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MONTREAL -- As of Tuesday night -- five days after re-appropriating an abandoned building in downtown Montreal -- at least a hundred squatters and their supporters remain on site. All around the squat, inside and outside, they are discussing strategy, busily moving furniture and other supplies up and down the building with ropes and ladders, enjoying food and drinks, playing soccer, and just plain socializing. The teams of squatters holding walkie-talkies -- positioned at strategic locations around the site -- are a constant reminder of the threat of a police attack.

Rest of the text:

MONTREAL -- As of Tuesday night -- five days after re-appropriating an abandoned building in downtown Montreal -- at least a hundred squatters and their supporters remain on site. All around the squat, inside and outside, they are discussing strategy, busily moving furniture and other supplies up and down the building with ropes and ladders, enjoying food and drinks, playing soccer, and just plain socializing. The teams of squatters holding walkie-talkies -- positioned at strategic locations around the site -- are a constant reminder of the threat of a police attack.

Squat organizers are confident that a scheduled meeting with Montreal mayor Pierre Bourque -- to take place on Wednesday morning at 10am at Hotel-de-Ville (City Hall) -- means that the action will last another day without the police intervention that has already been threatened after the landlord contacted the City on Tuesday.

The legal landlord of the building has been confirmed as Robert Landau of Westmount, an upper class enclave of Montreal whose residents include the Mulroneys, the Bronfmans and the Molsons. [Westmount was where over 150 activists were arrested on May 1, 2000 during a Mayday rally that aimed to "déranger les riches dans leurs niches" (translation: "bother the rich in their niche"). Some of those who were arrested are now actively involved in the squat project.]

In 1988, Landau, along with his then-partner Douglas Cohen, razed over 100 low-income units on the site where the squat is now located (known as Overdale Street). The current squatted building was only saved due to its historical significance, while the rest of the property became what is still today a large parking lot. The squat building has been abandoned and unused for almost 13 years until last Friday's housing action.

Landau's current company is called Grinch Realities [note: this is not a typo; as reported by both Le Devoir and the Gazette, the company is called "Grinch"!]. Today, Landau and Grinch officially applied for a notice of eviction with the City of Montreal after remaining silent since Friday.

This afternoon, a meeting was held at the YWCA across from the squat between a delegation of squatters and city officials -- including a police representative, and mayor Bourque himself. The squatters had decided to accept the meeting with the Mayor after a long discussion within a general assembly, but insisted on a site away from City Hall or the squat itself (to avoid a media spectacle), and also clearly insisted that all decisions would be made within future assemblies rather than by any small group of individuals.

The squatter delegation was also voted within a general assembly, which are held at least once a day, and sometimes as many as two or three times based on the urgency of decisions. The delegation included Marie-Claude, an activist with the Comite-des-sans emploi (Committee of the Unemployed), the main organizers of the housing action; "Cat" and "Warren", two youth who have lived on-and-off on the streets for several years; Sorem of the youth group RAJ (Regroupement Autonome de Jeunesse); Mathieu, a DJ and cultural activist who's active with the Association for the Liberation of Teckno and the CLAC Cultural Committee; and Jacqueline, 72, a longtime resident of the East End, and active supporter of the Comité des sans-emploi. Jacqueline has slept at the squat every night, leaving each day for a few hours to shower and feed her cat.

At the meeting, the mayor verbally informed the squat delegation of a possible eviction by police. Eventually, the mayor did make an offer of re-housing all squatters who needed lodging within social housing, as well as considering creating a housing coop with squat participants at another building owned by the city.

The mayor's seeming willingness to negotiate stands in contrast to his first comments regarding the squat on Monday, which were widely cited on mainstream radio and television. Bourque asserted that there is no homeless problem in Montreal, and repeated the right-wing myth that most homeless people choose to live on the street, and that there is plenty of shelter space that goes unused. At least one shelter worker with Dans la Rue (In the Streets) publicly discounted the mayor's remarks, pointing out that shelters are full even in the summer. Meanwhile, housing groups estimate that there are 15,000 homeless in the city.

The mayor's offer to the squatters was immediately criticized by housing activists and squat participants. Some noted that the offer of housing in existing units does not only create no new housing, but also insidiously displaces other people who have been waiting for those same units. According to statistics cited by the Comité des sans-emploi and the housing group FRAPRU, there are least 8500 households on the waiting list for social housing in Montreal. The coop offer was also problematic for many, with many squatters seeing the proposal as a way of avoiding the main issue of squatter's rights.

According to squat delegate Mathieu, every time the issue of squatter's rights (the ability to occupy, improve, and use abandoned buildings without police or government harassment) was brought up in the meeting, the mayor would arrogantly comment, "This is Montreal, not Europe". As well, Marie-Claude recounted that at the meeting, Cat, who has lived on the street for at least 7 years, gave an impromptu and impassioned defense of the squat, and the sense of empowerment it had provided her and other street people. Her speech had no evident effect on the mayor according to both Marie-Claude and Mathieu.

The mayor's offer, while reported positively by some mainstream sources, did not interest most of the squatters. In a general assembly held in the evening, which included a long discussion of various of options, the decision was eventually made to ask for more details about the mayor's proposal, including specifics about the actual future coop building. Effectively, the assembly decision bought the squatters more time, after City Councillor Claire St-Arnaud, who has been designated by the mayor to deal with the squatters, agreed to another meeting this morning.

However, underlying all the negotiations between the squatters and the city is the threat of police intervention. St-Arnaud, as well as the mayor's media rep, has repeatedly told the squat delegates "the clock is ticking". As well, St-Arnaud demanded that the squatters make a decision by noon after tomorrow's 10am meeting.

One squatter remarked that the city would never make such ultimatums to a property owner and, not surprisingly, the City's ultimatums are being ignored in favor of the democratic process at the squat. It's also clear, talking to squat participants, that a clear majority will not leave a building in which they've invested so much time and energy over the past five days, and which for them is now more than a home or hangout, but a symbol of collective power.

* * *

While negotiations between the City and squat delegates continue in meetings and by cell phone, life at the squat continues. On Monday night, there were at least 200 people on site, some for a punk show inside, others for a general assembly by the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), which is actively supporting the project. [At their assembly yesterday, CLAC voted to give $1000 towards the squat project, which might help to secure another generator.]

A large sign has gone up outside the squat, which translates from the French, "For us to stay we need: a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter, materials, food, mattresses, furniture, canvass, transportation, paint, tools." One squat supporter, with obvious climbing talent, scaled down from the roof of the three-story building to write in large black letters with spray paint: "Bourque: "Dehors les pauvres:. (loose translation: "Bourque: "Out with the poor"").

Building and fire inspectors were allowed to enter on Monday, and their sole recommendation was to create a second exit in case of fire. Otherwise, by all appearances, the building is structurally sound.

Food is served regularly, with some activists from a Palestinian solidarity group arranging for leftovers from four nearby Arab restaurants (pita, falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli ... the cuisine at the squat has become decidedly Middle Eastern).

The squatters have already made flyers, in French, English and Spanish, for a block party and demonstration to take place this Friday evening. Despite eviction threats, plans are also being discussed for regular workshops (a Free School) on both hands-on and intellectual topics.

The squat has also become a media magnet. On Monday afternoon, there were at least four satellite trucks (CTV/TVA, TQS, RDI and CBC), as well as several more reporters. Surprisingly, the print and radio coverage have been very sympathetic. Tuesday's Gazette carried a page three photo of 8 year-old Camilla swinging on a tire hanging from a large tree on the squat site. Camilla, along with her parents who are Latin American immigrants, is a regular, and consistently initiates the regular evening soccer games in the parking lot. Meanwhile, La Presse carried another page three photo of squat participants planting a tomato plant.

However, one incident the media did not report was the police attack on a squat participant at a distance from the building. On Monday afternoon, an 18 year-old female punk -- who was helping with squat security with a walkie-talkie -- was tacked by two uniformed male Montreal police officers near the Lucien L'Allier metro. She managed to throw the walkie-talkie away when she saw the police approach at a distance (it was retrieved later by other squatters), but was handcuffed and hit several times with a baton. Not finding the walkie-talkie, the police released her.

She returned to the squat to recount the incident to an assembly that was happening at the same time. She had a large bruise on her forehead, as a result of the tackle on the pavement, as well as scrapes and bruises on her thigh. Two nurses from a nearby clinic, who have been visiting the squat to offer their help (and to urge people to stay out of the sun), examined her, and feared a mild concussion. The police attacked when there were no observers and the majority of people were inside for the assembly, so there are no independent witnesses, although the blows to the woman's body speak for themselves.

* * *

In it's five days of existence, the Overdale squat has essentially become a community gathering space: lots of punk youth, lots of local organizers and activists, lots of supporters from all kinds of backgrounds, several kids, many dogs, and many, many curious visitors, including the media.

The squat has also been eye opening for people who have never experienced living on the street or day-to-day poverty, but have taken the time to listen to some of the squatters. Many informal discussions around the squat involve street youth describing their day-to-day lives, many of whom deal with the everyday violence of being on the street, and dealing with harassment from other citizens, security guards and the police. There are stories of family abuse, and dealing with drug problems.

There are also stories of survival, of other squat communities that exist beyond the media glare, of adventures with friends around Quebec and Canada with no money but other street skills, of future projects and actions to be undertaken (all of which involve attempting to stay outside of the profit system). There's an intense feeling that people have the right to occupy buildings that are empty without paying rent to a landlord whose only claim is a piece of paper and the police.

There is also definitely much talk of actively defending the squat from any attempted eviction or police action. Already, certain preparations are being made in case of attack, such as assuring food and water is available in the squat, and gathering materials for barricades. There is some fear of any police attack going horribly wrong if squatters refuse to leave and barricade themselves in. There are already allusions being made to the deadly Philadelphia police attack on the MOVE house in Philadelphia in the 1980s. If not deadly, there is fear that any police attack will be dangerous to the squatters, especially those on the top floor and roof.

In whatever way the Overdale squat action ends, there's a consensus that to date the action has been enormously positive and opened up paths of resistance and empowerment, not to mention public awareness about housing, homelessness and poverty in Montreal.

In the words of one squatter, relaxing with a beer last night, "Overdale is already a victory for squatting culture in Montreal."

-- reported by Jaggi Singh jag...@tao.ca, for Indymedia Montreal, A-Infos and CMAQ