Masked Avengers©Linda Dawn Hammond 2001

Dancing with Teargas in our Eyes.
Written Report and Digital Photos by Gary Morton

Summit Protest Report - Quebec 2001

http://www.interlog.com/~command/quebec.htm

* forward and repost. Anyone can use the photos.

Apr.21, 2001

I headed into the Quebec OQP-2001 March with seven people from Tao Toronto (tao.ca). The Plains of Abraham were sunny at noon with a crowd building till about 1.30. In spite of all the hype about how protesters should dress, the people showed as a mixed crowd, casual and eclectic with costumed and alternative elements.

The drumming and dancing began there and continued as the march poured out into the streets. Then we reached Rene-Levesque Blvd and confusion took over. A split developed with the main parade heading straight through to link up with a union parade, and anarchists with the other half heading for the wall and the riot police.

Having lost my friends in the mob I ended up at the fence, getting embroiled in a long encounter with the police. Shooting photos led to my being gassed badly about 10 times.

This battle raged all day long and into the night. It was still underway when we left at ten p.m. Perhaps you've heard of the new world order bombing Iraq and Yugoslavia into submission,this time their aim was to bomb protesters and a large portion of downtown Quebec into submission.

They opened fire on us with tear gas rockets and water cannons and the thoom and thud of the fire echoed across the city hour after hour. Riot cops sent exploding canisters into streets, fields, down steep alleys, everywhere, choking those up front and even ordinary citizens and residents in the downhill streets.

There weren't any brave groups of cops dashing out to make arrests. When they came out to charge and try to pincer us it was always with huge marching columns of riot guys that boomed out more tear gas rockets.

Like in Iraq, they were afraid to risk a man, but had no problem with bombing everyone in town. Protesters ran through the smoke with endless energy tossing the canisters back at police. The crowd drummed and pounded on everything, metal flag poles, guard rails, snare and other drums, sending out an eerie din of war that reached its peak in the night below the underpass É where a huge crowd danced wildly as the battle continued at the top of the steep ravine. In the spotlights riot cops and protesters clashed, huge curtains of gas floated and canisters came right down the ravine side and exploded, leaving some people overcome while others continued to dance furiously in the night and firelight with tears in their eyes.

In the afternoon I ran from scene to scene. Incredible stuff was happening everywhere. Arriving at one spot I saw a guy run up and grab the fence, only to have a gas canister fired into the chain links explode in his face to send him flying to the pavement. Medics dragged him up an embankment and I watched them treat his bleeding face and arms. A few minutes later they were gone and I lobbed rocks and a beer bottle down on the riot cops then ran off down an alley with tear gas canisters exploding at my heels.

In a different area I met up with anarchists in heavy gear going up a narrow street and watched as they set a building inside the fence on fire with Molotovs. At times people ran in panic on many of the streets as gas firing riot cops charged. Protesters fought their way back to the start point of the conflict. Tremendous waves of gas hit us there and the huge police columns came back out and caused a panicked run to the downhill streets. When the cop columns halted cheerleaders faced them at the front, creating the odd scene of smoke and riot cops preparing to rush girls dancing in tartan skirts.

Protest drummers knocked out a steady beat, a Quebec City resident blasted Pink Floyd's 'All in All Your Just Another Brick in the Wall' from his balcony, and when it ended we were running downhill through exploding gas.

In the lower streets and downtown groups of protesters were everywhere in circles - sitting, standing, crowding roadways. Yet the only violence came with the police. I saw small fires, almost no property damage, wrath was reserved for the police and the wall, and each time the riot cops came the protesters showed the courage that the police didn't have. People took tremendous risks grabbing the bombs, running in to throw anything they could at the cops, preventing them from getting a soft crowd they could surround and arrest.

One guy had a whole column of cops crush him. It continues in the night. Soon the cops will goose step to the bottom to claim arrests and victory.

And it will be democracy again- where bombs rule, and the new world order is victorious.

You can only dance with teargas in your eyes.

Fuck the FTAA!

Gary
GO TO PHOTOS BY GARY MORTON of
FTTA Protest!

The Saturday Night Sweep
Notes by Gary Morton

In my write-up on the Saturday Yellow Zone direct action I note that we got out of Quebec City sometime after ten pm. At that time undercover men were nearby and the troops were shooting the first volleys of tear gas down from the hill streets at the dancing/drumming crowds.

I really wanted to stay but I had to be sure to get the digital photos and a report out. We did leave our younger friends Kate, Jake and Demetrie in the city.

They witnessed the police sweep, the so-called riot and the huge fire. In their report it didn't quite happen as described in the media.

There were huge gatherings under the bridges and one was particularly peaceful with some people dancing and others sitting on the grass. None of them were planning a riot. They were just hanging out or sleeping out.

Then the riot cops showed on the overpass and opened fire with tear gas and rubber bullets, creating anger. One guy smashed out the subway station windows and was tackled by people who cooled him off. Then others began to build the huge bonfire in a pretty much orderly fashion.

It was hardly a riot. There never really were any riots anywhere in the city. The people in downtown Quebec were supporting us so we were careful not to destroy their property.

Right from the beginning the police strategy was to create panic and anger with gas attacks and then to arrest people. Late Saturday night they moved into the lower streets with specific orders to agitate and arrest people for participating in a riot.

Other reports say they attacked the CMAQ Independent media building wounding one man with rubber bullets. A tear gas attack was later launched on the medical building. After that they shot a man in the throat with a plastic bullet leaving him in critical condition. Another man suffered eye injuries after being struck in the face by shrapnel from an exploding tear gas canister. NDP Member of Parliament Svend Robinson reported that he was shot with a rubber bullet earlier on when riot cops attacked his peaceful group.

430 people were arrested, most of them in the green zones where no illegal behavior was taking place. These surprised people got chased down, gassed, beaten.

Many of these demonstrators did not understand how the police work. There isn't a green zone for the police, there is only a sweep zone. The only reason they didn't come right out and attack every group in the city after the early afternoon marches was because the Direct Action people in the Yellow Zone were battling them on the hill streets around the fence. They kept the police at bay until deep into the night.

After 11 pm riot cops were able to move down and demonstrate what their real intent had been all along. And they had media support because the corporate media served the lies of the FTAA masters with phony riot coverage.

The reason for the fast arrests of people like Jaggi Singh, Tooker Gomberg and others thought of as possible leaders is that the police think in military fashion. They think the actions will end if they find leaders to arrest. Though it doesn't work that way. Up in the Yellow Zone protesters regrouped and fought back on all of the streets. There weren't any leaders Ð it's a sort of equality of action thing.

So thank the people who took the fight to the police on the hill streets, because if they had not done it there would have been more like six thousand arrests and a makeshift concentration camp on the Plains of Abraham.

Gary.

* 463 people were arrested

* Police fired 1,700 tear gas rockets.

Counter Set April 23, 2001