Police & Prisons

Solidarity with Pride Defenders, Free Cedar!

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Jun 272019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On June 15th, 2019 in Hamilton, “Ontario”, Pride was attacked by a group of far-right homophobes, christian fundamentalists, neo-nazis, and queer bashers. As they did in 2018, they arrived with massive homophobic signs and banners, and immediately began to scream insults and slurs. They aggressively harassed individuals, made jokes about rape, and threatened physical violence. Things quickly escalated as the bigots violently confronted people who were holding a fabric barrier in an attempt to block them from disrupting Pride. Initiated by the far-right activists a brawl broke out – queers who refused to allow their presence to go unchallenged were attacked, but fought back. Several friends were injured and required medical attention. The police did nothing during this hour-long conflict, and only stepped in at the end when there was nothing left to do. The haters knew they couldn’t sustain their presence any longer, and welcomed the police escort out of the park. After being kicked out of Pride, this same group chased and assaulted queer youth in the neighbourhood, and then went on to attack people at Toronto Pride the following week.

Since these events, the Hamilton Police have felt quite threatened – communities that feel empowered to use force to defend themselves undermine their unquestionable authority. Over the course of the last week, the police have consequently been targeting and harassing known queer anarchists in the city as punishment for folks standing up for themselves. Our dear friend Cedar (who wasn’t even present at the event!) was arrested on Saturday, and was on hunger strike for five days. They will stay in jail until a lengthy probation hearing, a vengeful and punitive measure carried out by the police because Cedar publicly criticized the police’s actions. Later this week, two other queer friends have been arrested and charged with probation breaches based on suspicion of being present at Pride. Not a single homophobe was charged all week, despite the widespread circulation of their names, faces and videos of their violent actions, until public pressure finally forced the police to charge Christopher Vanderweide with assault with a weapon. We oppose the colonial prison system, but the repression the police directed to those they suspect as Pride defenders first is once again truly revealing of their age-old position and purpose: protecting racists, misogynists, and homophobes.

Queer might involve our sexuality or our gender, but to us it means so much more. It’s a territory of tension that we must defend. We stand in solidarity with Cedar and those accused in connection with this event, as well as any queers held in prison for bashing back. As queers and trans people, we know that our existence has been fought for bravely by those who have come before us, not only against homophobes and neo-nazis but also against the police.We remember Stonewall as a four-day anti-police riot and an explosion of gay trans anger birthing the way for liberation movements to come. We know that queer and trans homeless youth and sex workers face police repression constantly on the streets and that queer people, especially those who are racialized, are disproportionately attacked, criminalized, incarcerated and even murdered. Our existence will continue to be threatened unless we fiercely defend ourselves, our friends, as well and the spaces we create. None are free until all are free.

Drop all charges against pride defenders, free Cedar now!

For Background:
https://north-shore.info/2019/06/19/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/
https://north-shore.info/2019/06/22/this-is-why-you-werent-invited-hamilton-police-target-queers-fighting-back/
Fundraising is needed for legal fees!
Please donate here: the-tower.ca/donate or thetower@riseup.net

On Guilt & Innocence: A Response to Arrests Following Hamilton Pride

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Jun 242019

From North Shore Counter-Info

Statement by The Tower

It’s been a very intense and revealing week since Hamilton Pride. We helped our friends heal, debriefed our strategies, and circulated as much information about the people who attacked us as we could. The videos and statements have gone viral, the outrage is visceral. Homophobic white nationalists attacked Pride, they were confronted by a huge group of queers, the police did nothing and then took credit for stopping the attack, the mayor backed the police despite hundreds of witnesses, and the homophobes walk free. While the helmet-wielding maniac who smashed our faces continued his crusade in Toronto, posing for celebrity pictures with a new helmet and brutally attacking at least one more person (you can watch the video here: http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/2019/06/violence-after-pegida-march-northern.html), the police were busy banging on the doors of known queer anarchists in Hamilton, lurking in backyards, and shaking down our entire community.

On Saturday they arrested Cedar Hopperton for allegedly violating their parole conditions, and later issued a press release that accused them of attending the Pride events and confronting the bigots. This only magnified the outrage, and over a hundred people came together that night outside of the police station to demand Cedar’s release. Others participated in a phone zap that flooded the police station with hundreds of calls demanding they let them go. Social media has exploded with condemnations of the arrest, and people of all political stripes seem to agree on one basic fact: criminalizing people who defended Pride from vicious right-wing attacks is fundamentally wrong.

But here’s the thing: Cedar Hopperton was not at Hamilton Pride. They weren’t masked up, they weren’t there holding a sign, and they weren’t involved in any confrontation. They weren’t there at all. They weren’t anywhere close to Gage Park that day. Instead they stayed home and offered support to those who left the park bloodied, battered, and shaken. As the papers reported, they did come out with supportive statements of those defending pride during an LGBTQ advisory committee meeting in the days after. Standing at a pedestal in city hall, Cedar argued that police are not and should never be part of the queer community, and applauded those at pride who stood up for themselves in the face of violence. Cedar’s arrest is a clear and calculated retaliation for these statements, and an attempt to muddy the waters by equating what happened at Pride with what happened on Locke Street last year.

Because of the way the legal system and the media work, their revenge has already done it’s damage. National news covered the fact that Cedar Hopperton was arrested for their involvement in a confrontation at Pride Hamilton. Even some of Cedar’s supporters carried the narrative (understandably), explaining that “Cedar was only there defending queer people”. The police fabricated a story, and within 24 hours it had become a national truth.

Despite the fact that they weren’t at Pride, Cedar could spend weeks in jail just waiting for a parole hearing in order to make their case. In order to speed this process and apply pressure on the Hamilton Police, Cedar has begun a hunger strike. We don’t have any other details as of now, but we know that since being arrested on Saturday morning Cedar hasn’t eaten anything. We need people to mobilize around this, to help spread the word, and to make sure Cedar’s case doesn’t get lost in the weekly news cycle.

To be clear, this isn’t about Cedar’s “innocence” per se. We know the word “criminal” is only used to devalue someone’s actions or humanity, and we don’t believe that breaking a law makes someone either good or bad. We are putting this statement out because we feel that it is important to state publicly: the claim that Cedar was involved in the events that took place at Hamilton Pride is categorically untrue and unfounded. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that other queers that may be arrested should be supported on the basis of innocence. What folks did that day at Pride was self-defence and they do not deserve to be arrested. We need to be upset at the police for falsely accusing Cedar AND for targeting those of who were there and tried to protect our community.

The police have said it repeatedly to the media, they aren’t finished. They’re almost certainly going to arrest other people who were involved in defending Pride, with or without evidence. Like Cedar, we too will feel the sting of arrest, the trauma of strip searches, the horrors of jail, and the humiliation of a bail hearing. The police will continue to do everything they can to get us fired from our jobs, to terrify our families, and jeopardize our housing. At no point will any of the cops involved be held accountable. That is what the police do. Often they exercise this kind of routine violence without even being seen, but this time all eyes are on them. Queers across the country are watching Hamilton right now to see how this unfolds. Hamiltonians are fuming mad about the naked injustice of this situation. People aren’t as easily tricked or distracted as the police would like us to be.

The most threatening thing to the police are communities that feel empowered to use force to defend themselves because it undermines the thing they hold most dear – their unquestioned authority. The arrests and intimidation being used by them now are punishment for us standing up for ourselves.

This is far from being over. Please stay diligent. Please keep holding the police accountable and watch for updates about others who may be arrested. The amazing feeling of being in this together has been the most validating and important thing to us. And Cedar must have felt amazing hearing the fireworks being set off yesterday outside the jail. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your solidarity.

For Background:

Hamilton Pride Report Back

https://north-shore.info/2019/06/19/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/

Statement on Police Targeting Queers

https://north-shore.info/2019/06/22/this-is-why-you-werent-invited-hamilton-police-target-queers-fighting-back/

Don’t Call the Cops!

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Jun 222019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In the early morning of Monday June 10th, the Montreal police shot a man. A neighbour was having a crisis. Instead of doing anything helpful, they harassed him for hours. They had guns pointed at his head. They finally shot him in the leg through hs own apartment door early monday morning. On Sunday June 17th anarchists in the St-Henri neighbourhood of Montreal put up posters reminding our neighbours to think twice before calling the cops.

St-Henri is famously undergoing a rapid and brutal gentrification process. Gentrification is fueled by social cleansing. This means arresting and relocating people with mental health issues, the poor, drug users, sex workers, and all of us trying to get by in a cruel world. One way to resist the over-policing and gentrification of our neighbourhoods is to stop calling the goddamn cops. We made posters that name all the unarmed people who have been killed by the SPVM in the last few years, because this is fucking serious. Cops will always escalate the situation, we can’t trust them. Instead let’s build relationships of trust between neighbours — Let’s make police obsolete! Please download and share these posters — let your neighbours know that COPS KILL, and share some alternatives to calling the police, so no one else has to have their neighbours blood on their hands.

COPS KILL (to print, 11 x 17″)

12 Things You Can Do Instead of Calling the Cops (11 x 17″)

June 11th: Lemay Vice President’s Car Set on Fire

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Jun 182019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the day of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners, the BMW belonging to André Cardinal, parked in front of his private residence in NDG, was set on fire. André Cardinal is the Vice President of Lemay, the architecture firm designing the migrant prison in Laval.

May fires burn for all that the worlds of prison and borders have stolen from us.

Seeds Against the New Migrant Prison in Laval

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Jun 122019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

As we all know, the Canadian government decided to invest more than 56$ million into locking up hundreds of people in a brand-new prison in Laval, slated to open in 2021. On June 7th, we decided to take back this site of suffering and grief and transform it into a place of life and hope.

Thanks largely to a donation of organic seeds by a Quebec-based cooperative farm, we sowed the 377,500 square meter construction site with 490kg of oats, peas and fava beans. This action builds on the work of other community members and aims to encourage further efforts to stop the construction of the prison. We also see it as a way of preparing the ground for other projects to collectively reappropriate this land for the common purposes. No prisons, no borders!

Key facts:

In 2017, Canada detained close to six thousand migrants, including 162 minors, in various carceral institutions;

The new prison in Laval is part of a 138$ million package announced by the federal government to accompany its 2016 National Immigration Detention Framework (NIDF). Of the total, 122$ million is allocated for the construction of two migrant prisons. Two Quebec-based firms, Lemay and Groupe A, have signed 5M$ contracts to build the prison in Laval. We are impatiently awaiting the announcement of the general constructor;

A true marketing ploy, the NIDF attempts to shift the public debate from the question of why migrants are detained in the first place to that of the conditions of their detention. In this way, the government prides itself in building a prison that camouflages the fact that it is a prison.

People who are detained often suffer psychological and physical violence at the hands of Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents. Since 2000, at least 16 people have died in CBSA custody.

Why do we oppose this prison?

Since its inception, the machinery of the Canadian state has been at the service of economic elites whose sole objective is to exploit resources here and in the Global South, in the process displacing Indigenous peoples throughout the world and extinguishing all forms of life. It is no secret that Canadian companies (Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, Pacific Rime, SNC Lavalin, etc.) working in Africa, South America and the Middle East are accused of violence (murders, gang rapes, forced evictions, etc.) and political interference. Old-style colonialism has been replaced by new forms of control over the bodies and wealth of the Global South, under unbridled capitalism and neoliberalism driving us inexorably towards ecological collapse.

The governments of the Global North promote a utilitarian vision of immigration where migrants are viewed solely as cheap labour; replaceable and temporary. But this migrant workforce has been created by ecological disasters (desertification, deforestation, air and water pollution, floods, etc.), economic and political crises, famine, war – in short, by destruction affecting the entire world, resulting from the greed of a handful of corporations and their masters, which organise this world order.

In this context, the prison, deadly and dehumanising, emerges as a global strategy employed by the west. The objective is twofold: first, to pursue an economic programme characterised by dispossession and unfettered capitalization of remaining resources by the private sector; and secondly, to establish spaces outside the law to confine those deemed “disposable” or a “burden.”

The investment of millions of dollars into the construction of a new migrant prison is not haphazard but exclusively economic necessity and is the result of decades of racist, xenophobic and colonial policies.

Our opposition to the detention of migrants is part of a broader fight against imperialism and colonialism.

— The Rise Up against Prisons and Borders Collective

More information:

Mise en contexte: La détention en immigration au Canada et la nouvelle prison pour réfugié-e-s à Laval

www.stopponslaprison.org

Info on the Laval Immigration Detention Centre

www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/503523/un-nouveau-centre-construit-a-laval-pour-maintenir-la-detention-des-immigrants
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/amp/1176138/centre-surveillance-immigration-englobe-opposants-vandalisme-vehicule

Sign on statement against the new prison:

No to a New Prison for Refugees and Migrants in Laval

A Nice Way to Pass the Evening

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May 302019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

A few nights ago we stumbled upon an Englobe work vehicle. Englobe is an environmental engineering company subcontracted to perform site evaluation for the migrant prison in Laval. We smashed out the windshield, slashed all the tires, and spray-painted “No Migrant Prison” on the side. This was a spontaneous and easy expression of our anger towards all those involved with building this prison. We hope it prevented at least one worker from getting to their job the next day.

This was a small gesture, but very easy to perform. These company cars are everywhere. Fuck all prisons and anyone involved in building them.

No Borders, No Prisons : New Communiqué Poster

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May 242019

11 x 17″ | PDF

Español

What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day?

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May 202019

From End the Prison Industrial Complex

EPIC recommends this excellent new mini-series produced in Montreal called “What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day?” for anyone wanting to learn more about the history and context of the prison movement across so-called Canada since the 1970s. From the description:

This is a mini series about the history of prisons in canada focusing on differences in the prison system in the 1960s-1980s versus today. The podcast features interviews with former and current prisoners, as well as supporters on the outside. For those new to prison history, Prisoner Justice Day, also called PJD, started in 1975 on the one year anniversary of the death of Edward Nalon, an inside organizer who bled to death in a segregation cell in Millhaven Maximum Penitentiary on August 10th, 1974. Prisoners refused to eat and refused to work to commemorate Eddie’s death. In May 1976, Robert Landers, who had been actively organizing in Archambault Pen before being involuntarily transferred to Millhaven, died in a segregation cell in Millhaven after repeated calls for medical help met no response. In June 1976, prisoners in Millhaven launched a call for support for their one day hunger strike in remembrance of all prisoners who had died inside – to take place on August 10th. Word spread across the country and, in the end, thousands of prisoners participated in the one day hunger strike and supporters on the outside organized events on the outside. A lot has changed since the 70s, not just in prison, but outside of prison. While respecting PJD remains important to many on the inside and outside, the numbers of those participating are nowhere near the numbers involved in the 70s and 80s. This podcast mini-series sets out to explore why that change has occurred.

To listen, search for “What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day” in your podcast app or visit https://prisonhistoryca.libsyn.com/

RCMP Vehicles Destroyed in Hamilton

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May 142019

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

Since 1873, the Canadian government has been using the RCMP and all police services at their disposal to forcefully invade indigenous territory, helping to steal their land for resources and aid in their assimilation.

Out west on Wet’suwet‘en territory in Northern BC the RCMP continue to harass individuals travelling to and from their homes, seizing cars and leaving youth and mothers stranded in the wilderness. In addition, police continue to keep the Wet’suwet’en from freely accessing hunting and fishing grounds and – as the spring thaw continues – areas where they would gather berries and medicines for sickness and ceremony. All this on behalf and in favour of TransCanada/TC Energy.

Out East on the banks of the Sipekne’katik (Shubenacadie River) – occupied Mi’kmaq territory – we see the RCMP cater to yet another destructive energy corporation: Alton Gas. Earlier in April the RCMP trespassed, arrested and charged three Mi’kmaw grandmothers. Arrests came after two years of indigenous community impeding contruction access for a project that will devastate the delicate tidal bore ecosystem.

Colonial policing institutions continue to interfere and trespass where they are not welcome – always in favour of industry and state gains. On May 8, 2019 we even saw the OPP arrest and charge an individual from Wahta Mohawk territory for trespassing – on their own territory – after confronting state-endorsed band council government for corruption.

We see these moments and struggles for indigenous self-determination and land reclamation for what they are; brave and necessary.

We support those reclaiming what has been stolen and correcting what is wrong by doing what we can do, for now – attacking the state apparatuses that continue to harass, interfere with, and criminalize indigenous peoples.

Sometime in the evening of May 12 a group of regular everyday folks tried too, to be brave.

Targetting the RCMP building in Stoney Creek for the second time in recent history these individuals found their way in to a private RCMP car lot and took as many service vehicles out of commission as possible.

Using spray paint we gave their cars new paint jobs, applied etching cream to permanently damage glass surfaces, and put bleach into accessible gas tanks.

We like to think that, for a short time, we have made it just a bit safer around here.

A small act of gratitude for those truly honouring our mother, on this mother’s day.

Moving forward, we call on others to step up. To treat these struggles as seriously as you treat commitments to your family, your jobs, degrees, or community. We call on every single person who has ever believed themselves to be an “ally“ to begin organizing and mobilizing for the inevitable moments ahead. What are you prepared to do when the Mi’kmaw and Wet’suwet’en must once again physically defend their territories from colonial violence? How are you preparing for the moments that have been building for two years, and for ten? Indigenous communities are keeping up their 300-year fight against colonialism and state control, and settlers can (and should) be waging the second front.

Reportback from Montreal’s May Day Against Borders

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May 142019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On May Day 2019 in Montreal there were four different demonstrations at different times and locations across the city. The CLAC (Convergence des Luttes Anti-Capitalistes) called for their annual anti-capitalist May Day demonstration to be held in the theme of “No borders”, in the context of the rise of the xenophobic far right in Quebec and the ongoing attept to construct a new migrant prison in Laval, QC. We attended the CLAC’s No Borders May Day, which gathered at 6:30pm at Square Cabot in the west end of downtown Montreal.

Shortly after the few-hundred strong group left the square, heading south on Atwater towards St Henri, a small black bloc at the rear of the demo took shape, shielded by a rear-facing banner reading “All Bosses are Bastards”. Construction fencing, pylons, and other materials were dragged into the street, creating distance between the demo and the cops following behind. Flyers had been passed out at the departure point encouraging people to take both sides of the street and the sidewalks as an attempt to prevent cops from using the sidewalks to flank the demo. This largely worked, no side cops were able to take position.

The demo turned west on Notre-Dame and then north on Greene, heading towards the headquarters of Lemay, an architecture firm designing the proposed migrant prison. As the demo approached the building, a dumpster was lit on fire at the back of the demo and rolled backwards towards the bike cops trailing the demo, creating a bit of a buffer in the lead up to what was to come. At Lemay, people attacked the building, breaking the large windows at the front and side of the building with rocks, billiard balls, and improvised battering rams. Paint bombs covered the facade on two sides of the building as well. Flyers were distributed explaining Lemay’s role in the construction of the migrant prison.

Riot cops deployed, too late, in front of the Lemay building, and were met with rocks. They responded to the escalating situation with tear gas, and the demo turned north off of St-Jacques. Though the demo split and some people scattered due to the tear gas, minutes later two large groups met up on St-Antoine, a major artery leading to a highway on-ramp — the dispersal attempt was unsuccessful! Marching against already backed-up traffic, the raucous group dragged garbage and recycling bins into the street, lighting some on fire. Though the group continued to thin out over the next 15 minutes, a sizable demo marched east on Notre-Dame, leaving graffiti in its wake, and defending itself with fireworks shot at the cops.

This May Day was a marked improvement from last year, when a confrontation between flanking sidewalk cops and a black bloc at the front of the demo two minutes after departure isolated most of the bloc from the rest of the demo, leading the demonstration to continue but without most of the bloc. Since that confrontation, the cops have consistently kept their distance at major demos, testifying to the success of a combative demo culture. However, they are positioning themselves to go on the offensive very quickly after attacks have taken place, and we will need to continue responding to this change in strategy.

This year, the distribution of groups of anonymous and confrontational people throughout the demo appears to have prevented the isolation of the bloc from the rest of the demo. It also helped to mitigate the negative effects of dispersal attempts — having groups of people throughout the demo that are prepared to stick it out after tear gas and charges means that many others can build the confidence to do this as well. This year’s successful regroupment and the long continuation of the demo even after it had wreaked havoc on Lemay are testaments to this.

****This year, we noticed a lot of people in the demo with cameras or filming with their phones. Filming and taking pictures puts people at risk, whether or not you’re the mass media. Even if you don’t intend to hand your footage to the cops or have the intention to blur out identifying features before you post your pictures, you might get arrested with information that incriminates others. A reminder: don’t film in a demo, and don’t be surprised if you get pushed out of the demo if you do.

The success of the demo’s attack on Lemay was also an exciting development in the struggle against the migrant prison. Lemay has already been attacked multiple times in the past year (its condo projects have been attacked, and the building it is headquartered in had crickets released into it and all its locks destroyed as well), but these attacks have not been as public as this demonstration, and have presumably involved smaller groups of people. We are heartened by the strength and solidity of hundreds of people who stood and stayed together while this abhorrent architecture firm had its building fucked with in broad daylight. It’s this kind of collective strength and daring that will continue to be necessary as the fight to prevent the construction of the prison heats up in the coming months.

Long live the uncontrollable demo! Long live the struggle against the migrant prison! Against borders and against prisons!

Fuck Lemay, happy May Day!

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