stun gun shocked him a few more times because he thought Dziekanski was combative and resistant, a public inquiry heard Monday.

RCMP Const. Kwesi Millington, 32, told the Vancouver inquiry into the Polish immigrant's death that he delivered the first shock from the 50,000-volt weapon because Dziekanski had picked up a stapler and become a threat.

"I formed the impression that he wanted to attack one of the officers or all of the officers," said Millington in his first public account of the events leading up to Dziekanski's death at the Vancouver airport in 2007.

Millington said he fired the Taser again even after Dziekanski was lying on the floor because the first jolt did not immobilize him. In all, he fired the stun gun four times, although the records indicate the Taser was discharged five times, the inquiry heard.

"The person that it's applied against is supposed to fall immediately and it's supposed to immobilize them," Millington said. "It did not have that effect so I felt it was necessary to fire it again."

On March 15th it is the International Day Against Police Brutality, where various events and marches will happen around the world to speak out against police violence and injustice.

Some of the ones that I could find going on in Canada are in Montreal and in Vancouver. Check out your local activist listings if you want to get involved, or start your own event!

Slàinte!
Laurel

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This March 15th in Montreal: Join the Demo Against Police Brutality - Friday, March 13, 2009
http://sketchythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/03/this-march-15th-...

This Sunday is the 13th annual demonstration against police brutality in Montreal, within the framework of the International Day Against Police Brutality.

The demonstration is called for Sunday, March 15th at 2pm, at metro Mont Royal.

As always, there is a fear of police violence, or mass arrests, at the March 15th demo.

Over the past year the police have repeatedly singled out COBP in the media, for instance prior to demonstrations around the Villanueva murder last summer, when newspapers pointed to COBP's involvement in the campaign as an indication that demonstrations might evolve into riots. More recently, during the debates around the anti-mask bylaw the Police Brotherhood is trying to get passed in Montreal, COBP was once again singled out, as the Brotherhood argued that masked protesters at the March 15th demos routinely engage in violence.

& now, during the week leading up to this year's demo, the police and media have been putting the fear campaign into gear. Police spokespeople made a show of taking the Brotherhood to court this week, trying to get an injunction obliging the cops to wear regular pig uniforms at the demo this Sunday (the porcine union has been having the cops dress in battle fatigues as pressure tactics in its negotiations with the city). But the pseudo-court case was really just an opportunity to explain that this demo was liable to be "more violent than ever" due to anger over the Villanueva killing.

In the face of this scare mongering, it is more important than ever to stand with COBP, and to attend this weekend's demonstration. See you there.

What follows is COBP's callout for the demo:

“As police officers, repression is our job. We don’t need a community relations officer for a director, we need a general. Let’s keep in mind that the police force is, after all, a paramilitary body.”

--Yves Francoeur, President of the Montreal Police Brotherhood

DEMONSTRATION: SUNDAY, MARCH 15th, 2PM
Metro Mont-Royal
Organised by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP)

The Montreal police (SPVM) is in an uproar. With the current cases against them looking as loaded as their guns, these guardians of the civil tranquility have a bad case of frayed nerves. Their bargaining tactics as they negotiate the renewal of their collective labor agreement have allowed us a glimpse of their true nature: they now parade around town in military apparel, sending a very clear message to the people of Montreal. The police are keeping a finger on the trigger, and are willing to fight for their right to keep it there.

And how could we forget the events of August 9th, 2008. Early in the evening, while playing dice at a park with his brother and some friends, 18 year old Fredy Villanueva was shot dead at point-blank range by Constable Jean-Loup Lapointe, as his accomplice, Stéphanie Pilotte, looked on. Not satisfied with having shot and killed one young man, Lapointe went on to wound two of the other youth present, shooting one of them in the back. It must be made perfectly clear that this was a murder and that Constable Lapointe should be considered a murderer and must absolutely face criminal charges.

There have been many attempts to portray this as an isolated case, a rare fatality that does not put into question the integrity of the police. Cops, however, never act alone. It is the entirety of the police force and the policing institution itself which is to blame in these cases: Fredy Villanueva is the 43rd person killed by the SPVM since 1987. Not a single police officer has been found guilty of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Every single police officer involved in these cases resumed regular duties, which explains why one can still cross paths with a cop like Dominic Chartier. Constable Dominic Chartier killed Yvon Lafrance in 1989, was involved in Martin Suazo’s death in 1995, and has had six complaints filed against him with the police ethics committee. But these facts alone are not enough to warrant a dismissal from his position as weapons instructor for the SPVM.

The Montreal Police Brotherhood (FPPM), with their incomparably bizarre Yves Francoeur reigning supreme in the role of godfather, exists mainly to cover up the wrongdoings of its members, operating much like a crime family. It systematically attempts to sabotage the holding of public inquiries and has interfered with the crown prosecutors’ work on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, with the SPVM recently proposing a ban on protestors wearing masks at demonstrations, we may well ask why the SPVM do not do some unveiling of their own. If the cops are so afraid of public inquiries, it’s because they have something to hide. Thanks to the FPPM, the details of the 2005 police shooting of Mohamed Anas Bennis have still not been made public, and as they have time and again interfered in the holding of any kind of public investigation, this case remains unresolved.

The Brotherhood, along with the vast majority of police, has lately been more radical in its stances, most notably in its president’s own words as he declared that Officer Lapointe “…did his job well”. The police try to set an example in this time of social unrest. They try to play their repression off as being necessary for keeping things in their rightful place. To succeed in their mission, someone will eventually have to pay the price. The political powers that dictate the police’s actions know who to blame when it comes to protecting their own: “visible minorities” who are members of “street gangs” who live in a dangerous and “troubled” ghetto. This kind of racial and social profiling is a day to day reality in Montreal’s working class neighbourhoods. In St-Michel, and Montreal-North to name a few, if it’s not the color of your skin that brands you a criminal, it’s the clothes you wear. As of last year even the highly respected Quebec Human Rights Commission had declared the SPVM guilty of “discriminatory practices and profiling”. The youth of these neighbourhoods are being judged by incompetent hacks and yet it is they who are treated as such. There is also the discrimination experienced by the homeless, who are apparently guilty of not being able to keep a roof over their heads. Montreal police (who seem to not have much rattling around in their heads) seem to find it perfectly reasonable to burden homeless with tickets they cannot pay, thus criminalizing their misfortune.

The people pay the price for “Justice” when its armed goons go on the attack. Besides their possession of firearms and other tools of repression such as the baton and pepper spray, we are now introduced to a new weapon: the electroshock gun Taser. Responsible for the deaths of over 300 individuals in North-America alone, this weapon was most notable employed by the SPVM in the killing of Quilem Registre in 2007, and remains in use despite Minister of Public Security Jacques Dupuis having ordered an assessment of the weapon. Some of the Tasers in use emit a charge up to 50% higher than expected.

So who protects us from the police? Besides facing the possibility of death or imprisonment, we must also behave and learn to keep quiet to appease these hired guns. No name-calling, as the SPVM is pressuring the city to make it a crime to insult a police officer. One wrong word could soon cost you one more fine. It’s easy for anyone to grasp the fact that the new municipal regulations – anti-mask and anti-insult – suggested by the SPVM clearly target, as stated by their spokesperson Paul Chablo, two protests in particular: the International Workers Day protest on May 1st and the March 15th International Day Against Police Brutality. Besides being illogical and subject to interpretation, the two proposed regulations prove that there is a real danger of political profiling. We just have to look at the case of Benjamin Nottaway, Algonquin chief from Lac Barrière, imprisoned since last November for participating in a peaceful protest denouncing the government’s neo-colonial policies.

The only way to resolve these problems is to face their true causes. The poverty engendered by government reflects the wealth of the calmer, less populated rich neighbourhoods, where some even employ their own private security. Economic and social instability has consequences that are becoming clearer and clearer. Here and around the world, it is the same reasoning that keeps the system in place, and just as our police kill, so it is in every place where they take on the role of oppressors. Two recent events caught our attention; there was the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Greece, and that of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, both at the hands of the forces of order. In both cases, just as we saw in Montreal-North, people took to the streets in revolt, at one point almost culminating in an insurrection in Greece. In the latter case, the two killer cops had criminal charges brought against them. This just goes to show that it is important to act in the face of injustice, that only a strong public outcry can really change things. The International Day Against Police Brutality is the perfect opportunity to show that we refuse to stand for police impunity and to show our opposition to the system that legitimizes their actions. It’s the fist step towards changing a world that has no future ahead of it if we allow passivity to rule.

Justice to all the victims of police brutality and impunity!

No justice, no peace!

-- Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP)
http://cobp-mtl.ath.cx/

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Anti-police brutality demo ends with multiple arrests
ctvmontreal.ca
http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090315/mtl...

At least 30 people were arrested at the anti-police brutality demonstration in Montreal Sunday afternoon.

Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafrèniere said eight protestors were apprehended before the march even began, as a preventative measure.

All eight individuals were carrying rocks, bricks and other objects.

The protest, organized by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COPB), began at 2 p.m. at the Mont-Royal métro station. Hundreds of people, some wearing masks, showed up to take part in the demonstration.

Lafrenière said streets around the métro had to be cordoned off, and some métro stations on the orange line between Beaubien and Bonaventure were shut down for more than an hour because someone pulled an emergency brake at Mont-Royal metro station.

The group of demonstrators gradually made their way into the downtown core. Police has trouble controlling traffic because organizers of the demonstration had refused to disclose what route they would be taking.

Along the way, protesters set off firecrackers and launched various objects at police officers.

"Bottles were thrown, bricks were thrown, even food" said CTV Montreal's Daniele Hamamdjian, reporting from corner of Ste. Catherine and Bleury Sts.

Police had to use tear gas to subdue rowdy demonstrators.

By about 6 p.m., the crowd had begun to disperse and all was relatively calm.

Protestors remember Fredy Villaneuva

Demonstrators said they want justice in the wake of the death of 18-year-old Montreal North resident Fredy Villanueva.

Villanueva was shot to death by a Montreal police officer last Aug. 9, during an altercation at Henri-Bourassa Park.

Two other teenagers were wounded by gunfire in the incident.

None of the young men were armed.

A public inquiry into Fredy Villanueva's death will begin May 25, before Judge Robert Sansfacon.

Lawyers for the two Montreal police officers involved in the shooting have asked that their clients' identities be protected by a publication ban during the inquiry.

Annual protest has history of violence

Today marks the 13th International Day Against Police Brutality.

Montreal police Chief Inspector Paul Chablo told CTV news on Friday the annual anti-police brutality march has a history of turning ugly.

"Every single year there's violence, every year people are arrested, and there's all types of criminal acts committed," said Chablo.

At last year's march, 47 people were arrested.

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News Winnipeg - Sunday, March 15, 2009

Police brutality protested
Local group claim 'mistreatment' happens here every day

About 50 people took to Winnipeg’s streets today to raise awareness about police mistreatment they allege goes on in the city “on a daily basis.”

An organization known as Winnipeg Copwatch organized the rally and march today to mark the International Day Against Police Brutality. The day was initiated 12 years ago in response to the beating deaths of two children at the hands of Swiss police, according to Alex Stearns, a volunteer with Copwatch.

“We’re raising our voices and getting our message out that police brutality is unacceptable,” Stearns said. “It happens on a daily basis (in Winnipeg).”

Const. Blair Good, a spokesman for Winnipeg police, declined comment on Copwatch or its allegation Winnipeg citizens are daily victims of police mistreatment.

The protest group gathered at Old Market Square around noon and marched to the Winnipeg Police Service’s headquarters at the nearby Public Safety Building, then on to Central Park and the law courts complex.

Similar marches were being held across Canada and internationally, Stearns said.

Daniel Thau-Eleff, another member of Copwatch, said the group is concerned not only about physical abuse but illegal searches and harassment as well. For the past few years, the group has patrolled Winnipeg streets a few times per month handing out cards to citizens advising them of their rights when dealing with police and videotaping policing activities.

“Our going around and videotaping is more symbolic to police that they’re being watched,” he said.

Winnipeg Copwatch, an affiliate of similar organizations elsewhere, has about 12 active members and numerous supporters, Thau-Eleff said.

The group recently submitted a list of suggested reforms to the provincial government, which is amending the Provincial Police Act this spring.

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Police Brutality and Corruption Internet Radio Show - 10/23/2008
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/justiceforall/2008/10/23/Intern...

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Happy Anti Police Brutality Day

March 15 is the The International Day Against Police Brutality.
http://ohnotherobot.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-anti-police-b...

The scene ranged from comical to abysmal within the Plateau Quarter of Montreal today, as the Montreal Police celebrated The International Day Against Police Brutality with a display of machismo that amounted to nothing more than an insecure bully flexing his muscles.

The citizens of Montreal, already cynical of a police force responsible for the death of an 18 year old man last August, were quick to criticize the actions of the authorities.

"I was at the corner of St. Denis and Roy and the cops fired two canisters of tear gas. Some anarchist crust punks were knocking over mail boxes in protest against police brutality," sniped one blogger who was a witness to the scene.

Beating their batons upon their shields, the armed riot squad – the black Cadillac of police units – advanced upon the crowd, which consisted mostly of middle-aged professionals out for an afternoon Sunday stroll. The well-to do audience remained relatively nonplussed toward the cops and their over-dramatics. Many people, including those clutching children, simply stood their ground. They had no reason to fear the police, since their only 'crime' had been gathering to watch the ironic, and sadly humorous, display.

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Callout for March 15th, 2008: 12th International Day Against Police Brutality (IDAPB)

Since 1997, the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP) has organized a protest in Montreal on March 15th to highlight the International Day Against Police Brutality (IDAPB). This day of action (decreed after the violent beating of two youths, ages 11 and 12, in Switzerland on March 15th, 1996) has been highlighted in numerous cities and countries around the world. On March 15th, 2007, protests and other events took place in Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Toronto, Belleville (Ontario), Guelph, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, and Oaxaca, Mexico.

This year, COBP once again invites concerned groups and individuals to participate in the 12th International Day Against Police Brutality in Montreal, on the 15th of March, 2008, at 3pm at Berri Square. We also encourage you to organize an event in your city and to endorse this callout if you support our demands.

Rest of the text:

Callout for March 15th, 2008: 12th International Day Against Police Brutality

Since 1997, the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP) has organized a protest in Montreal on March 15th to highlight the International Day Against Police Brutality (IDAPB). This day of action (decreed after the violent beating of two youths, ages 11 and 12, in Switzerland on March 15th, 1996) has been highlighted in numerous cities and countries around the world. On March 15th, 2007, protests and other events took place in Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Toronto, Belleville (Ontario), Guelph, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, and Oaxaca, Mexico.
ENOUGH POLICE KILLINGS AND IMPUNITY!

The media has devoted a lot of coverage this year to the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport after he was given two electric charges from a Taser Gun. Less coverage was devoted to the cases of Claudio Castagnetta and Quilem Registre, two men who were also killed by Tasers. Numerous people die each year as a result of police blunders, leaving victims’ families in silence and resentment. The problem lies in the regular abuse of power by police officers who, unlike the rest of the population, are free to kill without fear of consequence, due to the obvious complicity of the government and judicial system. As if this wasn’t enough, Jaques Dupuis, Minister of Justice and Public Security, has consistently refused to render justice in cases of death resulting from police brutality, and is planning to change the law on policing to further facilitate impunity of murderous officers.

No to Tasers!

Now more than ever, we ask for the abolition of this deadly weapon which has already taken too many lives. An end to the collaboration of government and corrupt corporations…

STOP SOCIAL CLEANSING!

Police routinely harass homeless, youth, and sex workers to get them out of public places. Peace officers not only apply the laws and regulations, they also systematically attack certain segments of the population. This is particularly obvious in downtown Montreal, where the police act as armed enforcers for local commerce, assuring its vision of a shopping district reserved for the rich and the tourists. The number of fines given to homeless people by agents of the Montreal Transit Corporation (STM) has significantly increased in the last several years. This form of repression is very costly to society, and does nothing but put at risk those who are most deprived. In the last few years, several new regulations have been adopted to this end:

-The closing of the last public places where homeless could spend the night, in September of 2006.

-The banning of dogs from Berri and Viger squares, known to be frequented by street people and their companions, in June of 2007.

-Benoît Labonté, mayor of Ville-Marie subdivision, seeks to outlaw walking more than two dogs in Ville-Marie by March, 2008.

STOP RACIAL PROFILING AND COLONIALISM!

The racist police officer is not a myth. In the summer of 2007, several cases of abuse by Montreal police against blacks and Filipinos were reported, particularly in Côte-des-Neiges. Illegal arrests, police harassment and brutality are experienced daily by youth in predominantly immigrant neighbourhoods. The Human Rights Commission recently ruled on several case of racial profiling, ordering the city of Montreal to compensate the affected families, but the mayor has refused to do so. It would seem that mistreatment and racism are also political matters!
Canada is a country founded on colonialism, land theft and the genocide of indigenous peoples, and things haven't changed. Indigenous people fighting to live as they wish are victims of repression, as shown by the case of anti-colonial activist Shawn Brant, a Mohawk imprisoned in Ontario.

No to security certificates!

In the name of the so-called “War on Terrorism”, the government uses “security certificates” to deny a bunch of basic rights to suspected terrorists, all from Arab and Muslim communities, further reinforcing prejudices. The Canadian state also offers a disgusting fate to its refugees, holding them indefinitely and without cause and deporting thousands to countries where they face imprisonment and torture.

ENOUGH POLITICAL REPRESSION!

This past August, at the anti-PSP protests in Montebello, the public was shocked at the images of “agents provocateurs” in the crowd. This is not the first time, however, that police have employed these tactics. The different policing agencies have always had the purpose of protecting those with power, and to nip in the bud any opposition. In this supposedly democratic state, the tactics used by officers of the law are more than questionable: mass arrests, agents provocateurs, tear gas, rubber bullets, and illegal searches. We have only to remember International Women's Day, March 8, 2007, when police used force against women and others protesting. We witnessed the same treatment during the student strike in the fall of 2007 at the CÉGEP du Vieux-Montréal, when 107 people were arrested completely arbitrarily. And the list goes on. In the name of security, those in power eliminate all political opposition with violence and bloodshed.

We've had enough! In solidarity with all those who fight for liberty and justice, we demand the release of all political prisoners here and everywhere.

This year, COBP once again invites concerned groups and individuals to participate in the 12th International Day Against Police Brutality in Montreal, on the 15th of March, 2008, at 3pm at Berri Square. We also encourage you to organize an event in your city and to endorse this callout if you support our demands.

Our fight against police brutality has no borders! Down with all police states!

The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP)

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Winnipeg Copwatch - Working Together to Stop Police Misconduct
http://winnipegcopwatch.org/wpgcwnews/march152008

Report from the International Day against Police Brutality
Written on March 19, 2008

Two days ago marked the 12th annual International Day against Police Brutality. It began in 1997 as a joint initiative by the Montreal Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière (Collective Opposed to Police Brutality) and the Black Flag group in Switzerland in response to the beating deaths of two children, aged 11 and 12 by Swiss police.

March 15th 2008 began in a parking lot located near the corner of Logan and Main street. People began arriving close to 6pm and it was already obvious that police were present. There were two police cruisers on Main Street looking onto the parking lot, and two to three more circling around the backlane to the parking lot which was where people were congregating. A man in a white van with tinted windows was also spotted across on the west side of Main Street taking photos then returning to his vehicle when spotted and pointed out.

The following is a write up from Jo Redsky from the march.

I just wanted to let everyone know on March 15, Saturday afternoon I attended an “International Day Against Police Brutality March” held by Cop Watch, a non-profit Organization to watch and observe, educate people if one believes they are being treated unfairly by the Police. The event was held in Downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. I invited my cousin Marlene to join me in this event. As the March continued, I was in the crowd marching, my cousin Marlene in her Pick up truck following behind the march, was suddenly stopped by the Winnipeg Police. More police officers surrounded the pick up truck, indicating a complete stop.

Marlene at the time of incident was using her “flashers”, to signify she was driving leisurely behind. I noticed fellow marchers reacting to the sudden stop of her truck, by the Winnipeg Police. I started towards the confrontation, confused to why the police would stop my cousin, who has never participated in a march like this before, was being stopped for questioning.

“My cousin knows of the real problems we face. Let us look at the Brutality Matthew Dumas, and JJ Harper, faced from passed cruelty and violence brought to you by THE POLICE, and what our Anishanabe people face in everyday city and rural injustice, discrimination of the law of peace and justice or to “Serve And To Protect”.

I screamed and hollowed at the police to leave Marlene alone, but the one officer asked Marlene if she would present her registration and driver’s license. I asked the officer to explain what Marlene was doing wrong. In a quick reaction I took up my hand drum and sang, to signify that racism was upon this episode, and then with out notice another woman joined me with her hand drum, to use as our only weapon of protection, we continued to sing; meanwhile our noble and righteous Winnipeg Police was becoming agitated by our presents of song. I started to move forward from adrenaline. Marlene was still detained right at the spot, so I proceeded to go back to where Marlene was and was confronted by another police officer who stated to me that if I didn’t move on, I would be ticketed for being off the sidewalks, while the marchers were observed everywhere, from sidewalk, to street.

An unknown Cop Watch lady, came forward between an officer and me and said lets not be intimidate by his actions of sour mouth (police). The now eight (8) Police officers were surrounding me like I was a fugitive of crime, like I was secured for a hostile invader.

“I was one of many native woman standing up for my views of police injustice while there were a dozen WPS surrounding me, like I was a threat. I just moved on the March to the old Remand Center, and then stopped for 20 minutes spoke. I was really upset now. I thought and spoke about Connie and Ty Jacobs who were murdered by the police in Alberta. I want to plan a memorial at the R.C.M.P, Division D headquarters on Portage Ave, Saturday March 22, 2008, at
2 pm. It has now been 10 years since Connie and Ty Jacobs were killed by aggressive force. Ty Jacobs will be 19 years old today. We want the abuse and violence to our people to stop, so lets get rid of the “Eliminate the Indian problem!” mentality.

In Sisterhood,
Jo Redsky
Wolf clan

Winnipeg Copwatch will also be attending the memorial for Connie and Ty Jacobs on March 22. Ty Jacbos would have been 19 a few days ago. The memorial will take place at the RCMP Div-D HQ at Portage Ave and Dominion Street.

Filed in: Winnipeg Copwatch News.

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Callout from today's Support the Power to Women Black Market - Stand for the DTES! action in Vancouver:

Significant street sweeps have been occurring in the [Downtown Eastside] from increased and aggressive ticketing for things like jaywalking to "illegal" vending. As verified by the [Vancouver Police Department] itself, a year-end performance report shows that officers issued 467 tickets for violations of the Safe Streets Act in 2008, compared to 202 tickets in 2007. Police officers also handed out 133 tickets for violations of the Trespass Act, up from 95 in 2007. Tickets for city-bylaw infractions, including tickets for vending, panhandling, and loitering, shot up to 439 tickets in 2008 compared to 247 tickets in 2007.

Leading up to the 2010 Olympics, such measures are meant to 'cleanse' the neighbourhood and to intimidate DTES residents through the use of no-go orders for "chronic offenders" (i.e vendors/binners) and street checks by VPD Beat Enforcement Team officers.

In response to this, the Power to Women group is organizing an afternoon of "illegal vending" in front of the Vancouver Police Station on Sunday March 15th, International Day Against Police Brutality. We strongly encourage supporters and allies of the group and of DTES residents who are facing this increased onslaught to please come out and make your presence visible. We are standing together and we ask you to come out and support the Power to Women "black market" which will also help fund the groups ongoing activities! If you have any items to donate to our "illegal vending" efforts, please bring them with you (anything goes!)