An exchange about the repression of a recent Critical Mass Bike Ride and what some inspired people are doing about it...

Dear, dear Gordon,

This Critical Mass Montreal e-mail I found online:
crit...@resist.ca

Your message is so beautiful. By contacting the mayor and displaying compassion, patience and a willingness to educate you have provided a really good model for the rest of us. At the heart of your efforts are very simple human values of caring and kindness. These are really powerful gifts that we all possess but we sometimes forget about in an ego-driven society.

Thanks for what you have done and thanks for telling us about it.

Amy

"Gordon Scott"
To: velo...@vancouver.indymedia.org
CC: crit...@resist.ca

Hi, Bonjour

This is Gordon from Vancouver, I read a while back in the velo-love list about the Montreal critical mass of April 30th and the terrible police responses.

After I had read this article, I wrote to the mayor of montreal asking him why his police were being so aggressive and unreasonable and telling him about critical mass, even inviting him to join in one day, as other mayors have done across the country.

Well I'm getting responses back now, as he has delegated officials to look into the matter. I was called this morning by a nice woman, and we spoke for almost an hour.

I informed her what critical mass was, its basic philosophy, the reasons I personally believe in and participate in it and then we got on to concerns. Luckily I was born in Montreal, tho I don't really speak any french whatsoever, and I was able to use my genuine accent (only when i
speak a french word) which she noticed as genuine.

Anyway, her initial position was that a "permit" is needed for this kind of event in Montreal.
I explained to her that there was no leaders or organization in charge, no non-profit charity, no route, and no pollution. I asked if a permit was to be applied for; what types of questions would they ask about (especially knowing what I know about never being a defined route) and who was responsible etc.
I tried to let her know that a "form filling" with all the t's crossed and i's dotted was probably counter to the spontanaity of critical mass, and unlikely that any 1 person may wish to be held responsible.

Soo.. I read to her the original contents of the velo-love posting describing the events of April 30th in Montreal and the well described route, times, and events of the police involvement, she was not amused by the police action and with some disgust vowed to look into the matter, happy that the locations and times were documented well, so that the
offending officers could easily be identified.
If I recall in my letter to the mayor I also asked him to look into the reprehensible action of his officers as well. I told her about how the police in Vancouver help us through the streets, knowing full well that they have no clue where we are going.
(/me makes mental note to bring a few donuts for those nice guys this month)

I used much verbal imagery in my conversation with this woman, trying to win her over to the bicycle side from the car seat. I talked about Vancouvers critical mass, the police participation here, the last mass of 1000, and its range of participants, from children to grandparents,
skateboarders to labradors, businessmen, the disabled, artists and politicians. I talked about clean air, responsibility to the earth, about 10's of millions of tax dollars for roads, when that money could be used to give children milk. I talked about the isolation of commuters
sitting in thier cars with windows rolled up, stuck in traffic, listening to thier music, thinking thier own thoughts, alone and separate, contrasting it to the exhileration of being part of a large group of cyclists open
and free, feeling the breeze all around your body, swaying and swerving, smiling and being part of something as opposed to being alone waiting at a light. I taught her about corking, and basically used the same wording descriptions and philosophy seen on the corking handouts.

I'll bet money she wants to critical mass this month :)

I asked her about bicycles and public transportation in Montreal, noting the climate (winter weather) differences. I was surprised to hear they dont have bike racks there, but do allow bikes on buses at the drivers discretion, and bikes are allowed on metro.
I told her about the ever increasing bicycle commuter numbers here.
She told me about car free day in Montreal :)
I promised to send her some pics from the last vancouver critical mass.

Anyway. I need some contact info for critical mass montreal, maybe someone who would like to or is known as a spearhead/spokesperson/all around well informed kinda person.

It seems the city wants to work out this problem, and the sooner the better for all my dearly loved friends in my old hometown (sadly I never really lived there) but I have visited and I was made for that city.

I am willing to believe that the fines imposed on April 30, may well be rethought by the city as well. This is my prayer.

Blessings all
See you on the 30th of July

Gordon

----contents of accounts of April 30/2004----

Subject: [Velolove] montreal critical mass arrests
Reply-To: velo...@vancouver.indymedia.org

On Friday, April 30th, approximately 50 cyclists gathered at Phillip Square in downtown Montreal for a Critical Mass. Critical Mass is an international bicycling movement that was started in San Francisco in 1992. Rides take place in cities from Beijing to Paris to New York to Mexico City on the last Friday of every month. The goal is to show to
the world that cars are unsustainable forms of transport, and biking is not only much safer, but much more fun! Riders often assemble under the slogan, "we aren't blocking traffic, we ARE traffic!" Critical Mass is 100% grassroots, with no leaders or central committee.

The ride got off to a great start and wound its way peacefully through many downtown streets, including Ste-Catherine, Amherst, Ontario, and St-Laurent.
Bike messengers, rollerbladers, skateboarders, seasoned
cyclists, and activists young and old chanted, handed out flyers, and provoked smiles and cheers all along the route. At approximately 6:45pm the ride was going east on Rachel street and began to be followed by a police cruiser with its sirens on. Another cruiser came in front to block the route, so the riders turned to head south on Avenue du Parc
Lafontaine.
Finally, at the corner of Duluth, police officers pulled
their cruisers in front of the cyclists, got out of their cars, and began pulling cyclists off their bikes in mid-flight. One cruiser flung its doors open, right in the path of one of the cyclists (this is known as the dreaded "door prize" to most cyclists - a grim danger that many face
daily). This unfortunate cyclist who slammed right into the door was immediately handcuffed and taken away.

As soon as some of the cyclists had been torn off their bikes, the rest of the ride stopped in solidarity and assembled on the sidewalk at the corner of Duluth and Parc Lafontaine. Besides the one arrested, three other riders were given tickets. The charges ranged from running red lights to obstruct police. All other riders assembled on the corner were threatened with charges unless they dispersed immediately. The police even started threatening random cyclists who stopped, curious at what was happening.
Apparently it's illegal for cyclists to care for one another in Montreal.

When the ordeal was over, more than $500 had been doled out in charges from the police. More upsetting is that this is not the first critical mass that has ended with police charges in Montreal. Why is it that a long-established movement happens completely peacefully in other cities,
but ends in police repression here? Why can cyclists not assert their rights to the road and express their aspirations for a better and cleaner city?

Needless to say, all who were fined will be fighting the charges in court.
We cannot let the police derail one of the most powerful, international grassroots movements here in Montreal.

To send messages of support to the defendants, or to find out more about Critical Mass in Montreal, send an email to crit...@resist.ca.

The best way to support Critical Mass is just to come out to the rides. The bigger the group, the stronger we are!

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