Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information

Report-back from the Protest Against the Curfew of April 18th

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Apr 202021
 

From Pas de solution policière à la crise sanitaire (facebook)

Thank you all for attending last night’s protest! Many hundreds of us took to the streets to denounce the imposition of a curfew, a measure that is an attack on our freedom and on our relations and aspirations of solidarity.

Together, we were able to put forward a clear message that rejects the false solutions of Legault’s government and the City of Montreal. We denounced the curfew and any use of police to deal with the health crisis, highlighting its cruel impacts on homeless people, sex workers, drug users, undocumented workers and so many others.

The struggle against the curfew and false, authoritarian solutions to the pandemic continues and is gaining steam. We stand firm in the will to refuse the dichotomy between blind obedience to the government and the silly manipulations of conspiracy theorists, which are exploited by the far right.

Just as we marched against the police state, the SPVM devoted themselves to providing a clear demonstration of it. Despite the deployment of hundreds of cops, we took the streets, chanting and shooting fireworks, for more than an hour! Things heated up when riot police forced their way into the crowd to grab a comrade. Despite the crowd’s efforts to help the comrades targeted by the police, we didn’t succeed in freeing them. It is the responsibility of all of us to develop practices so that such situations cannot happen again.

Many of you have expressed your willingness to continue the struggle. Please know that we do not intend to give up. Our main goal is to help mobilize. Feel free to self-organize, plan actions; we will not hesitate to use our platform to support you to the best of our abilities. In particular, we encourage our comrades to join the more spontaneous gatherings organized by the young Montrealers who have been acting on their legitimate anger over recent days; we will circulate relevant calls on our platforms. Stay tuned!

A special thanks to the AQPSUD with whom we have been fortunate to struggle since the very beginning of mobilizations against the curfew. Thank you for your presence and for all the work you do on a daily basis.

If you have received a ticket for breaking curfew, write to wewontpay@riseup.net to participate in a mutual aid effort for contesting the fine.

Let’s stand together in the face of police repression, let’s learn to leave no one behind.

And above all, let’s never stop fighting.

Charges Dropped Against Lennoxville Rail Blockade Defendants

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Apr 172021
 

From Blockade Defense

We are a group of people who, back in february 2020, held an all-day railroad blockade in so-called Lennoxville, Quebec, on stolen Abenaki land, in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en land defenders and against the ongoing violence of colonialism. We have recently learned that the criminal accusations that had been laid against us have finally been withdrawn and that our case has been closed.

On the one hand, it brings us joy to avoid the stress and hassle of a criminal trial, and even moreso considering how the Sherbrooke police shamelessly lied to us and broke their own protocols in order to arrest us on that sunny winter day.

On the other hand, however, we find it important to remember and acknowledge that the criminal charges we were facing come from a State (and its whole legal system) that sees nothing wrong with colonial genocide, with murdering and dispossessing indigenous folks, and with destroying life in the name of profit. So-called Canada and so-called Quebec are on stolen native land, and no amount of laws or repression will ever make us see this as fair or acceptable. Our action was one of many others in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en people who have been continuously threatened and harassed by the RCMP and pipeline industry goons.

The funds we had raised for our legal battle will be split evenly between the lawyers who supported us, the Tyendinaga and Hamilton friends who are facing trial for their own solidarity blockades, as well as the Unist’ot’en Camp Legal Fund.

No reconciliation without decolonization.

Call for Solidarity! Contact the Hamilton Crown’s Office on March 25th to ask for Blockade Charges to be Dropped!

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Mar 232021
 

From Blockade Defense

Out of the charges laid for the 2020 Shut Down Canada blockades, some of the most serious are the ones against defendants in Hamilton. These charges stem from a 24 hours shutdown of the CN and CP tracks through the city on February 24th to 25th, which was a direct response to the OPP’s attack on Tyendinaga territory that morning and in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en.
Initially, six people were charged for this action, but we are pleased to announce that charges against two of them were withdrawn in the past couple of months. Each remaining defendant is charged with four counts of indictable Mischief over $5000, each of which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. 

At the same time as the Hamilton blockade occurred, another blockade action took place in Toronto. It blocked the same stretch of tracks, lasted about the same amount of time, and those arrested were accused of nearly identical actions. However, those who were arrested in Toronto were charged only with a single count of summary Mischief over $5000, a charge whose maximum penalty is six months incarceration. 

The difference in the charges laid by the Hamilton Police Services is inexplicable. At this point though, the charges are officially out of the police’s hands and are being dealt with by the Hamilton crown attorney’s office. 

While the charges in Toronto were withdrawn by the crown there as part of a peace bond, the crown in Hamilton is seeking jail time against some defendants and seems set on taking them all to trial. 

The Hamilton crown attorney’s office needs to hear that people all across Canada are watching this case and will not accept this kind of vastly disproportionate treatment. They should immediately drop the charges against all blockade defendants.

The Hamilton defendants have an important court date coming up on April 12th. Before then, we need your support to get the message to the crown to drop the charges. We are asking for your help by contacting the Hamilton crown attorney on Thursday March 25th by phone or email to make the message clear. 

The crown’s most involved with the case are:
Steve O’Briensteve.obrien@ontario.ca
Jeffrey Levyjeffrey.levy@ontario.ca
The general email for the office is VirtualCrownHamilton@ontario.ca.

If you send an email, BCC us at dropthecharges@riseup.net so we can know about it!

The contact number for the office is 905-645-5262. You can ask to speak to either of them, ask to leave a message, or say what you have to say to the person who answers the phone. If you call, send us an email at dropthecharges@riseup.net to let us know.

The text below can be the body of an email or the script of a call. Please be polite and remember that we are not trying to pressure or threaten anyone, but are simply communicating the public interest in the case.


Script:       

Hello,       

I’m contacting you because I am concerned about your office’s decision to pursue charges against four defendants in connection to the February 24-25th rail blockade in Hamilton last year.        

The four defendants in Hamilton were a small part of a movement involved tens of thousands of people and is of major public interest. I believe that all charges connected to the movement should be withdrawn, including those against the Hamilton blockade defendants.      

The charges laid against defendants in Hamilton are significantly more serious than those laid for similar facts in other jurisdictions. In fact, a blockade that was held the same week in Toronto on the same line for the same duration was resolved by peace bond four months ago.       

Thank you for your time,

Queen Victoria Statue Vandalized with Red Paint After Curfew on Saint-Patrick’s Day

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Mar 192021
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade declares: End the monarchy in Canada; end monarchies everywhere!

March 17, 2021, Montreal — The Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade re-united in Montreal last night on an anti-colonial Saint-Patrick’s Day. They defied curfew to again vandalize the landmark bronze statue to Queen Victoria — unveiled in 1900 and located on Sherbrooke Street at McGill University — this time in red paint.

According to Pádraig Patel of the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade: “There is a renewed focus on the brutal legacy of the British monarchy, which is a clear symbol of racism and colonialism. Forget about celebrity distractions, let’s focus on getting rid of monarchs as one important action linked to our movements for social justice.”

Another member of the brigade, Sujata Sands, mentions: “We do regret that we were unable to topple the statue tonite, as those cool kids did back in August 2020 to the John A. Macdonald statue.”

A third member of the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade, Lakshmi O’Leary, declared: “Just put the British Royal Family, all of them, into a limousine, give them a drunk French chaffeur, and let nature take its course.”*

Concerning the Queen Victoria statue, the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade wrote on St. Patrick’s Day 2019: “The presence of Queen Victoria statues in Montreal are an insult to the self-determination and resistance struggles of oppressed peoples worldwide, including Indigenous nations in North America (Turtle Island) and Oceania, as well as the peoples of Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent, and everywhere the British Empire committed its atrocities. Queen Victoria’s reign, which continues to be whitewashed in history books and in popular media, represented a massive expansion of the barbaric British Empire. Collectively her reign represents a criminal legacy of genocide, mass murder, torture, massacres, terror, forced famines, concentration camps, theft, cultural denigration, racism, and white supremacy. That legacy should be denounced and attacked.”

Some previous attacks on Queen Victoria statues in Montreal:

* Henri Paul was the driver of the luxury Mercedes with Lady Diana that crashed in Paris in 1997. Every member of the British monarchy deserves a drunk French driver!

Communiqué of the COBP : 25th Annual International Day Against Police Brutality

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Mar 182021
 

From COBP

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.

As a poor neighbourhood with a large racialized population, police harassment is part of everyday life in Parc-Extension. Although police have been promising to address racial profiling in Montreal for years, nothing concrete has been done and the repression continues. Serious police abuse is still commonplace. In Parc-Ex, what happened to Mamadi Camara recently is a good example. Demonstrating in Parc Ex is still tolerated, but as soon as our eyes turned to Town of Mount Royal the police pulled out their teeth, their batons, and their shields.

It is a sad and ironic coincidence that this 25th anniversary is being celebrated under the theme of the abolition of the police. COBP reiterates that this solution, which may seem radical if we stop at this slogan alone, is the only possible solution to curb the systemic violence of the state against vulnerable or marginalized people. The many groups and movements that have been leading the struggle with us over the past 12 months, following the abhorrent murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin are joining a struggle that COBP has been leading since its inception, supported by a growing number of people who are standing up and shouting out the collective frustration of their community: down with the police! We will no longer let them kill us with impunity on OUR streets!

There will never be peace without justice, and there will never be justice as long as the police institution exists to protect the status quo of the capitalist order.

Finally, we are calling for witnesses: if you have been arrested, brutalized, or if you have witnessed an arrest or a case of police brutality, please contact the COBP at cobp@riseup.net

We also remind you to be careful about what you post on social media.

THE COBP

Declaration of the Inmates of the Laval Detention Centre

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Mar 052021
 

From Solidarity Across Borders

Seven inmates of the Laval migrant prison are continuing the hunger strike they began on March 1, 2021. The strikers have launched a declaration to announce their strike, denounce their situation and demand their release.

Declaration of the Inmates of the Laval Detention Centre

 We are a group of migrants detained at the Laval Detention Center.

With this letter we wish to denounce the conditions in which we are being held at the Center. For some time now, the COVID virus has entered the prison. The sanitary measures taken by the immigration officers are clearly insufficient.

Some of the detainees have already contracted COVID. Others complained of pain similar to the symptoms of COVID but were given only Tylenol. We are in a lot of pain.

We had also been confined to separate rooms without receiving any psychological assistance. We are distraught and very fearful for our health.

In our opinion, using detention as an immigration policy is in all times an inhuman and unjust measure, with or without COVID.

On the other hand, we are announcing that we have started an indefinite hunger strike starting March 1st to contest the treatment we are receiving.

We are asking to be released from the Laval Detention Center because it is a place where the virus can spread, and it is only a matter of time before we are all infected.

This is a call for help. We want to be treated with dignity and above all we want to be protected in this time of pandemic like every Canadian citizen.

Signatures : Marlon, Carlos Martín, Rafael, Mehdi, Alan, Karim, Freddy

For more info: https://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/act-now-second-group-of-detainees-on-hunger-strike-at-the-laval-migrant-prison

Solidarity with land defenders at 1492LBL

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Feb 282021
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Since July 2020, Haudenosaunee land defenders of Six Nations have blocked a housing development called Mackenzie Meadows slated for construction on Six Nations territory, near the settler community of Caledonia, Ontario. Land defenders refusing to see their lands further destroyed for colonial interests occupied the construction site last summer, renaming it 1492 Land Back Lane. Following the re-occupation of their territory, an injunction was granted to Mackenzie Meadows and enforced by the OPP in August. Land defenders fought back against the OPP’s violent eviction, temporarily retreating from the site. Shortly after the raid, land defenders backed by the community of Six Nations blockaded Argyle Road and Highway 6, and re-took Land Back Lane from the fucking police. In October last year, the police attempted to arrest a number of land defenders, shooting some with ‘non-lethal’ projectiles. The police were ultimately chased off by determined land defenders, having some of their cruisers fucked up on the way out. This last violent attack by the OPP led land defenders and Six Nations community members to tear up Argyle road, disrupt CN rail lines running through their lands, and erect barricades in order to defend themselves from further police attacks.

On February 15, 1492 Land Back Lane land defenders completed their roll-back of various barricades in order to allow Six Nations community members access to the highway. While the road barricades have been removed, land defenders remain committed to their goals, vigilant of violent repression by the OPP, and aware that they are now in a more vulnerable position.
This past fall, anarchists and accomplices responded to calls for solidarity by the land defenders of 1492 Land Back Lane with actions against infrastructure critical to the Canadian economy.

We continue to stand in solidarity with 1492 Land Back Lane, and invite all who envision a world without colonial domination to stay abreast of the situation on the ground and continue to support the land defenders. Should the OPP attempt to take advantage of the land defenders’ increased vulnerability to bring violence to 1492 Land Back Lane, the response must be swift and expansive. In preparation for this possibility, we urge anti-colonial accomplices and allies to make plans to take action against the state and capital, calling on the lessons of the #ShutDownCanada movement of last winter.

In solidarity with the land defenders of 1492 Land Back Lane! Fuck Canada, fuck the OPP!

-anarchists

Berlin: Rigaer94 Calls for International Solidarity – Destruction of our Space Expected

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Feb 182021
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

After the eviction of the anarcha-queer-feminist house project Liebig34 on 9th of october 2020, the offensive of state and capital against self-organized structures in the northern area of Friedrichshain and other parts of the city did not cease. The Liebig34 is since then under the control of the owner and the presence of his gang had also an affect on the local life. The so called Dorfplatz (“village square”) lying directly in front of the house was during the last months less used by residents and visitors as a common space and saw some minor confrontations with the invaders. With having taken one of the strategic points in the area and in the same time removing a political obstacle, state and capital could focus on the Rigaer94, which lies just some meters away from the Dorfplatz and has been a constant topic in the medias over the last year.

A few days ago, cops and diggers destroyed a settlement of homeless people in Rummels Bay, a few kilometers from us. The pretext here was the extreme frost, in reality it is also there to serve the profit of investors. Also expected in the next few weeks is the eviction of the Potse Youth Center – the city is in the process of removing any rebellious site.

What started with ridiculous complaints of the parliamentary opposition about the fire-security in the house became one of the central issues of the forces of order. All those who were spending their energy for years to create a depoliticized image of Rigaer94 as a house full of brutal gangsters began to speak about their worries that the inhabitants could tragically die in a fire. Their rhetoric is very transparent because it was based mainly on the fact, that the house has several mechanisms to quickly barricade the main entrances. These barricades are in fact a central piece of the safety of the inhabitants. Not only the social media is full of fascist threats to target the house but also the cops proved over the last years that they are not only capable to launch very violent legally supported actions but also to openly coordinate with parastate forces, namely organized fascists and the mafiotic structure of the real estate industry. For example the owner of Liebig34, but other companies as well, are well known in Berlin for evicting houses by setting them on fire. The message behind the fake discussion about our safety was nothing but a direct threat and a call for parastate forces to set our building on fire. In the same time it was aiming to create a public opinion and legal base to destroy the house structure without having to get an eviction title.

The legal obstacle on the way to an eviction title came up in 2016, when the Rigaer94 repelled a three weeks long major police action. Under public pressure, a court had declared the invasion in the house as illegal and did not recognize the lawyers of the owner which is, by the way, a mailbox company in the UK. Recent developements changed this condition from scratch. In the beginning of February a court decided that the police has to support this mailbox company to guarantee the so called fire security in Rigaer94. By this decision the owner is officially recognized and will now soon try to enter the house in company of a state expert about fire security and, of course, huge police forces. In similar raids against Rigaer94, the entering special police forces and the construction workers caused heavy damage to the building. It was always their goal to make the house uninhabitable before it could be evicted and luxury renovated.

We expect that the pretext of fire security will be used not only to remove our barricades but to legally raid the entire building and to evict flats to create permanent bases for the owners gang that will start to destroy the house from inside. As planned, the fire security is used now as a tool to terrorize the rebellious structures that took hold of the house more than 30 years ago and had been involved in many different social struggles as well as the defence of the area against state and capital. Generally we think that the importance of a combative community in combination with an occupied territory can not be underestimated. The Rigaer94 with its autonomous youth club and the self-organized, uncommercial space Kadterschmiede is a place for convergence for political and neighbourhood organization, giving not only home to struggling people but also the legacy of the former squatting movement and the ongoing movement against gentrification and any form of anarchist ideas. Many demonstrations, political and cultral events took its start from the house and, not to be forgotten, numerous confrontations with the state forces in the area were backed up by the existence of this stronghold. It’s for this political idendity that the Rigaer94 and the outreaching rebellious structures and networks are traumatizing generations of cops and politicians and thus has become a main focus of their aggression against those who resist. At the very moment when the last non-commercial, self-organized places in Berlin are being evicted, when the pandemic is used to spread the virus of control, exploitation and oppression, we have to take serious the threat of a very possible try to evict us in the upcoming days or weeks and therefore, we choose to continue getting organised through collective procedures to defend our ideologies and political spaces. However, there is a political importance to continue fighting for all of our social struggles of the revolutionary movement also outside of this house and not to let those in power to intervene in our political agendas and resistance.

They might evict our house but they will not evict our ideas. To keep these ideas alive and add fuel to them we invite everybody to come to Berlin to send the city of the rich to chaos. We call for any kind of support from now on, that can help us to prevent the destruction of Rigaer94. But if we lose this place to the enemies, we are willing to create a scenario without winners.

Rigaer94

for more information check https://rigaer94.squat.net/

and follow us on https://twitter.com/rigaer94

Support the Kanienkehaka Land Back Language Camp – Update and Call for Donations

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Feb 122021
 

From the Kanienkehaka Land Back Language Camp (Facebook)

January 26, 2021

As we approach our 6th month at Kanienkehaka Land Back Language Camp, we’ve hunkered down for the winter season.   

We continue to build our school house, and adjust our camp as the weather changes. The Salmon River has frozen over, allowing us to enjoy the ice and the easier access it gives us to the other side of the river.   

Our young people have been busy learning the Kaniehkehaka language, with our recent theme being about hunting, trapping and conducting ceremony.   

Soon we will be focusing on the ice and the activies, hobbies and survival skills that come with all of its teachings.

Recently we have had both the Surete Du Quebec and RCMP liasons reach out to the camp, asking for a sit down and inquiring on when we plan to leave. So far, no discussions or sit downs have been agreed upon with either agency.   

Nia:wen Kowa  to everyone who has donated to our GoFundMe, raised monies and/or continue to support our efforts at Kanienkehaka Land Back Language Camp.  

You can donate to our GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/919caf4f

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