Bonjour la pôlisse! Got a permit for your *protest*?

Too, too funny.

Montreal Police are holding a press conference and a "manifestation" - a protest or a demonstration - today in front of the SPVM headquarters for their union members.

During Le printemps érable - literally, the Maple Spring - last year, at the height of the student protests against university tuition increases, the Charest government put pressure on municipalities to enforce their by-laws regulating demonstrations in public areas.

Two veterans of those 100 and more days of protests, tweeted about the cops' media event.  Very droll these two.

frogsarelovely in particular, who documented each protest with her smartphone camera and her tweets, was roughly handled by SPVM cops one night. She was held overnight on a trumped-up charge; a cop claimed that she had uttered threats. She is a pacifist, and her tweets reflect that.

So now the two of them are thinking that this protest needs to have a citizens' anti-riot squad to control such an unruly group, one that has a history of behaving violently. It's a union!  Of cops!  Where's their permit, to show that they're holding a LEGAL protest?

Justin Ling a journalist who covered the Carré Rouge protests in Montreal shared his observations and personal experience of police brutality, here.

[...]I found myself handcuffed, sitting on the sidewalk on a residential street in the Gay Village. Waving around my semi-official press credentials elicited only blank stares and occasional instructions to shut up from police officers. My get-out-of-jail-free card came in the form of a Tweet I managed to mash out before getting carted off to a detention facility. I, luckily, was released before being sent up the river.

There's little doubt that SPVM tactics during these protests have been reactionary. The dragnet put out there to catch vandals and criminals has netted over two thousand of arrests, including journalists, confused bystanders and peaceful protesters alike.

There's lots of anecdotal evidence that the officers have treated press freedom like a bit of a joke. Student journalist Pierre Chauvin's press pass actually got laughs from a few SPVM cops.

My situation -- which spawned a whirlwind of press -- had much to do with my method of escape, and the SPVM's quick thinking on Twitter.

But here's a thought: the police shouldn't be arresting journalists.

[...]Mainstream media outlets have been challenged to shell out the overtime to get online reporters into the streets each night, and independent journalists have been pushed to churn something out other than the traditional cut-and-dried head-news that have dominated much of the strike coverage.

[...]I have spent most of the protest working for OpenFile Montreal. Along with a crack team of other young journalists, we've published nightly coverage that has been consistent, insightful, and -- if I may say -- pretty damn good.

OpenFile has proved itself a strong challenger to the Montreal Gazette on the protest coverage, and has, I think, surpassed other anglophone mainstays like CTV. Hard-nosed journalism that hurls itself to the frontlines, finally, appears to be getting some recognition.

Enter CUTV.

The little campus-station-that-could has far surpassed expectations, becoming one of the staples of coverage for anyone following the strike.

Yet its in-your-face coverage (maybe bordering on overly aggressive,) coupled with a hard pro-protester editorial line have made them persona non grata amongst the police force.

I've seen the CUTV camera crews out every night, throwing themselves into this strike like few others have. Whether or not that's always a good thing is still a matter of some debate. Has CUTV moved away from covering the story, and towards becoming the story?

Still, CUTV's on-the-ground footage has, amid some snickering, been picked up by local, national and international news. It has captured images of police kettling, bonfires that plagued the Latin Quarter and instances that probably constitute undue use of force by the SPVM.

One wonders if CUTV was on the invitation list for the police union's press event AND demo/protest.

Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, matraque... ah, matricule 728 aka Stéfanie Trudeau won't be able to attend the protest.  She is currently attending court-ordered psychiatric treatment.  In any event, the judge also issued a restraining order which forbids her access to police premises and contact with her colleagues, allegedly because she alluded to Christopher Dorner during one of her epic rages, this one in the offices of the SPVM police employees' union.

Too bad. Some judiciously applied pepper might nicely balance the dose of heavy salt on those Montreal streets after the snow storm...

Added: Justin Ling is known these days for his co-authorship of this piece of investigative journalism. 

Update: The Montreal Gazette reports on the Police Union's *manifestation* today.

Bonjour la pôlisse! ... et Matricule 728

For years, community activists, political and social critics, humourists and citizens have demanded that the actions of the Service de protection de la ville de Montréal be scrutinized, independently investigated and that those responsible for systemic brutality and corruption be held accountable.

Recent events, precipitated by over one hundred nights of demonstrations in support of the Grève générale illimitée, have thrust into the spotlight the case of Matricule 728.  But as journalist Josée Legault demonstrated in her excellent reflection here and here, the behaviour of one Stéfanie Trudeau embodies the convergence of police powers and political ideology, in the context of a bigger and quite disturbing picture.

Marc-André Cyr elaborates further on this theme, in Voir.  I have loosely translated parts of his piece to post here. 

It was in 1838 that the first modern police service was created in North America, in Montreal for the purpose of preventing crime, and to monitor the political activities of insurgents and rebels.
The first provincial police was established in 1869 with the objective to intervene during riots - many at the time - and to ensure compliance with new federal and provincial laws.
Four years later, it was the turn of the North-West Mounted Police to see the day. Its mission is clear: Western Canada must become "white, English and Protestant", to monitor the Métis and ensure French Canadians do not overpopulate the west. Faithful to its noble mission, the organization was involved in the crushing of many indigenous revolts and workers throughout the second half of the 19th century.
The Mounted Police became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 1919, following the Winnipeg General Strike. If the fear of communism is still in its infancy, it is nonetheless intensified by the growing influence of trade unionism. Some agents, such as John Leopold, aka Jack Esseilwein, spying upon the Communist Party for many years, became as a result of their governments work "national heroes".
[...] In 1984 CSIS was designated the official national political police. It watches the Left, and especially after 2001, Islamists groups. As well, Aboriginals, Métis, communists, feminists, artists, homosexuals, unions, immigrants are still prime targets for "observation".  Thus the actions of Matricule 728 are anything but strange.  That part of the population is perceived as "rats", "guitar scratchers", "goddamned red squares" and "shit-eaters" by the police.
That view is in fact necessary to justify beating, pepper-spraying, gassing, blinding, causing concussions and imprisoning defenseless people considered as representatives of "evil".
This hatred and violence are traditionally necessary to law, order and security. It is not at all an "exception" to the rule and the norm: it is the rule and standard. 

It was on October 2 that the infamous *incident* which made headlines in Québec and in the rest of Canada was recorded on a cell phone, the evidence that allowed Radio Canada and other media to pursue their own investigative reporting into the history of the abusive actions of Matricule 728. 

Trudeau's colleagues thought that they had confiscated all the cell phones of witnesses to their violent disruptions, including that of Karen Molina.

She was handcuffed, arrested by the police that evening and charged, allegedly for "obstructing" police work.  The charges against her still stand.  She was the fourth person charged that evening; the other three are the original individuals apprehended by Trudeau during her rampage.  

Here is Molina's recounting of what she did that evening, how she called the SPVM to report what she observed to be inappropriate and incorrect police conduct.  Her cell phone was taken by the police; it's still being held.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that her phone was "unfortunately" damaged and the recording made on October 2 cannot be retrieved - though hopefully her 911 call was not "accidentally" deleted.  In news accounts on Radio Canada, one reporter thought that Molina was a landed immigrant and that she feared that the charges against her, though visibly unfounded, could be used to disrupt her application for citizenship.

Remember police actions in Toronto during the G20?

The first video clip is part of an ongoing series from québecois humourists Rock et Belles Oreilles - RBO -  which gently and savagely at times, lampooned police forces. 

UPDATE: Charges against the original three targets of Matricule 728's abusive actions appear to be on hold for the moment.

Exemplary Cop (Update)

The Montreal police force (SPVM), is known for its brutality and lack of accountability.

In this Rabble News report from March 2012, Stefan Christoff provided an overview of decades of injustice served upon the Montreal population, particularly members of communities that are not protected by their connections to social status, money, organized crime or political power. Some highlights:

Now widely used by the Montreal police, flash bang grenades are made by Defense Technologies, a subsidiary of the world's second largest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems.Flash bangs are rubber-encased devices that explode, creating a 175-decibel shock wave, while emitting a flash of light and releasing a charge of CS gas into the air. CS gas is a chemical irritant that burns the eyes, affects the respiratory system and can cause vomiting. 

According to Defense Technologies' official warning text on the exploding weapon, "this product may cause serious injury or death to you or others."
On March 15, police used sound grenades and CS gas on civilian protesters, weaponry that did in fact "cause serious injury" for 22-year-old student protester Grenier from Cégep de Saint-Jérôme, protesting for accessible post-secondary education. 

Why are Montreal police deploying dangerous explosive devises against popular protests in 2012? Why are more serious questions not being asked in mainstream media coverage about this dangerous weaponry being deployed by Montreal police?

Fredy Villanueva, an 18-year-old youth from Montreal North, was killed by police in the summer of 2005, and his death is the subject of an ongoing struggle for justice led by the Villanueva family. 

To this day, no police officers involved in the Villanueva killing have been charged criminally or faced trial in relation to the shooting, despite a wealth of existing evidence on the topic. 

Villanueva's death inspired numerous underground hip-hop tracks in Montreal, with artists like Sans Pression and Dramatik directing verses against Montreal police shootings and racial profiling. 

In early January 2012, a police intervention at métro Bonaventure turned deadly when police shot and killed Farshad Mohammadi, a Kurdish refugee from Iran struggling with mental health issues and homelessness. The police killing quickly sparked protest in the city and police continue to keep secret a great deal of existing evidence and details surrounding the shooting. 

Since 1987, in Montreal, more than 60 people have been killed during police interventions, including Mario Hamel and Patrick Limoges, killed on the same morning by police bullets in June 2011.

And now Radio-Canada's report on the aberrant actions of a patroller, one Stéfanie Trudeau aka Badge 728 - captures the dysfunctional cop culture that flourishes within the rank and file of the SPVM. (Google translations here and here.) The CTV report is here.

The list of complaints against her is considerable.  It includes gratuitous violence.

Some may remember Matricule 728 from this GGI manifestation in May.

Trudeau may be exemplary but she is not unique.

UPDATE: The inevitable baying of sexist hounds has started, demanding her address and phone number to dox her so that others will inflict the physical harm they wish this woman to suffer.

This is harsh, and may recognize that a form of rehabilitation is required, for her and for all cops who behave thus.

But this is vile, as this one notes.

Josée Legault reminds us of the "rage à deux" that political discourse and police repression produce.

ADDED resource. From this tweet, more about the deleterious impact of cop culture.

TODAY'S UPDATE: My perspective was willfully misrepresented, with regard to outing and doxing Trudeau.  Read my original post.  I never suggested that the procedure used to deal with abusive cops should be more lenient for her.

Though it has been well-documented how social media has been used to transform specific women into targets for the rampant misogyny that festers at large, there are a few so-called pro-feminism men who persist in obdurate denial of this phenomenon and shriek about "gender stalinism" rather than acknowledge the reality. 

From Anita Sarkeesian to Amanda Todd, women and girls are violated online in specifically aggressive ways that men are not subjected to.  Are these threats carried out in real life?  Once a woman has been doxed, she is an open target.  

Food for thought: Whitney Phillips' piece in the Atlantic about Adrian Chen exposing  infamous Reddit moderator Violentacrez in a long profile. This is the product of a tenacious investigation into the many facets of this self-proclaimed troller as well as his role as the creator and moderator of the "Jailbait" and "CreepShots" forums. 

Phillips' reflection on trolling and its oft-denounced racist, homophobic and misogynist manifestations is a compelling and informative lecture.

Added: For those who can read French, this from Josée Legault must be read to understand the foundation and the connections that produced Matricule 728 and a cop culture amenable to political manipulation.
Grand merci to Miranda Nelson.