Collective Opposed to Police Brutality

In 1851, Victor Hugo wrote what would become the well-known slogan: “Police everywhere, justice nowhere”. We have to admit that he was right, and that his words are still relevant today. The function of the police is not and has never been to serve and protect; nor is that of the prison to help the offenders to repair the harm (when there is harm!) and to reintegrate society. The police and prison apparatus are part of the repressive machine of the state, which has the primary function of maintaining the established order and allowing capital to profit, and only secondarily of preventing violence and abuse. No wonder it is so inefficient. ...

Here is the newspaper “POLICE STATE” with 2 types of PDF files. You can print it and distribute it widely. The paper version of the newspapers are available in several student associations and at the AFESH information table at UQAM. Also at DIRA and L’Insoumise . Enjoy reading it! PDF (to read) PDF (to print)

Here as elsewhere in the world, the Police play a determining role in repressing anti-colonial, indigenous, environmental, immigration, etc. struggles. The struggle and resistance of Indigenous First Nations around the world will always be present at the front lines to counter capitalist interests and will be supported by international movements and solidarity links. The theme for 2022 will be: “La police c’est colon en criss”-“shutdown the colonial police”. ...

It is difficult to look at what is currently happening in the Yintah, the Wet’suwet’en territory, without reflecting on the role of the RCMP in the Canadian colony. What eventually became the RCMP was founded in 1873, partly in response to the Red River Métis Rebellion of 1869-1870. The primary objective of the RCMP, from its inception, was therefore to maintain imperial hegemony over the territory in order to open it up to capitalist exploitation. ...

March 15, 2021 Tonight was the 25th annual protest against police brutality. 25 years of marching, 25 years of systematic repression against it, like an annual tradition of bad taste. For this important anniversary the SPVM decided to let the march go on but with a very tight supervision; many police officers pushed people who did not follow their rules. We marched in Parc-Extension, a working class, poor, migrant-majority neighbourhood, because it is threatened by gentrification, as are many others throughout the city. The trendy new Mile-Ex technology district and the arrival of a new University of Montreal campus are responsible for the gentrification of Parc-Ex and what comes with it: the eviction of many tenants who will not be able to afford to relocate in the neighbourhood, the explosion of prices and fancy stores, and an increase in police surveillance to protect the new wealthier residents so to bring “order” to the neighbourhood, these residents are “erased” and pushed onto the streets. ...

Print, post, share widely, please Participate English:Francais.pdf

On March 15, 2021, the 25th International Day Against Police Brutality will take place regardless of the sanitary situation. Those involved in the organization of this year’s edition will opt for adequate alternatives according to the evolution of the pandemic, which, besides, had already hit by March 15, 2020. Because it bears emphasizing what a brutal year it has been! Through difficult times, as the entire population strives to show solidarity, there is a constant value on which we can always count: the police remain merciless. ...

Each year, the COBP organizes a week against police brutality built on a specific theme. The theme this year is “Police Everywhere, Justice Nowhere: International Solidarity!”. Revolts are multiplying worldwide: Chili, Colombia, Algeria Ecuador, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, France, Hong Kong, India… And the common point in all these revolts is police brutality. A brutality supported by colonial forces, who do not hesitate to equip police everywhere with more and more lethal weapons. ...

Capitalism is collapsing. Neoliberalism is dying. Those in power cling to their authority as their greed pushes us towards environmental catastrophe, they wage war on solidarity and become more and more monstrous every day that passes. As they did during the bloody colonial birth of this state and all its kind, the power-holders turn to the police, the gendarmerie, the capital watchdogs to guarantee their ill-gotten gains. ...

As is the case each year, the COBP organizes a week against police brutality which starts on March 8th and ends on March 16th, 2019. State brutality must be denounced, whether this brutality is coming from police, politicians or judges. Especially considering the massive over reach of the criminal injustice system this year alone. Was there any justice for Nicholas Gibbs, assassinated in broad daylight? By those so-called “peace officers?” Is there any justice for the migrants? For which we refuse to give the quality of life that was stolen from them by canadian companies abroad? Is there any justice for the people of Unist’ot’en and Wet’suwet’en? Taken away yet another time from their ancestral lands? Is there any justice for environmental activists? Imprisoned for blockading projects leading to our own destruction? Is there any justice for all minorities, whether racial, religious, queer and/or native, which are constantly profiled and imprisoned by a system trying to erase their very existence? Because the judiciary system, the political system, and their state agent lapdogs (RCMP, SQ and SPVM, etc.) have nothing to do with protecting minorities. Their role is to answer to the needs of the better off: the rich and privileged. Their role has nothing to do with justice, and all with the defence of the castle of the privileged. A castle which is, every day, less sustainable, and less acceptable. ...

For more than over 20 years now, the C.O.B.P. has been inviting all citizens to participate in demonstrations aiming to express anger towards the fact that the Quebec Police corps feeds off of repression, profiling and brutality. Each year, we issue several claims pertaining to the police’s intervention methods, their abuse and the impunity that is of second nature to their profession. This year is no exception : the Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière invites you to take to the streets on March 15, 2018, in order to express by all means necessary our refusal to bow down to the colonial and capitalist authority that is the police. It is of utmost importance to highlight the fact that this demonstration will take place on unsurrendered indigenous territory which the Quebec political class continues to think is an area that it governs. ...

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