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Reports on Quebec City Globalization Protests

* Leaders Hunker Down Amid Summit Protests By Saul Hudson
* Protesters Seize Day In Quebec By Dana Milbank
* ZNet Update - Quebec Day One Report By Judy Rebick
* The Police Kidnapping of Jaggi Singh by Naomi Klein
* Water Cannons and Dogs, but the Support of the Community by Mojo
* Activists in Quebec Show Evolution of an Opposition By Robin Wright
* Police and protesters exchange tear gas as violence rocks Quebec City again
by Jennifer Ditchburn and Alexander Panetta
* 68,000 March In Quebec
===================================================================
Leaders Hunker Down Amid Summit Protests
By Saul Hudson
Reuters

QUEBEC CITY (April 21) - Western Hemisphere leaders hunkered down on
Saturday to discuss free trade behind a security fence that was under attack from
rock-throwing protesters determined to further disrupt their Quebec City
summit.

Defying riot police who repeatedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas at
them, the anti-globalization foot soldiers created a siege-like atmosphere by
massing at several points of the perimeter fence erected to protect the 34
leaders at the Summit of the Americas.

Eye-stinging tear gas floated through the sealed-off zone in the historic
city and entered venue building vents, reminding the presidents and prime
ministers that violence marring major summits has become as predictable as
their closing statements.

Hardened by battles that derailed such events as the 1999 world trade talks
in Seattle, masked militants dressed in black fought into the early hours of
Saturday with helmeted police carrying shields.

They threw burning rolls of toilet paper inside the fence as battles flared
sporadically less than half a mile from where leaders, including U.S.
President George W., Bush were staying.

For about an hour on Friday, they breached the 10-foot-high chain link fence
embedded in concrete, forcing a 90-minute delay to the summit's opening
ceremony, where the key issue was the proposed creation of the world's
largest trade area.

Thousands of demonstrators, ranging from avowed peaceniks to hard-core
anarchists, have crowded into the French Canadian city to protest a proposed
pact to create by the end of 2005 a free trade area from Alaska to
Patagonia.

In contrast with the protesters, who threw rocks, bottles and hockey pucks,
hippy-like demonstrators ignored the violence and, remaining at the
front-line, danced, played drums and gently batted a large beach-ball over
the heads of militants.

FREE TRADE IS FAIR TRADE?

Police said they arrested 28 people and five officers were injured, mainly
in clashes at the metal fence that snakes for 4 miles around summit venues and
has been dubbed the ''wall of shame'' by protesters.

The prospect of the free trade zone embracing 800 million people has
galvanized a generation of activists, as the Vietnam War and nuclear arms
did previously. They say it is designed to benefit big corporations, not Latin
America's poor.

While the Friday-to-Sunday summit will officially discuss trade for only a
scheduled 30 minutes, the protesters have shoved the issue to the top of the
popular agenda and prompted leaders to defend their proposal.

Bush, who has declared himself an aggressive free trader, will address the
summit's first working session on Saturday. After Friday's violence, which
upset his timetable for meetings with regional leaders, he said the
protesters were wrong.

''Trade not only helps spread prosperity, but trade helps spread freedom
....,'' he told reporters. ''We need trade.''

Summit host, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, said in his opening
speech: ''I welcome those who have come to Quebec City to make known their
views on how best to advance the social and economic interest of our fellow
citizens. But violence and provocation is unacceptable in a democracy.''
===================================================================
Protesters Seize Day In Quebec

Trade Foes Tear Gassed At Summit of Americas

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 21, 2001; Page A01

QUEBEC CITY, April 20 -- President Bush and 33 other Western
Hemisphere leaders seeking to build the world's largest
free-trade zone opened a summit meeting today as clouds of
tear gas and violent demonstrations played havoc with
schedules and delayed meetings.

Bush remained holed up in his hotel as the summit's opening
ceremonies were delayed more than an hour. He was forced to
cancel one meeting and postpone or abbreviate others because
the movements of heads of state around Quebec City were
hampered by the anti-globalization protests.

"If they are protesting because of free trade, I'd say I
disagree," Bush said. "I think trade is very important to
this hemisphere. Trade not only helps spread propserity but
trade helps spread freedom."

In the lobby of the Loews Hotel, confusion reigned, as Bush
aides scrambled to keep track of the changing schedule while
watching the riots on television. Colombian President Andres
Pastrana waited out the delays in the cocktail lounge.

Bush departed Washington this morning hoping to use the
Summit of the Americas to boost his push for "trade
promotion authority," or fast-track negotiating authority,
which would allow him to negotiate trade agreements that
Congress could only approve or reject, not rewrite.

Bush would use that power to negotiate a 34-nation Free
Trade Area of the Americas by 2005 -- a goal made difficult
by foot-dragging in Brazil and opposition in Congress.
Setting the countries on track toward that objective is the
main business of this summit

On the South Lawn of the White House, Bush made an appeal
for domestic support for free trade in the hemisphere by
citing its importance to Hispanics, an increasingly
influential voting segment.

"Many Americans trace their heritage to other parts of the
Americas, which enriches our culture," he said. "Many
American businesses are finding growth and trade in the
Americas, which expands our economy. And all Americans have
an interest in the peace and stability of our closest
neighbors."

"We must approach this goal in a spirit of civility," he
said.

In Quebec City today, however, there was very little
civility as police and demonstrators clashed a half mile
from the convention center where the summit was convening.

There were few reports of arrests or injuries, but the
demonstrators partially achieved their goal of disrupting
events.

The center of the city remained tense tonight, with very
little traffic and officers in military fatigues stationed
on most corners.

The authorities had sealed off the city center with fences
and concrete barricades, but demonstrators breached the
barricades in places.

The participating nations were determined to avoid a repeat
of the disturbances that marred the 1999 meeting of the
World Trade Organization in Seattle, but the summit's first
day was badly disrupted.

>From Washington today came an announcement that some
protesters might welcome.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced that the
Bush administration will subject future trade agreements to
environmental reviews.

The decision, which could ease some objection to trade pacts
in the United States, affirms an executive order issued by
President Clinton.

It is the latest in a string of pro-environment decisions by
the Bush administration, which had been stung by
environmentalists' anger caused by earlier, pro-business
decisions.

"Environmental reviews are an important policy tool for
involving the public in the development of the U.S.
government's trade objectives and policies," Zoellick's
office said in a statement.

The president, who watched the protests on television,
canceled a meeting with 15 Caribbean heads of state because
many of the leaders couldn't make it to the Loews Concord
Hotel where Bush was to host them.

A meeting of Andean national leaders started 20 minutes late
and without Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
and Bolivian President Hugo Banzer Suarez.

Only three of seven Central American leaders arrived close
to schedule for a meeting with Bush, which had to be
delayed.

Even without the demonstrations, the summit was not shaping
up as an easy one.

Cardoso of Brazil set a tough tone in a speech at the
opening session, underlining his country's reluctance to
join a free-trade accord with the U.S.

"We will insist that free-trade benefits should be equally
shared by all participants, that trade opening should be
reciprocal and that it should lead to the attenuation rather
than the aggravation of the disparities that exist in our
region," Cardoso said.

FTAA would be "welcome," Cardoso said, if it included
changes in member nations' rules on dumping, the sale of
foreign products at illegal prices, and if it included a
number of other elements Brazil is seeking to open markets
for its agricultural exports.

"Otherwise, it would be irrelevant or, worse, undesirable,"
he said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was also critical. Since
the concept of a free trade zone was endorsed at a summit in
Miami in 1994, he said, "we have advanced very little --
almost not at all -- in the social objectives."

Accompanied by his wife, Laura, Secretary of State Colin L.
Powell and several top aides, Bush was greeted on arrival by
a Canadian military band.

Bush arrived early for a meeting with Canadian Prime
Minister Jean Chretien, and the two posed for the cameras.

When Chretien declared that they wouldn't be taking
questions, Bush added: "Neither in French nor in English nor
in Mexican."

Meeting with the Central American leaders, aides said, Bush
reiterated his opposition to the Kyoto treaty on global
warming, telling them it "could do serious harm to the U.S.
economy." As an alternative, a senior administration
official said, Bush is pursuing "various international
processes to work toward a new and innovative approach based
upon market-based incentives, new technologies and
cooperatively working together."
===================================================================
ZNet Update - Quebec Day One Report
April 20, 2001

Quebec: Day One
By Judy Rebick

It's not easy to upstage the opening of meeting with 34 leaders
including U.S. President George Bush. Despite what seemed like
endless volleys of tear gas, mostly peaceful protesters came back
again and again to Rene Levesque Boulevard in Quebec City to
face down the police and in so doing captured the attention of world
media.

The battle lasted almost two hours as police chased demonstrators
off the plateau with heavy use of tear gas and demonstrators came
back after recovering from the stinging pain in their eyes and throats.
The most poignant moment was a sit down of about 20
people, flashing peace signs in the midst of a fog of tear gas.

Most media attention is on the perimeter breach and it was an
impressive action. First a few then more climbed up the chain-link,
surrounded the center of the city to protect the Summit of the Americas,
and in a rocking action pushed it down. By my watch it took less than
five minutes for the hated fence to come down. The amazing thing was
that only about 100 people rushed through the fence. The rest held back.
It was the protesters not the police who controlled the crowd. I was
astounded at the discipline. There were ten or twenty people out of
about 3,000 throwing stones and bottles. In the march that wound its
way along 6 miles from Laval University to the perimeter, these were
the Black Bloc. While the rest of the protest was noisy and colourful,
they were somber, solemn, dressed all in black, several armed with
sticks and stones and masked from the beginning of the march.

No doubt there will be debates about the Black Bloc tactics. The
creativity of the other demonstrators were lost in the confrontation.
One group calling itself the Medieval Bloc had built a 20- foot catapult
and managed to maneuver it up to police lines. Then they hurled three
stuffed toys into the police. One woman dressed as the Statue of
Liberty walked all the way from Laval on stilts. Another group of women
calling themselves "The Dandelions" wore T-shirts with painted slogans
like "the persistent radical blossom that will always bloom." A young
man painted his T-shirt with the phrase, "It's hard to hit a movement
target."

Once the perimeter went down, all attention was on the intensity
of the confrontation. And it was intense. This was the red/yellow
march. That means there was a high chance of confrontation with the
police. As demonstrators approached the perimeter, marshals announced
that people wanting a green (safe) zone should turn left. No one did.
Thousands approached the perimeter. They ran when the tear gas exploded
but they came back, time after time for two hours.

One of the most extraordinary developments on Friday was the
formation of a Canadian Labour Movement affinity group. Affiliates of
the Canadian Labour Congress formally decided to join the direct action.

Friday was the direct action day. Today Saturday is to be the
mass action day. But more than 5,000 people showed up at Laval
University for the march to the perimeter knowing that it would almost
certainly lead to confrontation with the police.

There have been long debates about what should happen today when
an estimated 40,000 people are expected to join the People's March of
the Americas. Organizers of today's march have decided to march away
from the perimeter they say for safety reasons. With so many people
involved and the narrow streets of this beautiful old city, people could
get trapped against the wall and hurt.

Others have argued that it is politically wrong to avoid the
perimeter fence, which has become a hated symbol of the reduction of
public space that free trade is inflicted upon us. What likely will
happen is once the main march is over a group will split off and march
to the wall.

Organizers of the People's Summit are upset about Friday's
action. They feel it brings discredit down on the movement . But it
seems to me that it is direct confrontation with the police that has
drawn so many youth into the struggle against anti-democratic trade
deals.

It is true that there have been many important developments in
Quebec City for the movement against free trade. For the first time,
civil society across the Americas has agreed on a single political
statement and a common strategy (pushing for a continental referendum
and referendum in every country ) to fight the FTAA (Free Trade Area of
the Americas). The importance of this development cannot be
overestimated. Up until a few years ago, the Latin American labor
movement favoured free trade. But the impact of NAFTA on Mexico,
further impoverishing the Mexican working class, has persuaded them to
join the anti-free trade forces.

Organizers of the People's Summit feel that the violence of the
direct action diverts attention from their hard won gains. But as the
saying goes, this is what democracy looks like. In a real mass
movement, no one can control what happens. There are always
differences. The trick, it seems to me, is to debate the differences
but not get diverted or divided by them.
===================================================================
Naomi Klein on the Police Kidnapping of Jaggi Singh
Published on Saturday, April 21, 2001 in the Toronto Globe & Mail

Even the Green Zone Wasn't a Safe Haven
by Naomi Klein

QUEBEC -- Where are you," I screamed from my cellphone into his.
There was a pause and then, "A Green Zone -- St. Jean and St. Claire."
Green Zone is protest speak for an area free of tear gas or police
clashes. There are no fences to storm, only sanctioned marches. Green
Zones are safe, you're supposed to be able to bring your kids to them.
"Okay," I said. "See you in 15 minutes."

I had barely put on my coat when I got another call: "Jaggi's been
arrested. Well, not exactly arrested. More like kidnapped." My first
thought was that it was my fault: I had asked Mr. Singh to tell me his
whereabouts over a cellphone. Our call must have been monitored,
that's how they found him.

If that sounds paranoid, welcome to Summit City.

Less than an hour later, at the Comité Populaire St-Jean Baptiste
community centre, a group of six swollen-eyed eyewitnesses read me their
hand-written accounts of how the most visible organizer of yesterday's direct
action protest against the free-trade area of the Americas was snatched from
under their noses. All say Mr. Singh was standing around talking to friends,
urging them to move further away from the breached security fence. They all
say he was trying to de-escalate the police standoff.

"He said it was getting too tense," said Mike Staudenmaier, a U.S.
activist who was talking to Mr. Singh when he was grabbed from behind, then
surrounded by three large men.

"They were dressed like activists," said Helen Nazon, a 23-year-old from
Quebec City, with hooded sweatshirts, bandannas on their faces, flannel
shirts, a little grubby. "They pushed Jaggi on the ground and kicked him.
It was really violent."

"Then they dragged him off," said Michele Luellen. All the witnesses
told me that when Mr. Singh's friends closed in to try to rescue him, the
men dressed as activists pulled out long batons, beat back the crowd and
identified themselves: "Police!" they shouted. Then they threw him into a
beige van and drove off. Several of the young activists have open cuts
where they were hit.

Three hours after Mr. Singh's arrest, there was still no word of where
he was being held.

Throwing activists into unmarked cars and nabbing them off streets is
not supposed to happen in Canada. The strange thing is that, in Jaggi
Singh's short career as an antiglobalization activist, it has happened to
him before -- during the 1997 protests against the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation summit.

The day before the protests took place, Mr. Singh was grabbed by two
plainclothes police officers while walking alone on the University of
British Columbia campus, thrown to the ground, then stuffed into an
unmarked car.

The charge, he later found out, was assault. Mr. Singh had apparently
talked so loudly into a megaphone some weeks before that it had hurt the
eardrum of a nearby police officer.

The charge, of course, was later dropped, but the point was clearly to
have Mr. Singh behind bars during the protest, just as he will no doubt be
in custody for today's march. He faced a similar arrest at the G-20 summit
in Montreal.

In all of these bizarre cases, Jaggi Singh has never been accused of
vandalism, of planning or plotting violent actions. Anyone who has seen him
at the barricades, crumbling or otherwise, knows that his greatest crime is giving
good speeches.

That's why I was on the phone with Mr. Singh minutes before his arrest
-- trying to persuade him to come to the Peoples' Summit teach-in that I was
co-hosting to tell the crowd of 1,500 what was going on in the streets.

He had agreed, but then determined it was too difficult to cross the
city.

I can't help thinking the fact that this young man has been treated as a
terrorist, repeatedly and with no evidence, might have something to do with
his brown skin, and the fact that his last name is Singh. No wonder his friends
say that this supposed threat to the state doesn't like to walk alone at night.

After collecting all the witness statements, the small crowd begins to
leave the community centre to attend a late-night planning meeting. In an
instant, the halls are filled with red-faced people, their eyes streaming with tears,
frantically looking for running water.

The tear gas has filled the street outside the centre, and has entered
the corridors. "This is no longer a Green zone! Les flics (the police) s'en
viennent!" So much for making it to my laptop at the hotel.

Denis Belanger, who was kind enough to let me use the community centre's
rickety PC to write this column, notices that the message light is flashing
on the phone. It turns out that the police have closed in the entire area, no one
is getting out.

"Maybe I'll spend the night," Mr. Belanger said. Maybe I will too.

===================================================================
Water cannons and dogs, but the support of the community
http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8104&group=webcast

by Mojo
Fri Apr 20 '01

The largest contingent from DC (perhaps) that has driven up to Quebec today
had its first wild and inspiring experience of resistance in the city, on
the eve of the opening of the summit.

Groupings are coded into red, yellow, and green contingents, depending on
the level of direct action that each is planning. Today there was a
convergence of two large marches, consisting of yellow and red contingents
(as has been reported elsewhere). This march of thousands ended up at the
fence (the barricade) around the perimeter, where the protestors began to
call for to bring down the wall, so to speak.

This was accomplished in little time, the fence being torn down, masses of
people streamed into the cordoned off area . By this time, police had
amassed (in riot gear with shields of course) and began firing tear gas, but
not charging at the protestors. In a short matter of time, however, they did
charge, but rather hastily retreated - a tactic they practiced over and
over - all the while firing tear gas.

Later, I heard but did not see that the cops inside the perimeter brought
out dogs, which hey did not unleash but held at bay in a display of force.

What I did see were the very large police vehicles that they brought in to
disperse us after a number of us had moved down a block away from the
perimeter (the tear gas being rather thick and affecting people). Masses
were still gathered at this intersection when two enormous police trucks
rolled in, equipped with water cannons, which they proceeded to fire at the
protestors. Protestors responded by actually breaking the windows of one of
the trucks.

I've also heard that the cops fired tear gas in residential areas, which
will only serve to rile up more people and increase our numbers in the streets.
The support of the community here is overwhelmingly with the protests and
against the FTAA and residents generally seem to perceive the FTAA as
American imperialism, at least in part.

More action continues as I write, and will continue. For an outsiders
perspective, this city seems to be a very poor venue choice for the Summit,
much like Seattle in '99.
===================================================================
Activists in Quebec Show Evolution of an Opposition
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/updates2/lat_oppose010421.htm

Protests: The myriad groups and individuals clashing
with police are united not as foes of globalization
but as objectors to its human cost.

By ROBIN WRIGHT, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, April 21, 2001

QUEBEC CITY--One is a young cellist whose long blond hair cascades
over preppy attire. Another is a professor of Native American studies. A
third is a septuagenarian engineer who claims he can still do a 5K race
in less than 20 minutes. A fourth is a college junior majoring in
consumer affairs who drove up with friends from Vermont.

And about 150 others, all clad alike in black trousers, shirts, caps
and kerchiefs over their mouths, refused to say who they are, where
they're from, what they do or what they think. They're the anarchists.

These are among the melange of individuals and groups who have come
from almost three dozen countries to this romantic 17th century city on
the St. Lawrence River to protest the planned creation of the world's
largest and most ambitious trade bloc.

Once again, as at the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in
Seattle, their demonstrations Friday erupted into confrontations with
police. Tear gas and smoke bombs filled Quebec City's streets for a few
hours, threatening to overshadow this weekend's Summit of the Americas of
34 nations of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

The images were familiar, but the opposition has evolved over the
past decade, even over the past two years. The vast majority of the
groups today oppose violence and actually favor international trade and
investment--even globalization.

"The movement has evolved a great deal since 1990, when we were
labeled protectionists. We're more sophisticated now. We're no longer
opposed to a free-trade agreement," said John Cavanagh, director of the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and one of the opposition
organizers in Quebec City.

"Now we have developed our own detailed alternative. And now we want
a dialogue, not a confrontation."

What motivates the myriad opposition forces to travel across
countries and continents isn't the way the new Free Trade Area of the
Americas proposes to open commerce among all the nations of the
hemisphere, save Cuba. What alienates them is that they think the
implementation will be heartless.

"No country can nor should remain isolated from the global economy,"
declares the opposition's platform, called "Alternatives for the
Americas." "The issue for us is not one of free trade versus protection
or integration versus isolation, but whose rules will prevail and who
will benefit from those rules. Any form of economic integration among our
nations must serve first and foremost to promote equitable and
sustainable development for all of our peoples."

The other noticeable difference is the movement's size. In the early
1990s, the opposition to a regional free-trade agreement brought together
groups from three countries--the United States, Canada and Mexico. Today,
the opposition represents about 45 million people in hundreds of groups
from northern Canada to southern Chile. Even little Aruba has some
dissidents in Quebec City.

"This is the launching of a hemispheric social alliance," said
Cavanagh.

The diversity of the opposition assembled here was reflected in how
the first incident of unrest erupted. It followed a march from Laval
University by about 2,500 predominantly young people. It was peaceful,
almost festive. Horns tooted. Banners showed pictures of the Earth with
the words "Not for Sale" underneath.

Most of the marchers--dressed in overalls, boots, old fatigues--were
reminiscent of earlier protest movements. A young couple pushed
go-cart-size military tanks crafted from cardboard and painted pink with
yellow flowers. "Ours are harmless," the young woman said. At several
junctures, the youths shouted rounds of "So-so-so-solidarity."

They are in solidarity only in their opposition to the FTAA,
however. The small group of anarchists with CLAC, the French initials for
the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, carried big black banners calling for a
"revolutionary offensive."

The march ended at the concrete and wire mesh barrier erected around
the summit area to protect the 34 heads of state. The youths in black
were able to breach it. Just as notable, however, was that at least
two-thirds of the crowd had peeled off before the confrontation.

"There are different degrees of radicals and anarchists," explained
the cellist, Rebecca, who supports a nonviolent, feminist group with the
misleading name Blood Sisters.

"I don't like the idea of a world controlled by the values of
corporations. And I don't feel the needs of the majority of people are
given any serious consideration by the new trade agreement. But I'm not
into violence, and I don't agree with all the people in this crowd," she
said.

Another protest involved a wide array of trade unionists,
environmentalists and social activists. They have spent most of their
time here at what amounts to a teach-in. In a large white tent outside
the summit barrier, they listened to lectures and discussed how to
promote gender rights, international labor standards, health care and
access to education.

Among them was Dick Troy, the septuagenarian with a gray ponytail
and a top hat, who came from Toronto with a coalition called Mobilization
for Global Justice--or "Mobs for Glob," its nickname and Web site. Its
members filled 19 buses.

"I'm here to make a statement about protecting the environment . . .
and preventing trade that has no conscience," he said.

Troy and several hundred other activists marched around the summit's
so-called Wall of Shame. They shouted a lot and demanded inclusion in the
summit process, but their confrontation lingered for hours as little more
than a standoff.
===================================================================
Police and protesters exchange tear gas as violence rocks Quebec City again

<http://www.nationalpost.com/news/updates/story.html?f=/news/updates/stories
/20010420/national-792025.html>

by JENNIFER DITCHBURN AND ALEXANDER PANETTA
Canadian Press

QUEBEC (CP) - Police and hundreds of protesters fought a running battle for
several hours Saturday, with tear gas, Molotov cocktails and plastic bottles full
of pebbles flying over a security barricade. Some demonstrators dressed in
black used wire- cutters on the metal fence set up to protect 34 world leaders
who continued meeting at the Summit of the Americas just a few hundred
metres from the chaos.

Helicopters swirled overhead as protesters lit bonfires in garbage cans and
on the ground along the heavily guarded perimeter. The second consecutive
day of violence to rock Quebec City contrasted sharply with a simultaneous
peaceful protest involving an estimated 30,000 people. The figure was given
by police. Organizers said up to 60,000 people took part. Authorities said
that, as of late Saturday afternoon, about 150 people had been arrested
since Friday.

Fifty-seven protesters and 34 police officers had been injured. The political
leaders, including Prime Minister Jean Chretien and U.S. President George
W. Bush, continued their free-trade talks as police used powerful water cannons to
prevent some demonstrators from getting any closer to the summit site.
Chretien, speaking at a late-afternoon news conference as the violence
continued nearby, called the summit a "great success."
"We had a very good meeting," Chretien said.

"There was a big parade today, a very peaceful one. . . .We knew there was
to be some people who were to come and try to stop us."

Earlier, some people were flung on the concrete at the security perimeter
like rag dolls as they tried to pull down part of the three-metre-high
chain-link barricade with a rough rope pulley.

They succeeded in trashing a big strip of the fence running along a
cemetery where they . But riot police moved in to keep people back.
Some of those in the heat of the battle Saturday were dressed in black -
the preferred fashion of the Black Bloc, an anarchist group that has been
blamed for violence at previous international trade meetings.

But those taking part in the melee were outnumbered by those who
participated in the peaceful protest.

Chantal Castonguay wondered why people feel the need to turn violent in
such protests.

"It's a different way to express yourself but I don't think you have to be
violent to make yourself understood," said Castonguay.

Despite the mayhem, most of the protesters near the perimeter were
peaceful. A crowd sat down at one point, clapping and flashing peace signs
while others tossed bricks and bottles at police.

"What are you doing?" one shouted. "You're only hurting our guys. Wake up!"
In another part of the city, a man had his car daubed with graffiti in the
form of $ signs. The man, who was inside the vehicle as people stomped on
it, yelled "I'm a member of the NDP." They didn't get down right away.
Many in the crowd in the heart of the old city carried anti-capitalist
banners and flags of the former Soviet Union.

"I think the police are having a lot of fun," said Jude Lee of Montreal.
"The protesters are mostly calm but it seems like these guys spent so much
money and have to prove something."
Said another demonstrator: "This is a police state. Let's get together in
force."

Several of those arrested late Friday and early Saturday were arraigned on
a variety of charges, including participating in a riot, obstructing the
work of police officers and wearing a disguise.

Assault and weapons charges were also laid against some.
The latest violence came as Bush, Chretien and other leaders kicked off
talks on creating the largest free-trade zone in the world by emphasizing
the benefits of liberalized trade.

Chretien promised that the views of civic groups - many of whom worry that
globalization and free trade will hurt social programs, labour rights and the
environment - will be accommodated.

"They have been heard and engaged," said the prime minister. "The result of
these exchanges will be reflected in the plan of action."

Away from the skirmishes Saturday, the thousands of labour unionists and
their families marched peacefully, chanting and flying banners. Several federal
NDP and Bloc MPs joined in.

NDP Leader Alexa McDonough said the symbol of the barricade attracts
violence.

"Unfortunately, I think there are a tiny number or anarchists who always
know they can attract the cameras if they engage in totally violent hostile
activities.

"But if people are going to be truthful, people in Canada will be told that
tens of thousands of demonstrators have come together in solidarity to
fight for a more humane society."

Chretien and Bush acknowledged there are widespread fears about the effects
of an enlarged free trade zone.
But Bush sent a signal that he may be ready to battle Canada and several
other countries who will insist on the inclusion of environment and labour
standards in any new trade pact.

"These concerns must not be an excuse for self-defeating protectionism,"
said the U.S. president. Both leaders spoke about the importance of
protecting democracy and the independence of institutions like the
judiciary.

The countries are expected to adopt a so-called democracy clause to ensure
member nations continue to support general freedoms.

Chretien, host of the third summit meeting of hemispheric countries, said
democracies face a "crisis of legitimacy and relevancy."

"Declining voter turnout at election time is but one indication," said
Chretien, whose election last fall attracted just 63 per cent of eligible
voters.

"The challenge we all face as leaders is how we steer our government agenda
back to the most critical problems facing our citizens."
The U.S. president referred to Cuba when he told his 33 hemispheric
counterparts that he looks forward to the day that all countries in the
Americas are included in the summit and any future trade deal.
"We have a great vision before us - a fully democratic hemisphere bound
together by goodwill and free trade," Bush said. "That's a tall order. It's
a chance of a lifetime.

"This is not the time to grow timid or weary . . . We will inspire the
world by our example."
===================================================================
68,000 March In Quebec

Listen to the people

<http://www.newswire.ca/releases/April2001/22/c6869.html>

Sixty-eight thousand march peacefully in Quebec as thousands join them
across the county

OTTAWA, April 22 /CNW/ - Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti
today joined with the leadership of the Canadian labour movement in
congratulating Canadians for making their voices heard this weekend. Sixty-
eight thousand people, most from the labour movement, gathered to
peacefully march through the streets of Quebec on Saturday. Thousands of
others took part in solidarity events in communities right across the
country.

"Whether you marched with labour, with students, with women, with
environmental or anti-poverty activists, or on your own, your voice was
heard," said Georgetti. "By working together, we've changed the debate.
We've demonstrated that our government does not have a mandate to pursue a
trade agreement that ignores the human, social and environmental demands of
the people."

According to a poll released by the CLC at the alternative People's Summit
of the Americas, one in five Canadians wanted to be in Quebec City last
week on the side of the protesters. The poll also found that a vast
majority - 90 per cent - of Canadians expect Parliament to debate and hold
public hearings on the final text of any new trade agreement. Seventy-four
per cent would favour a national referendum before anything is signed.
"Canadians want to be part of the decision-making," said Georgetti. "The
fact that the Summit of the Americas ended today with the working text of
that trade deal still unknown to all but a few people - most of whom are
unelected and unaccountable - is downright offensive."

The Canadian Labour Congress intends to keep up the fight for fair trade by
working with labour movements from throughout the hemisphere. Tomorrow, CLC
representatives will be in Washington at a meeting of the ORIT, the
international body for labour organizations in the Americas.

"We will be planning collective hemispheric action to ensure that the
voices of working families prevail against an agenda that is now only
concerned with corporate profit," says CLC Vice President Hassan Yussuff.
The Canadian Labour Congress is the country's central labour body,
representing over 2.3 million workers and their families.
Mr. Georgetti will be in Ottawa on the morning of Monday April 23, 2001.
-----------
For further information:Jeff Atkinson, CLC Communications, (613) 526-7425
or (613) 292-1413 (cell); Jean Wolff, CLC Communications, (613) 526-7431 or
(613) 798-6040 (cell)