463 arrested at Quebec City summit protest
By Gery
Armsby
As Workers World went to press the Quebec Legal Collective
issued an update estimating that 30 of the 463 activists
arrested during the April 19-22 protests in Quebec City
remain in jail.
Outside the Orainville Jail in Quebec City and around the
world protests in solidarity with those jailed have
continued.
One of the imprisoned activists is Jaggi Singh, a leader
and member of the Convergence des Luttes Anti-Capi ta
listes/Anti-Capitalist Convergence--a main organizing group
of the anti-FTAA protests. He was attacked and arrested by
five undercover cops during a demonstration April 20. He
faces charges of breaching a previous bail order,
participating in a riot and possession of a weapon--the
"weapon" being a theatrical catapult protesters used to
launch various symbolic items at police.
Other charges against protesters range from inciting riots
to disturbing the peace to illegal assembly. Jailed activists
like "Marina" from New York City have reported that people
from the U.S., Canada and other countries have faced long
periods of intense questioning by various officials of
unknown rank with U.S. accents. Legal observers who visited
the jails have confirmed that jail visitor logs include names
of FBI and INS officials from the U.S.
According to QLC staff member Natalie Sperry, bail
hearings for the remaining prisoners took place April 25. She
told Workers World that, "many people are at the courthouse
right now to support the people still in jail.
"The police here have been in close collusion with the
U.S. FBI in targeting revolutionary groups like CLAC, Black
Blocs and various people from the U.S.," Sperry continued,
"and it is clear that they are holding [Singh] to mess with
him because he's a well-known activist."
Singh toured the U.S. in March to help organize
participation of U.S. groups in anti-FTAA demonstrations.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS
:: SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page