Rocks, skin colour and Molotov cocktails were but some of the topics touched on yesterday as testimony began at the Quebec Superior Court trial of three activists accused of rioting.
Jaggi Singh, Christina Xydous and Jonathan Aspireault-Masse are charged in a disturbance on Oct. 23, 2000, in front of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Montreal, where finance ministers from G20 countries were meeting.
Xydous and Aspireault-Masse are represented by lawyer Pascal Lescarbeau, while Singh is defending himself.
In her opening statement to the jury, prosecutor Kathleen Caron said that rocks, graffiti, handfuls of asphalt and the Molotov cocktail were all part of the action that afternoon.
"This demonstration was organized," she said. "The Crown will prove that the accused participated in a riot."
At lunchtime, the three accused and Lescarbeau all spoke during a demonstration with about 20 supporters on the front steps of the courthouse.
Singh told them he suffers from some anxiety, given that he and his co-accused face up to two years in jail. But he said this is a political trial, brought by certain powers to silence opinions they don't like.
Lescarbeau told the group he's sure the nine women and three men who make up the jury will make a fine and impartial panel, but "it's deplorable" that Caron disqualified people such as teachers and writers during the jury selection.
Later, he acknowledged that it's rare for a lawyer to speak out in such fashion about cases that he or she is currently involved in. He noted he did not touch on the case itself.
In the afternoon, Det.-Lt. Pierre Morneau, one of the officers in charge Oct. 23, testified that things seemed so crazy at one point, he was scared and wanted to go inside.
Under cross-examination by Singh, he admitted that he first wrote his notes about the day on Sept. 4, 2001, nearly a year after the demonstration took place.
"That was perhaps an error on my part," he said.
At another point, Justice Jean-Guy Boilard interjected after Singh, speaking English, asked Morneau whether he'd understood correctly when the officer described him in French as having short dark hair, glasses and dark skin.
Boilard said there's a different sense attached to the word in French because it also means tanned.
"For example, I am tanned," he said.
Singh turned back to the witness.
"Is it your testimony then that I am just a darker version of Judge Boilard?" he asked as everyone in court, including the judge, erupted in laughter.
The trial continues today.
lfitterman@thegazette.canwest.com
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.