Program aims to mend G20’s bridges

Police, protesters take part in conflict resolution session
BY BEV WAKE

Police, activists and a handful of bystanders came together in a small auditorium at Saint Paul University last night for what Vein Neufeld Redekop described as a "debriefing" following the G20 meetings earlier this month.

The topic of the night? Crowd Dynamics and Conflict Resolution.

Mr. Redekop, who is developing a program in conflict studies for Saint Paul, said police and activists may be a few steps apart on the issue, may not yet trust each other, but he hoped at least some of the distance would be bridged by the end of the night.

"I’m not expecting that tonight is going to change everything radically around, but I am expecting and hoping it may bring us a few steps closer together," he said.

Just one night earlier at an Ottawa Police Services Board meeting, G2o protesters expressed their outrage with police conduct during the summit.

During 16 public presentations, police heard from demonstrators who claimed police were brutal to them while they protested peacefully.

Bill Moore-Kilgannon told the board that he and his eight year-old son were each bitten by police dogs while they participated in a peaceful protest.

Ottawa police Chief Vince Bevan, displaying a large array of items like rocks, knives, sticks and metal poles seized from protesters, said he was proud of the work done by police during the summit.

Last night’s meeting, which was to include "dialogue sessions" after Mr. Redekop’s initial presentation, was designed to give people a chance to speak to each other and "listen to people they otherwise might not have a chance to listen to."

There were about 65 people, half of whom identified themselves as activists, at the meeting.

An RCMP officer cautioned that activists may not get all the answers they wanted, because police were limited in what they could say for legal reasons.

Mr. Redekop, former head of the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution, said he hoped issues raised during discussions could help "create a context in which police, media, activists, bystanders and politicians can work collaboratively together to create an area for dissent that will also diminish the likelihood of violence."

Last night’s meeting had originally been planned as a reunion of people who attended a Nov. 8 meeting less than two weeks before the G20 summit. Only one-third of the people at the meeting had attended the first meeting.

With files from Zev Singer