Montreal police didn't wait for the mini-ministerial to start their usual repression - two activists were harassed by the cops while they were giving out leaflets on Friday.

On Friday, Jul 25, around 17:10, I went leafletting down Ste-Catherine St. with a fellow activist. We left the CFS-Q office on Maisonneuve, went down Mackay St. and turned East on St-Catherine. We gave out "WTO Is Coming to Montreal" leaflets and tracts announcing the No One Is Illegal march on Sunday for about half an hour until around 17:40 when, at the corner of Ste-Catherine and Mansfield, the following incident happened.

To explain to the people who were walking in the street what the pamphlet was about, I said (in French; all dialogue happened in French unless otherwise noted) "pamphlets on the WTO." Turning to face West, I saw a cop in his cruiser coming down the street, who said (from his car): "Hey, that's forbidden". I answered (in English) "What?", not because I didn't hear him, but because I thought his intervention was completely stupid and out of place. The cop then turned on his flashers for about half a second (his car was only a few meters from us), parked on the northwest corner of the street, and got out of his car. The following exchange (if you can call it that) then took place:

Cop: Good day gentlemen.
Me : Good day... (on a tone which clearly showed contained frustration)
Cop: It's forbidden to distribute leaflets.
Me : Since when?
Cop: Since forever. A permit is required to distribute leaflets within the city, or otherwise, it's a $250 fine.

He then gave us a choice between a fine or having our tracts and leaflets confiscated. After waiting approximately 2 seconds for an answer, he took my pamphlets, then my colleague's. The exchange then continued:

Cop: Next time I see you, it will be a $250 fine.
Me : Can we have your name?

He pointed to his name tag, which read "A. Saati". Considering that neither my colleague nor I had anything to write with, and neither did my teammate, I committed his name to memory. The cop then turned towards his car with our leaflets. The exchange continued:

Me : Can we have your badge number?
Cop: My name is all you need.

The cop then got in his car and said:

Cop: Next time I see you, it will be a $250 fine. Check with the city.
Me : We'll do that, don't worry.

He then left, so we turned back and headed to the CFS-Q office.

The end result is that this cop stole up to 100 "WTO is coming to Montreal" pamphlets, 100 No One Is Illegal march tracts, and maybe 50 teach-in. On the other hand, we didn't get any fines or tickets, and he doesn't even have our names.

On the other hand, this incident demonstrates very well that the cops decided not to wait for demonstrations to start to repress activists. It is clear that my colleague and I were targeted because we were handing out leaflets on the WTO (I know the cop heard us say WTO, that's why he harrassed us), and it's not hard to see that the goal of this tactic is to keep the public in the dark regarding the issues surrounding capitalist globalization.