Direct Action in Montreal – CTV – 19-03-2008

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Anarchist Groups: a web host’s computers are seized

Anarchist Groups: a web host’s computers are seized

[Posted to sketchythoughts.blogspot.com, March 20, 2008, translated by sketchythoughts]

Caroline Touzin
La Presse

Montreal police raided a web host in Montreal on Tuesday night to identify who was behind the recent crimes claimed by anarchist groups in the Hochelaga-Maisoneeuve neighbourhoud, Le Presse has learned.

Four police officers arrived, with a search warrant, at Koumbit, a non-profit organization which offers computer services to forty or so Quebec community associations and organizations. Koumbit hosts the Centre des médias alternatifs du Québec (CMAQ). This group distributed messages from the Your father, Your Uncle and YOUr Dog collectives, which claims reponsibility for (respectively) the setting on fire of six police cars, of automatic tellers as well as vandalism at a car sales lot.

The warrant authorized police to seize all computers on the premises and also stipulated that the organization hand over its “logs” to investigators, as well as as much information as possible about the four articles published on CMAQ. “Koumbit believes that such a warrant is problematic. The normal course of justice should not cause undue damage to businesses and organizations which are heavily dependent on the means of communication that we offer them, nor should it silence online media such as blogs or public forums,” emphasized the organization in a press release it issued last night. Koumbit also provided three lines of its “logs”, which are records of events which document visits to websites. A log normally contains the visitors address, the time they visited, the page visited as well as the kind of browser used.

The police, for its part, refused to comment on this information. “Those who commit crimes do not need added publicity. We refuse to discuss our investigation strategy,” said sergeant Ian Lafrenière, of the Montreal police.

A member of the CMAQ collective, Martin Deshaies, feels that the police are “exaggerating.” The CMAQ defines itself as a response to the mainstream media inspired by the international independent media network Indymedia. The site agreed to publish the communiqués as it has a principle of free publication, specified Mr Deshaies. “In the 1970s, the Front de libération du Québec send its communiqués to the mass media. The media reprinted them without necessarily agreeing with their message. It is the same thing with us today,” explained Mr Deshaies.

A Worrisome Sentence

The CMAQ has an editorial policy that a message’s contents cannot be defamatory. For this reason the CMAQ had removed a sentence from the Your Father Collective about the burnt police cars. “One sentence went too far,” explained another member of CMAQ, Michaël Lessard. This censored sentence was inviting people to burn “the hotels and houses of capitalists.” Mr Lessard also warned people not to be too hasty in assuming who was behind these messafes. “Watch out before you conclude that they are anarchists. These kinds of arguments can also be made by many far left groups or by young people who are angry about injustice.” In the past CMAQ has received other requests from the police and even a court order to remove certain claims about the police from its site. Requests that the CMAQ did not answer.

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Paint and glue against the cops in Vancouver

Paint and glue against the cops in Vancouver

[Posted by some rebels to ottawa.indymedia.org, 18.03.2008]

On the night of March 15-16, 2008, we threw paint at the windows of the police operations office on Pender Street and glued the locks of the community policing office on Davie Street in Coast Salish Territory, Vancouver, Canada.

We did this for ourselves and to disrupt the normal functioning of the police. Community policing spreads distrust and helps prevent the possible emergence of communities not based on the exploitation of land and people. Policing defends colonization, the State and capitalism.

– some rebels

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Montreal: Mazda dealership and Bell Canada vans attacked

Mazda dealership and Bell Canada vans attacked

[Posted by Anonymous to cmaq.net, March 18, 2008]

Night of march 17-18 2008

Around 23 cars at a Mazda dealership in Prefontaine had their tires slashed, along with 2 Bell Canada vans sitting in the neighborhood.

We act in solidarity with the inspiring actions taken a few days earlier against police cars and a bank.

The police are scared, the capitalists are scared, but no one else seems to mind the fires breaking out in their neighborhoods.

The media tell us that the police are worried for their “citizens,” but the ones who are targeted are not citizens.

They do not live with reoccuring debt, with an escalating rent caused by condo development and gentrification, they do not live under the constant threat of eviction or with the choice of either feeding their kids or paying the bills…

They are the ones bringing us the eviction notices, they are the ones arriving in uniform to force us from our homes, they are the ones who harrass us when we can’t pay the bills or the debt or the grocery bill…

As our comrades stated before, WE ARE THIS CITY and these capitalist and power driven pieces of shit are not welcome here!

Tomorrow 23 less cars will have a chance to drive around the super-highways that expand capital onto native territory and into undeveloped space: serving nothing but this system that threatens our lives every day.

We hope that the two Bell vans we disabled might keep your cable offline long enough to get the media, mouth-piece of this social order, out of your lives for a day.

In solidarity with every prisoner, native and rebel alike.

The real criminals have yet to taste our collective rage!

Your Dog

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Vandals hit Coldstream offices

Vandals hit Coldstream offices

By Richard Rolke – Vernon Morning Star [British Columbia] – March 14, 2008

Vandals created a sticky situation in Coldstream on the weekend.

Sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning [March 9], someone placed glue in the locks at the Coldstream municipal office and community policing office, as well as the Women’s Institute hall.

The first indication of a problem was first thing Sunday before renters arrived at the WI hall on Kalamalka Road.

“Someone went in to check the hall and the lock was all glued up,” said Jean May, a longtime WI member.

It’s believed the vandalism occurred sometime after 10 p.m. Saturday because there were renters there until that time.

Until the lock could be fixed, access to the WI hall had to be done through a rear door.

Municipal employees didn’t become aware of the vandalism spree until they arrived for work Monday morning.

“Staff couldn’t open the driveway gate,” said Wendy Kay, chief administrative officer.

It was soon discovered that virtually every door had been hit.

“It created a bit of a flurry around here,” said Kay.

Access to the municipal office was finally gained through a door that does not require a key.

In all cases, the tumblers in the locks had to be changed because the glue could not be removed.

A final damage estimate has not been determined at this time.

“There are five doors so we are probably talking between $500 and $1,000,” said Kay.

Money raised by the Women’s Institute through rentals either goes back into the hall or to community projects.

Repairs to the lock take away from those efforts.

“It’s a challenge for us. It puts a dint in our bank account,” said May.

Beyond an occasional rock through a window, vandalism at the municipal office is rare.

“On the day of the (sports complex) referendum, a package of white powder was shoved through the front door,” said Kay.

Anyone with any information about the vandalism on the weekend is asked to call the RCMP or Crime Stoppers [number removed].

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Attack Against the National Bank in Montreal

Attack Against the National Bank in Montreal
corner of Ontario and Valois, the night of March 15-16 2008

[From a communique is posted at anarkhia.org, March 17, 2008, translated at sketchythoughts.blogspot.com]

The three automatic tellers of this branch were smashed before being set on fire.

This action was not mentioned in the big media and the National Bank attempted to hide the damage as quickly as possible. We suspect the authorities are trying to cover up the facts so as not to create panic amongst the citizens.

We acted following the torching of the parking lot of neighbourhood station 23. Like the Collectif Ton Pere [translators note: Your Father Collective], we are acting against the State, Capital and private property, which perpetuate oppression, destruction and alienation. We are also in solidarity with Native struggles, specifically in the context of the 2010 Olympics.

Even if the National Bank is not an official partner (as is the case with the Royal Bank), a bank is still a bank!

Let’s not forget that the police and the banks support each other.

Collectif Ton Oncle 😉

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Police arrest 32 people after Montreal protest turns ugly

Police arrest 32 people after Montreal protest turns ugly

Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, March 16, 2008

MONTREAL — Montreal police arrested 32 people Saturday after an anti-police protest turned violent, leaving the city’s downtown with shattered windows, vandalized cars and a police cruiser singed by a molotov cocktail.

Montreal police Const. Laurent Gingras said demonstrators used bats, rocks, chunks of ice and their feet to smash the windows of a Subway, McDonald’s and Starbucks during a three hour rampage in Montreal’s downtown core.

Gingras would not reveal how many people attended the protest, but media reports put the number at about 200.  Gingras would also not specify how many police officers were on the scene. He said many officers were dressed in riot gear and none were hurt after clashing with demonstrators.

“(The police) were ready for clashes with protesters and experience told us we should have been ready for this,” he said. “Several police officers have been hurt in the last couple of years.”

The demonstrators used the wooden sticks from their signs as weapons against police and a molotov cocktail was hurled at a police cruiser, said Gingras.

Two subway stations were also defaced by graffiti as a result of the demonstration, which ended at about 6:30 p.m.  Several cars along the protest route also had their windows smashed and Gingras said some of the demonstrators stole items from the vandalized vehicles.

Those arrested face an array of charges including mischief, assault, assault on a police officer and theft, he said. Some were released from custody late last evening while others were held overnight, said Gingras.

The protest was organized by a group calling themselves the “collective against police brutality,” said Gingras. The group has staged protests on March 15 for at least the last five years.

Police arrested 15 people last year, said Gingras.

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Montreal: Setting Fire to the Hochelaga Police Station Parking Lot

Setting Fire to the Hochelaga Police Station Parking Lot
The night of March 13-14, 2008

[From a communique posted at anarkhia.org, March 15, 2008, translated at sketchythoughts.blogspot.com]

Six Police Cars caught fire at Station 23, on the corner of Hochelaga and Aird.

These are actions against the greater and greater levels of oppression in the neighbourhood and everywhere where exploitation exists and reproduces itself.

We are acting in solidarity with Native political prisoners in America who are still struggling for their freedom and their autonomy.

We are calling on all populations to take back their time, space, the street, the city, and to torch everything that represents authority.

The city is us, it is not a prison belonging to capitalism.

We are not slaves, and yet we build their houses, their banks. their roads, we look after their children and serve them their coffee every morning, we pick the fruit and vegetables that they eat…

The least we can do is to set fire to their cars, SUVs, police cars, their new real estate developments, their big houses, their hotels, expose them publicly for who they are…

The least we can do is to abolish them!!

In the same way, we would like to specify that we support all armed struggle for autonomy and we invite all people to act and to examine their own past and their own role in order to become more connected to the communities which are struggling to get by, and to struggle against all forms of oppression.

Torch the capitalist system, that creator of corpses!

Collectif Ton père

P.S.: The communique is appearing in the events section as the collective is attempting to break through the censorship being applied by CMAQ regarding the true demands behind this actions, which have still not been mentioned in the corporate media.

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Conditional sentence for grief-stricken bank robber

Conditional sentence for grief-stricken bank robber

Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008

A young man who lost his family in an arson fire and then robbed two Vancouver banks in a “desperate act” to provide for his pregnant fiance was given a 20-month conditional sentence today.

Bolingo Etibako, 18, thanked Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Joe Galati for the conditional sentence, saying he was “truly sorry for this stupid decision I made” and promised not to disappoint him.

Etibako, who pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in connection with two bank holdups in January, will spend about a third of his sentence under house arrest. A third robbery charge was stayed.

Bank robbery is a federal offence and usually carries a minimum two- to nine-year prison term.

Crown counsel Helen James asked for an eight- to 12-month prison sentence followed by probation, noting that Etibako had a “very disturbing background” but that the robberies were on the serious end of the scale.

Etibako walked into the two banks, both on West 10th Avenue, and demanded $10,000 from the manager, threatening to take hostages if he didn’t get the money. He never produced a weapon, but indicated he had one under his jacket.

James said the bank managers had reported that Etibako was “intimidating and threatening” when demanding the money. Yet, she added, his tune seemed to change when he was given cash, and at times was apologetic, telling one teller “‘I’m sorry, eh … this is my job, Robin Hood,'” James said.

He was caught by police shortly after the first robbery with some dyed bills; the second robbery was committed shortly after he got out of jail and the haul included “bait” $20 notes.

Galati ruled a conditional sentence was appropriate given Etibako’s age and history. But he weighted it with a list of conditions, including weapons and alcohol prohibitions, house arrest for six months, curfews, counselling for his anger and potential mental health problems and a no-go order within a two-block radius of the banks he robbed.

Galati also warned Etibako that if he breaks any of the conditions, he could face jail time.

“If you’re out past your curfew or do what you’re not supposed to be doing … and you get caught, you’ll be brought back, not in front of another judge, but in front of me,” Galati said.

“I gave you what you should definitely consider a break this time. It’s up to you to consider whether I’ll give you a break a second time.”

Defence counsel David Karp said that if Etibako – a permanent resident of Canada – was given a two-year jail term he could be deported back to the Congo, where he emigrated from with his family when he was nine. Although that risk still exists, Karp said said, it’s not as significant.

He said Etibako has learned his lesson while spending two months in jail. The robberies, he said, “were acts of a desperate man” who had suffered a great deal as a boy.

Etibako was the only survivor of an arson attack against his family’s East Vancouver home that killed his mother, three siblings and his then-girlfriend in 2006.

“He was very desperate to provide for [his fiance] and have a life for himself and his family,” Karp said. “He was in a situation where he wasn’t able to earn money to where he went to being in custody for two months. He realizes this isn’t the way to go.”

He said the robberies were “unsophisticated crimes” and Etibako wants to get back on track. He has the support of his aunt and brother, he said, as well as members of his church, the Calvary Worship Centre in New Westminster.

Etibako, who will live in New Westminster, also asked for house arrest.

“I feel this is good for me because I’ll get the services I need to get better. Being locked up is not what I need,” Etibako said prior to sentencing. “I’m really sorry for these events and I can’t believe what I was going through.”

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RBC in Ottawa “Trashed”

RBC in Ottawa “Trashed”

[Posted by Ottawa Anarchists to ottawa.indymedia.org, 12.03.2008]

A bit of symbolism helps to explain things, as a trash can is used to smash more RBC windows.

The night of March 11th, 2008, the Royal Bank location at Elgin and Lisgar in Ottawa was again the target of our rage against the evils they sponsor. The trash can we hurled through their window shows what we think of their Corporate Circus (the 2010 Winter Olympics) – to wit, that it is nothing but garbage!

Throw away the social cleansing, colonialism, and environmental destruction!
Throw away the complete co-optation and oppression of the Indigenous peoples of Coast Salish and all of Turtle Island!
Throw away the Banks and the whole capitalist system!

We act in solidarity of all who resist the Corporate Circus, and we urge you to do the same!

Riot 2010!!!
~Ottawa Anarchists.

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