A-Infos (en) Paris demo at Canadian embassy (fr)

[Patrick Borden <bazarov@login.net>]

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Montreal, 6 February 1998

	Le Comité des Sans-Logis (Committe of the Homeless) and other French
activist groups gathered at the Canadian embassy in Paris, February 5th, to
demonstrate their support for the Montreal activists arrested at the Queen
Elizabeth Hotel last December.
	In the original action, December 3rd, 1997, a commando of 20 militants
raided the hotel's buffet and gave the food to those gathered at the
demonstration.  The action was called to draw attention to the growing
problem of hunger in Montreal.  All 108 people present at the demo were
arrested and spent twelve to twenty hours in jail.  Fourty-eight have been
charged with mischief, theft and conspiracy.  The Paris demo was timed to
coincide with the first pretrial hearings.
	The activists were greeted at the embassy, a destination they had
announced in advance, by a full complement of police.  As they remarked,
"the police don't seem to understand that when we announce our destination
ahead of time, it's because we don't intend to stage an occupation.  Their
response is inapproriate."
	Shortly after their arrival, a commisioner from the embassy informed them
that a delegation of five people would be allowed in.
	The French activists put several points to the press secretary who
recieved them.  They called attention to the disproportionate level of
repression
of the action, remarking that, while having participated in several hundred
actions, they had never once been held more than four hours by the French
police, nor been hancuffed while held in the paddy wagon.
	They also consider the charges to be rather extreme.  To lay charges of
conspiracy for a symbolic action shows the inability of the police to
distinquish between a real crime and a demonstration.  The Parisian
activists told the attache of several hundred similar actions they had
conducted, not one of which had been criminally repressed.
	Further attention was drawn to the abuse of the rights of the accused,
specifically the bail conditions prohibiting the activists from
participating in demonstrations or associating with their co-accused.
(These conditions were recently struck down by the Quebec Superior Court.)
	Given the high level of public support for the movement of the unemployed
in France and the cultural links between France and Quebec the activists
asked the attache to see what could be done to withdraw the charges.  The
attache, Mr Boulet, replied that it was not within his power to influence a
trial in progress but he would forward a report to those in high places in
Canada that same evening.
	The activists also reported, with a wink, that shortly after their arrival
they were fed coffee, chocolates and all the salmon sandwiches they could
eat.  Could it be that the embassy staff were afraid they would raid the
kitchen?

-- Article by Patrick Borden, adapted from a report by Jacques Belin, 
Comité des Sans-Logis / 3-5 rue d'Aligre 75012 PARIS / FRANCE
Tel  : 33+ 1 40 19 98 83   / e-mail : cdsl@altern.org



This article may be reprinted with acknowledgment of Direct Action Media
Network (DAMN) as it's source.



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