Witness Group to hold public meeting on G-8 activities in Ottawa
Ottawa, June 25, 2002 . . .The Witness Group will hold a public meeting within the first two weeks of July to brief the community on its observations of police interactions with marchers during G-8 protests in Ottawa. The exact date, time and location of the meeting will be announced soon. All members of the community will be welcome to attend the meeting.
The Witness Group participated in the June 22 march and Freedom Fair at Confederation Park, not as demonstrators but as observers to watch the behaviour of police as they interacted with protestors. The Group, which came together earlier this month out of concern over police behaviour during the November G-20 demonstrations in Ottawa in November 2001, hopes to ensure police accountability during G-8 protests in Ottawa this week. The group will also be attending G-8 protest activities on June 26 and 27. Witnesses have a strict mandate to observe police behaviour and not to interpose themselves in interactions between police and protestors.
“Generally we were very pleased with police interaction with marchers during events on Saturday, June 22. The police were professional and did not interfere with the marchers,” stated Witness Group spokesperson Aileen Leo.
“Having said this, we remain concerned by media reports of special detention facilities constructed specifically for marchers for events on June 26 and 27. Given existing detention facilities in Ottawa, we fail to understand why these special facilities are necessary,” Ms. Leo added.
As a way of increasing understanding and information about the activities of Witnesses, the group will post by June 26 a number of documents on its website, including selections from its Manual for Witnesses. The website address is: http://members.rogers.com/witnessgroup
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For further information, contact: Aileen Leo, telephone: (613) 237-3092; e-mail: akleo@eisa.ca, or witnessgroup@rogers.ca.
Protect the Right to Protest / Protegéons le droit de manifester