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Report-back of Montreal Police Brotherhood picket

 
Montreal, November 19, 2008
 
On the afternoon of Wednesday, October 22, 2008 – the national day of protest to “Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation” in the United States – over 40 people attended a picket organised by the Justice for Anas Coalition at the offices of the Montreal Police Brotherhood. The purpose of the picket was two-fold: to denounce the legal proceedings initiated by the Brotherhood to cancel the coroner’s inquiry ordered last June into the circumstances surrounding Anas’ death and to re-iterate the Coalition’s demand for a full, public and independent inquiry into the death of Anas Bennis, supported by over 30 organisations. As a reminder, Anas was killed on the morning of December 1st, 2005, in the neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges, after being shot twice by police officer Yannick Bernier of the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
 
Despite the fact that this picket was widely announced as a family-friendly event, the SPVM went to great lengths to protect the Brotherhood, as well as to attempt to intimidate and alienate those attending the picket. Indeed, two of the St Joseph street exits of the Laurier metro (including the Gilford street exit, which faces the offices of the Montreal Police Brotherhood) were blocked; stops for five different bus lines were displaced (#14 Amherst, #27 St-Joseph, #46 Casgrain, #47 Masson and #51 Édouard-Montpetit); metal barricades were installed between the metro and Gilford street; police tape blocked off the streets in the perimeter surrounding the offices of the Brotherhood; dozens of police officers were present, including a van labelled cavalry, at least one police dog and officers on bikes! Two police officers, Julie Prince-Dagenais and Jean-Charles Leclerc, were part of a "mediation" team; meanwhile, at least two commanders, Line Blanchard et Stéphane Bélanger, from station 37 and 38, respectively, were also present. This was an exaggerated police response to say the least, and was reminiscent of the family-friendly demonstration held in Montreal-North last month (on October 11) to demand a public inquiry into the death of Fredy Villanueva, killed by bullets fired by SPVM officer Jean-Loup Lapointe on August 9, 2008.
 
In response to this massive and absurd police presence, we gathered in the small park at the corner of St Joseph and Berri streets. We categorically refused to allow ourselves to be enclosed in the small cordoned off area that the police had "reserved to demonstrate" on Gilford street, which would supposedly allow us to "see" the offices of the Brotherhood. The police affirmed that by doing so, they were not impinging on our freedom of speech... These tactics of the police back-fired, as we were allowed to be more visible to the numerous cars that were passing by on a busy street like St Joseph during rush hour. Hundreds of flyers explaining our presence were passed out to passers-by, while the "Justice pour Anas" banner remained markedly visible throughout.
 
Members of the Justice for Anas Coalition spoke to remind those present that it will soon be three years that the Bennis family has been waiting to find out the truth of what happened that morning on December 1st, 2005. Anas’ father, Mohamed Bennis, phoned from Morocco, where he resides, to express appreciation for the on-going support of so many people and to denounce the Police Brotherhood’s attempts to suppress the truth from becoming public by taking legal action to cancel the coroner’s inquiry. A member of the grassroots group St-Michel Mothers and Grandmothers for Life and Justice, which formed in the wake of Fredy Villanueva’s death, spoke to express their support to the Bennis family and the Justice for Anas Coalition. A member of another grassroots group Montréal-Nord Républik, which also formed after the death of Fredy, spoke about the connections between what happened to Fredy Villanueva and Anas Bennis. The demands of this group include a public inquiry into the death of Fredy, as well as an end to racial profiling, police abuse and impunity.
 
On the eve of the picket, the Justice for Anas Coalition had organised a press conference which featured Alain Arsenault (the Bennis family lawyer), Robert-Philippe de Massy (a lawyer working with the Ligue des droits et libertés), Dan Philip of the Black Coalition of Quebec and a member of the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP). Arsenault denounced the "cronyism" and the "solidarity" between the different police forces. Indeed, as part of its now infamous legal action to cancel the coroner’s inquiry based on the argument that it would be “useless”, the Police Brotherhood filed a copy of the report of the Quebec City police and of the decision of the Crown prosecutor, James Rondeau, who had decided not to file criminal charges against officers Bernier and Jonathan Roy (both of whom were involved in Anas’ death). Disturbingly, these documents were never made public in the past, nor were they fully disclosed to the Bennis family, under pretext that they were “confidential”.
 
This brings up troubling questions: how did the Montreal Police Brotherhood obtain copies of these documents, in full, when their disclosure to the family has been consistently refused. And, under what authority does the Brotherhood allow itself to now make the documents public, while the Quebec Ministries of Public Security and of Justice have always maintained that they had to remain confidential? Of note, the Quebec Minister of Public Security and of Justice, Jacques Dupuis, has never wanted to reply to the questions of the Bennis family, nor has he called for a public inquiry into this matter, which would have helped shed light about what really happened that morning.
 
The legal action of the Montreal Police Brotherhood will be heard in Superior Court on January 29, 2009, at 9AM, in room 2,16 at the Palais de Justice (1 Notre-Dame East, Champs de Mars metro).
 
The Justice for Anas Coalition has 3 main demands:
  1. the immediate release of all reports, evidence and information concerning the death of Anas Bennis to the Bennis family and to the public;
  2. a full, public and independent inquiry into the death of Anas Bennis;
  3. an end to police brutality and impunity.
 
 
Relevant links:
-Photo-essay of the picket will soon be available on CMAQ (www.cmaq.net)
-More information on the October 22nd Coalition and the National day of protest to “Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation” in the United States: www.october22.org