I would like to submit a summary of some of my experiences at the hands of the Ottawa police during the November 17 weekend, a series of events held by diverse group of concerned citizens representing anarchists to mothers and midwives and every point in between.

During the peaceful march (for which we had already obtained a permit and had informed the police of our intentions and route), the Ottawa police unleashed intimidation, harassment and assault tactics on peaceful marchers.  Being in the crowd I was witness to the fact that there was ZERO inciting from the crowd; this was a one-sided assault on people with children and babies, people showing solidarity with the human rights issues.

The first tactic used as we left Lebreton flats came just before Albert street.  Cops in riot gear had set up in a staggered formation like checkers on a board, so that we found ourselves having to tentatively walk between cops armed to the teeth with paramilitary hardware.  The police said nothing during this period of time and it seemed clear that this was simply a demonstration of police force and intimidation.  I believe one arrest was made at that point while the rest of us were "allowed" to carry on with the march.

But not for long.  A few blocks later, at Albert and Laurier, the police suddenly thronged into the crowd.  I was at ground zero for this one and was directly in view of this attack.  I can safely tell you that this was a one-sided police attack with not a shred of hostility, verbal, or otherwise, from the crowd, which could have in any way have been interpreted as a danger for police.

Nevertheless, the police charged into the middle of the march, pushing myself and others away, and dragging out several people, placing them under arrest. There was by all means excessive force used in these arrests, where three or four officers in full riot gear refused to let anyone walk out by themselves, despite their pleas to do so.  Rather, the officers chose to drag people along the cold, hard pavement.  It was clear by who was being arrested that people wearing black were targeted, though there were exceptions: I remember one woman in her mid-forties, who was clearly absolutely baffled as to why she was being placed under arrest, mistaken or otherwise.  Police stood on people, crushing them into the ground, after they had been cuffed, even though there was no real struggle on the part of the arrestees.  Several officers surrounded the brutality, blocking the photographers' ability to easily gather the evidence.

A line of police in full riot gear and shields was formed in the middle of our march, dividing us east and west of Laurier along Albert.  Batons were out.  No reasons were ever given by the police, no notice was ever served that they saw reason to carry out these activities and no verbal communication with the crowd was ever attempted aside from warnings for people to get back from the sites of the arrests and arrestees.  As quickly as they came in, they retreated still without any explanation as to why they thought this activity to be necessary.

Needless to say, people were very shaken up by this unjustified sudden invasion into our peaceful march.  Families with children were in attendance and I saw parents having to cover-up, and/or run with their children to get away from police violence at what was supposed to be a non-violent demonstration.

All that day, as we marched, we were confronted by hostile gun-toting, gun-showing, baton weilding, dog-sicking police.  Police standing arm to arm along streets, full riot gear on, visors down, shields up and batons out, with dogs straining at their leashes to attack (on at least one occasion that day, an officer did sick his dog on a citizen who had his leg bitten to the bone).

The day before, Friday, standing at the human rights monument, listening to the Muslim Students Association, a cop fired off a gas canister out of the blue and we were shortly thereafter nearly surrounded by the police.  We had to call short our gathering at the human rights monument in favour of an escape from being boxed in by riot cops.  I don't think I even need to mention my anger and disappointment with the police that not even the human rights monument in the nation's capital is free from human rights violations and attacks from the police.

On Sunday, I went down to the courthouse to watch the hearings of those incarcerated during the weekend.  Instead I saw even further violations of our rights.

I walked into the courthouse only to be greeted by Constable E. Toste (Special Agent) who asked me what he could do for me.  I said I was coming to witness the hearings of the arrestees.  He asked me for identification.  When I produced it, he didn't even look at it.  Instead, he asked me if I was a lawyer.  I said no.  Then he told me that the hearings were closed.  I told him that I know for a fact that the process of justice is supposed to be an open one and that any Canadian citizen has the right to witness that process first-hand and so I had a legal right to witness the hearings.

He informed me that while that is usually the case, there was an exception being made today.  I got quite irate and questioned him as to where it said in any rights document that on November 18th, 2002, an exception would be made to our otherwise rights.  He was clearly not up to the challenge and refused to discuss the issue further with me, and ordered me out of the building.

I asked another officer, who was sitting in the driver's seat of an Ottawa police truck just to the south of the courthouse entrance, who was in charge of this operation.  He just said there were different operations and he didn't know who was in charge of securing the doors of the courthouse.  Nor did he do anything to find out or help me find out.

Not satisfied with this series of events, I phoned the Ottawa police.  I was referred to Staff Sgt. McQuad (sp?) who obfuscated further:

Me: Can you tell me who's in charge of keeping citizens out of the hearings at the courthouse today?  I would like to get in but I have been denied access. The officer at the door informed me that while I normally have the right to witness the process, I was being denied that right today.

Mc: No one's in charge.

Me: So the Ottawa police is an essentially anarchist organisation, these days?  I don't think so! Could you please tell who is giving the orders to keep citizens out of the courthouse?

Mc: I don't know who's giving the orders.

Me: Look, I know how these organisations work: there is a chain of command.  That chain of command is explicitly known.  That being said, I will ask you again...could you please tell me who is in charge of this operation?

Mc: The person giving orders is away.

Me: So this person is giving orders from their cottage?  Clearly they're in contact with the officers at the door, so they can't be too far away.

Mc: The person at the door's in charge.

Me: Listen, I don't feel we're getting anywhere with this.  I know you're able to find out who's in charge.  There must be someone I can speak to in this regard and I will stay on the line until we get this straightened out.

Mc: I can't help you.  Have a good day.

Click.

I was hung up on without ever being given the information I requested or even someone who might have that information.  This was the level of public accountability being delivered during that weekend.

I went back to the courthouse.  By this time a crowd of people had gathered at the door, asking similar questions to mine.  People wanted to know who was inside, and wanted to get in to witness the process.  The police refused to give accurate information on who, or even how many people had been arrested over the weekend.

One woman was very distraught because her husband had gone missing and the police would not tell her either way whether or not he was in her custody.  He needed medication and they were refusing to help her locate the man, to at least let her know whether he was arrested or abducted or lying injured somewhere, or what.  I felt this to be a severely cruel game as it obviously left her emotionally tortured.  Eventually they admitted that they had him in the holding cells at the police station, but they withheld that information and didn't even bother to look into it for quite some time.

Another woman, who described herself as a grandmother, was treated very derogatorily by Constable Toste, who refused to apologise and instead officer B. Watts apologised in his place.  People commented on the high school level maturity of a man who would insult a grandmother and then have his buddies apologise for him as he was too weak to do it himself.  This did not abate the crowd's growing distaste for the police activities at the courthouse.

We were told that only friends and family of the arrested would be allowed in the courthouse, but since they weren't telling us who was and was not arrested, this made for a confusing process.  We were not told who was arrested, but were asked abruptly if we were friends of family of the arrested.  The whole atmosphere was vested in this strange game the police were playing, of withholding rights and information, and then demanding an impossible compliance from a confused crowd of people who were asked to answer questions we were not given the information to properly answer.

Eventually a few busloads of riot police stormed the entrance, even though we were just milling about, trying to get answers to a lot of questions the police were intentionally not answering.  The police took over and filled the entire space underneath the stone roof held up by those two pillars.  A full phalanx of what must have been a hundred or more police to break up a peaceful, but perplexed crowd of questions.  Instead of answers, we got stalled until the riot cops could come and push us away from the courthouse altogether.

It seems that, not only were we not allowed into the courthouse that day, at times, we weren't even allowed on the property.  The police simply demonstrated the very erosion of the principles people were marching to defend, only underlining the need for more intense political action and focus to give us the rights we are told we have in a so-called democratic society.  The ultimate irony, being that the human rights monument and the courthouse, the "shrine of justice" were both key scenes in the removal of our rights and the denial of our justice that weekend.  Shame on the police for their woeful actions.  They owe the public not just an apology, but a promise and a demonstration that these violations of our rights will never happen again.  This means a public restructuring of the police whereby they become accountable to the people they are said to be protecting rather than attacking. The only way that this will happen is if the police review committees are citizen-run rather than police-run.  So long as the power to review and discipline remains rooted in the same organisation that commits the ill-deeds, these incidents of corruption of power, obfuscation of evidence and disclosure of events will continue to benefit the police and harm society.

Thank-you for your attention,

Sincerely,

Chris M. Nolan.