About 20 New York City activists, and several stuffed animals, rallied in front of th eCanadian consulate Thursday afternoon to protest the arrest and continued detention of Jaggi Singh.

New York City--About 20 New York City activists, and several stuffed animals, rallied in front of the Canadian consulate Thursday afternoon to protest the arrest and continued detention of Jaggi Singh.

Singh, one of the key organizers of the recent protests at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, was grabbed off a Quebec City streetcorner by five plainclothes police officers on April 20 and stuffed in the back of a van. He has been held without bail to date and is charged with participating in a riot and possession of a weapon. Singh's alleged weapon of choice: a mock catapult that was lobbing stuffed animals over the 11-foot fence erected around the perimeter of the Summit meetings.

Christine Karatnytsky of the New York City Direct Action Network brought a stuffed animal with her to the protest, which was held at the corner of 6th Ave. and 50th St. "Subcommandante Insurgente Teddy" wore a red bandana over his face and a statement saying, "the stuffed animals demand the unconditional release of Jaggi Singh or else! Democracy! Liberty! Justice!"

"They (the Canadian government) are trying to intimidate young people and squelch dissent," Karatnytsky said.

Meredith Kolodner of the New York City Coalition to Stop the FTAA was one of three activists who spoke to Vice Consul Pratima Rao before the protest began. They talked for 20 minutes.

"She was very nice," Kolodner said. "But it felt like a snowjob."

Rao told Kolodner that Singh's case was a judicial issue and that his fate rested in the courts. Kolodner was unconvinced.

"It's a political case and we all know judges get phonecalls," Kolodner said.