The evening of March 8, 2007, Montreal police officers brutalized people and arrested Jaggi Singh at the end of an International Women’s Day demonstration. It was organized by the Coalition of Women of Diverse Origins who have been organizing protests since March 8, 2002.
The COBP denounces yet another case of police brutality and political repression, which comes one week prior to the 11th Day Against Police Brutality, March 15 2007, which you’re all invited to come demonstrate at 5pm at Snowdon metro.
We invite you to support Jaggi who is detained at the RDP jail and demand his unconditional and imediate release!

Police brutality and arrest at an International Women’s Day demonstration!

The evening of March 8, 2007, Montreal police officers brutalized people and arrested one person at the end of an International Women’s Day demonstration. It was organized by the Coalition of Women of Diverse Origins who have been organizing protests since March 8, 2002.
The first people to come on the site had gathered at Berri-Uqam metro station. They have been approached by two policemen asking them if they had come for the demonstration comemorating the International Day of Women, and “invited�? them to go outside. At this point, there were about fifteen police cars in close sight of the site. The supervisor of station 21 was parked on the sidewalk in patrol car marked 21-86, and about ten “intervention�? cruisers (marked #72) were parked on on Berri just west of Berri Square. Then, the same police duo came inside Berri-UQAM metro station, towards the ticket booths. These two police officers were approaching anyone corresponding to the profile of a protester, asking if they were indeed protesters. Once they could establish that they were, the police told them that there were “only 4 people�? at the metro exit, with the obvious goal to discourage them to come to the demonstration and go away. The tone was set!
The demonstrators came out of the metro station, and after the first speech, the supervisor of station 21 declared through the sound system of his vehicle that the march was obliged to take De Maisonneuve street. Nevertheless, the demonstration left and went onto Ste-Catherine street heading West.
Upon arriving at Philips Square at the corner of Ste-Catherine and Union, the demonstrators stopped to listen to speeches on women’s struggles at home and abroad. Meanwhile, a dozen police officers got out of their vehicles with their nightsticks in hand and formed a line blocking Ste-Catherine street towards the west. A police officer in a cruiser marked “circulation�? told the officers “Come on! Let’s go and get them!�?. Most of these officers were arrogant, weren’t wearing their badges, and refused to identify themselves even though they’re supposed to be polite, wear a visible piece of identification, and identify themselves on demand according to the Police Ethics Code.
The supervisor of station 21 declared that the demonstration must end at Philips Square. The demonstration then headed back east on Ste-Catherine towards Berri Square. At Philips Square, an officer talking on a cell phone told the supervisor that he should check on his computer to see if an individual had broken his probation. As the demonstration was making its way east along Ste-Catherine towards Berri Square, two uniformed officers were following the march from each side of the sidewalk and were watching Jaggi Singh closely.
Once the crowd was between Clark and St-Laurent, a cop declared on his cruiser’s sound system that the demonstrators had to march on the sidewalk. Part of the crowd of demonstrators, including Jaggi Singh, went on the sidewalk. The rest of the demonstrators continued in the street, even though there were less people than at Philips Square.
Once the demonstration arrived between Sanguinet and St-Denis, around ten officers appeared running from the north on Sanguinet, and then went to the north side of the sidewalk of Ste-Catherine to the corner of St-Denis. One officer said, “Where the hell did he go?�? Another officer arrived from the east and recognized Jaggi, who was walking calmly on the sidewalk, and told the others. An officer, who was not identified because he wasn’t wearing his badge, took a running jump and tackled another demonstrator to the ground, and he then found himself on top of her after taking her down. The same officer then turned around to another female demonstrator walking on the sidewalk behind him and dealt her at least three punches, one in her solar plexus and one in the face, drawing blood from her mouth. At the same time, another officer named DOYON hit another female demonstrator in her rib-cage at least once with his club and threw her to the ground. They proceeded to surround and arrest Jaggi. Two officers, one with his retractable nightstick in hand, also pushed a demonstrator against a parked car and tried to intimidate him by saying, “Well?! You’re not that tough when you’re all alone, huh?!�? The police, most of whom weren’t wearing their badges, had their clubs in hand and a disrespectful attitude. These officers were from station 21 and maybe also from the “intervention�?.
After the arrests and acts of brutality committed by the officers against a peaceful demonstration which had as a goal to denounce violence and abuses against women around the world, the demonstrators began to enter UQAM while the Garda (private security) were getting ready to block the doors. About eight police officers stayed in the entrance of UQAM. A bit later, a cop was seen inside UQAM with an agent of the Garda.
Jaggi was accused of breaking his conditions from his last arrest in November just prior to a speech by Stephen Harper at the General Hospital. He was released under the condition to not participate in any demonstration deemed to be “non-peaceful and illegal�? and to leave a protest that became non-peaceful and illegal. He is detained and had an appearance the next afternoon (Friday march 9) at the Municipal Court, in front of a judge. Unfortunately, the crown prosecutor was Cloutier, who was also the prosecution for the demonstration against the G-20 in October, 2000, in which Jaggi is accused representing himself alone and which cause in presently on appeal at the Quebec Superior Court. Cloutier maintained that Jaggi had broken his conditions, that he was “recividist�? (prone to re-commit), and that it was in the “public’s interest�? to not release him, because if so, the public would loose their confidence in the justice system, which was approved by the judge. As a result, he will be detained in Rivieres-Des-Prairies.
Jaggi has already been arrested at least ten times, and has ended up at times behind bars, including 17 days after the Summit of the Americas in 2001, but to date he has not been found guilty of any crime and as such is being held in preventive detention. Since the legal system has not been able to condemn him to a prison sentence, the power abuses of the police and the Crown target him in a discriminatory way. We invite you to support him and demand his unconditional and imediate release!
The COBP denounces yet another case of police brutality and political repression, which comes one week prior to the 11th Day Against Police Brutality, March 15 2007, which you’re all invited to come demonstrate at 5pm at Snowdon metro.

Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP)
514-859-9065 - c...@hotmail.com - www.cobp.ath.cx