[wordup] Who watches the watchmen? Well, us, actually.

[Adam Shand]

Via: Brett Shand <bretts at earthlight...>
Source: http://iclysdale.livejournal.com/93676.html
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow

Who watches the watchmen? Well, us, actually.

In stories that I hope are going to spread around the blogosphere,  
and break in the media rather more extensively than they already  
have, and start a real debate on the use of this kind of tactics,  
this one is wonderful.

Within activist circles, people have been pretty much certain since  
Quebec City at least that at least a substantial number of the truly  
violent protesters who "mar" demonstrations are in fact undercover  
police provocateurs, based on a number of factors -- the fact that  
nobody ever knows who they are, that often people who have been seen  
instigating violent acts never have charges pressed against them, and  
that nebulous feel that can never quite be substantiated.

But at Montebello, they screwed up. Showing up at a peaceful union  
protest line with rocks, some of these goons were confronted by Dave  
Coles, president of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers  
Union, who insisted that this was a peaceful protest and they should  
leave. When they kept trying to push through to attack the cops, some  
actual anarchists showed up, saying that they recognized these  
people, and that they were police agents, at which point Coles  
started to question them, asking them to take off their masks for  
photos. Their reactions throughout this, all captured on video, are -  
to put it mildly - not what I would expect from any of the Black Bloc  
types I know. Finally, after chatting for a bit with the riot cops,  
they "charge" the police lines, and are promptly arrested -- but, as  
the CP stories linked at the top point out, no charges are laid  
against any of them.

But where it becomes truly, hilariously fishy is in the wonderful  
photos that my colleague Sebastien managed to take of them being  
arrested by the police, some of which have already started floating  
around the Internet. It's actually a little less clear in the version  
I've seen online than in the originals, but still visible -- the  
"protesters" being arrested are wearing (all three of them) exactly  
the same issue boots that the "police" arresting them are wearing;  
they've simply throwing some duct tape on them to make them look  
"anarchist chic." Particularly noticeable are the yellow triangles of  
the ANSI certification on all of the boots.

Edit: There's a really nice photo with zooming in that shows the  
identical sole patterns on the boots.

Coles and the CEP are holding a press conference this afternoon, and  
I'm really hoping that this becomes the story -- a state so afraid of  
legitimate, peaceful dissent that they will initiate violence that  
can be used to justify repression. So if there's anywhere on the Net  
that any of you can help spread this story to -- and it's already  
moving fairly quickly -- I'd deeply appreciate it.

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