The CRAP would like to thank everyone who had the courage to participate in the march despite the context of intense intimidation and political pressure. The fact that the demonstration went ahead smoothly shows that the fear campaign lead by the SPVM and echoed in the media was nothing more than a trap to isolate people who are not afraid to speak out loud and clear that we will NEVER AGAIN accept police killings to go unpunished.
The CRAP also wants to say that if no charges are laid against Montreal police officer Jean-Loup Lapointe and his partner Stephanie Pilotte, this will show that the police are above the laws that they are supposed to uphold. If the police can kill without being punished, there will be other demonstrations of anger. Without justice, there can be no social peace.

Press release of the Coalition against Repression and Police Abuse (CRAP)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, Novembre 11th, 2008

Justice for Fredy : Press charges against officer Jean-Loup Lapointe!

Last October 11th, around 600 people responded to a call to action from the Coalition against Repression and Police Abuses (known by its acronym CRAP in French) and took part in a demonstration in Montreal North despite a fear campaign lead by the SPVM (Montreal Police) in the mainstream media. This demonstration was supported by at least 15 other organizations and demanded: a public and independent inquiry into the death of Fredy Villanueva, an end to racial profiling, police abuses and impunity, and the recognition of the principle that as long as there are economic inequalities, there will be social insecurity.
Given the context where the municipal authorities were using the old tactics of divide and rule, played with the carrot and stick, this mobilization was still a success. As it played out, two days before the march, the Journal de Montreal published a front-page smear article which was also picked up by most of the other media, claiming that so-called “agitators” were behind the organization of the demonstration. The SPVM visited all the stores and businesses in the area with scarecrow threats “troublemakers” and “window-smashers”, and spreading fears about so-called “vandalism” to terrorize the neighborhood.
Despite these hurdles, this family-friendly demonstration proceeded as the organizers had expected it would, contrary to the media disinformation which had dropped the guilty verdict before any incident. It is worth noting that the media outlets who had harped so much on the threat of “vandalism” and “trouble-makers” hardly talked about the march at all, instead preferring to report on how the march went ahead “calmly”, without really talking about the demands and the issues at the heart of the mobilization. They would go on to also minimize the police presence, which in reality was disproportionately massive.
As for the carrot, it is important to note that the City of Montreal “coincidentally” announced two days before the march that it would miraculously invest 2 million dollars into some community groups in Montreal North. Being a result of the riots the day after Fredy was killed by bullets fired from officer Jean-Loup Lapointe’s gun, this “gift” was not unrelated to the fact that the so-called “community groups” who benefited were also all absent from the demonstration, which sought to target very real problems suffered daily by people in the neighborhood, such as racial profiling and police brutality.
The CRAP would like to thank everyone who had the courage to participate in the march despite the context of intense intimidation and political pressure. The fact that the demonstration went ahead smoothly shows that the fear campaign lead by the SPVM and echoed in the media was nothing more than a trap to isolate people who are not afraid to speak out loud and clear that we will NEVER AGAIN accept police killings to go unpunished. As for the millions invested by City Hall, it is nothing more than a gag order for groups who are supposed to represent the interests of the community and who were shamefully absent from the march.
The CRAP also wants to say that if no charges are laid against Montreal police officer Jean-Loup Lapointe and his partner Stephanie Pilotte, this will show that the police are above the laws that they are supposed to uphold. If the police can kill without being punished, there will be other demonstrations of anger. Without justice, there can be no social peace.

The Coalition against Repression and Police Abuse (CRAP)

coal...@hotmail.fr