WINNIPEG - "Hole-eee sh%@!" were the words that escaped from Judy Wasylycia-Leis' lips as the police cars and paddy wagon cut across Main Street towards the crowd, sirens wailing, engines revving, lights flashing. Standing beside her, I could see that the Winnipeg North NDP Member of Parliament was incredulous at how crazy the situation had become.
An hour earlier on March 15, a peaceful rally calling for the withdrawal of Canadian troops took place in front of the Canadian Grain Commission building. Largely silent, we marched in a circle on the sidewalk with signs and banners. Passing cars, transit buses, and semi-truck air horns honked and blasted in agreement with our modest but resolute picket.
A few speakers noted the significance of the event: the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Iraq theatre of the on-going war. Another point raised is that Canadians must realize that the Afghanistan theatre is part of the same war, not a separate war as the government spin doctors claim. Calls to defeat Harper were made, and speakers expressed anger that the opposition Liberals do anything but oppose the Tories.
Across the street, a number of unmarked vans and cars took photographs of all the demonstrators. Indignant, the crowd moved en masse at the next crossing signal and openly questioned the city police about their actions. Wasylycia-Leis, among others, grilled the officers, who remained in the vehicles.
The rally was about to disperse when a private security guard dressed in a shirt, tie and blazer came out. In an angry and raised voice, he shouted "this is private property!" and "you are loitering."
A couple of meters away stood a bus stop. Shouts of "how can we be loitering?... why are the police here taking our pictures?... Aren't they loitering?" came from the now irritated crowd.
The security guard responded that he could let the police on the property and chose to do so. He continued to provoke the assembly, and then came the paddy wagon. People were getting instinctively afraid and angry. This had clearly become a farce.
It is fitting that this all took place in the Keystone province, on the Ides of March and the Day against Police Brutality. It is a bitter irony that in the war to bring "democracy and freedom" abroad, we felt like we were on the way to a totalitarian state.
I asked Judy Wasylycia-Leis what the police answered about why they were spying on us. "(They told me) they were doing it to protect us... they do this (surveillance) at every demonstration," she said, not impressed at the answer the cops gave her.
(According to the book Police Crowd Control, by Capt. Charles Beene, the police take pictures for evidence when they prosecute a protester in court. No mention about protection).
Another protester exclaimed at the fast police response time and complained to an officer about slow response to violent crimes in the North End (in reference to the 500 missing women in Canada). The police commanded photographers not to take photos. "How come you can take our pictures?!" a woman protested.
We resumed dispersing. A police officer went into the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange next door. By observing the state's response to the protest, I felt that we were doing the right thing. The powers that be see peace activists as dangerous enough to keep watch over. The Tory government in Ottawa and big business City Hall, what a bunch of control freaks!
