Montreal police arrest dozens in WTO protest

CTV.ca News Staff

 

Updated: Mon. Jul. 28 2003 12:30 PM ET

About 100 people were arrested in Montreal after store windows and cars in the downtown area were damaged by anti-globalization protesters trying to shut down a meeting of the World Trade Organization.

Early this morning, two groups of protesters tried to head to the Sheraton Hotel, where trade minister from about 25 countries will be meeting behind closed doors until Wednesday. The protesters were forced to regroup when they were blocked off by riot police.

Hundreds of demonstrators then headed to Ste-Catherine Street, where some hurled metal objects, such as billiard balls and hammers, through the windows of the Gap and Burger King outlets.

A Canadian Forces recruitment centre was also vandalized and some car windshields were smashed in.

Among those arrested was Jaggi Singh, a well-known Canadian activist, who has been arrested at several international trade meetings.

In an interview this morning with CTV's Canada AM, Singh said there would be a disruption, but that the demonstration is not about peace versus violence.

"It's about expressing ourselves in a way that is effective and that does justice to movements for social justice and dignity," he said.

"If you want to talk about violence, you should really be talking about the WTO and its policies that cause dispossession, that reinforce poverty -- those are profoundly, profoundly violent things."

On Sunday, about 1,000 activists held a peaceful protest in downtown Montreal in opposition to the meeting, titled "No one is Illegal."

The march was billed as a family-friendly event and unfolded peacefully under a heavy police presence. The issues varied from the Iraq war, refugee policies, and the lack of HIV/AIDS drugs in Africa.

The trade ministers are assessing progress made to date with a trade treaty known as the Doha Development Agenda. The talks are a run-up to a full-blown meeting of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico, in September.

The demonstrations are not expected to be as violent as those at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001.

With a report from The Canadian Press

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