A self-described anarchist yesterday called on the law to serve as a basis for his acquittal on a charge of participating in a riot, saying he was targeted for arrest by police at the G20 protest in downtown Montreal more than two years ago.
In final arguments before a Quebec Superior Court jury, Jaggi Singh said Montreal police arrested him by using notions of guilt by association and innuendo, but without any foundation in fact.
"For more than two years, I've had to live with this 'Ha ha, we've got you' attitude from the police. Luckily, the police don't decide my guilt or innocence; you do," Singh told the jury, which is expected to begin deliberations in the case today.
Singh is one of three people on trial for participating in a riot in connection with an Oct. 23, 2000, protest outside the Sheraton Hotel on René Lévesque Blvd. W., where G20 finance ministers were meeting. The rally drew between 600 and 1,000 protesters.
In earlier testimony, the court learned that paint was hurled at the hotel and windows were broken. A few protesters commandeered a couple of garbage bins and eventually set them on fire. In short order, the police riot squad, including some officers on horseback, bore down. Projectiles were hurled at police. Pepper spray was used in response.
Singh, who is representing himself, suggested he was
"No. 1" on a list of 12 photos being circulated by police in part because he was critical of police actions at earlier anti-globalization protests.
Defence lawyer Pascal Lescarbeau described the police operation at the 2000 protest - the first to use horses against protesters since 1968 - as "improvised," adding it reached a point "where they didn't know what to do."
Pepper spray was used and scores of people arrested. The police and crown prosecutors were left with a situation where some protesters had to face trial or the forces of law and order would lose face, he said.
Singh - "who speaks out" - was the target; his clients, Christina Xydous and Jonathan Aspireault-Massé, "were afterthoughts," Lescarbeau said.
Xydous was arrested with Singh as they travelled in a pick-up truck rented by the Canadian Federation of Students. It was to carry the sound system, among other things. Xydous was cast as truck driver at the last minute simply because she had a driver's licence, he said.
It wasn't until the day after the protest that Aspireault-Massé was arrested by a police officer who claimed he was the man seen damaging a car with a paint - "clearly insufficient proof," Lescarbeau said.
Prosecutor Kathleen Caron noted that Singh had quick and easy access to the truck's sound system and to a megaphone to address the crowd. Would the average citizen be given such access, Caron asked the jury.
Singh was later seen in the general area where the dumpsters were set on fire. He also helped Xydous move the truck, said Caron, asking the jury to conclude that the "vehicle followed the action" of the protest.
(The defence contends the truck was moved because it was in the path of protesters fleeing pepper-spray wielding police and charging horses.)
Caron also noted inconsistencies in Singh's testimony before the jury and testimony at a bail hearing two days after his arrest. She also noted that a police officer recalled, at the bail hearing, that the crowd of protesters becoming "more agitated, more violent" after Singh's speech.
lmoore@thegazette.canwest.com
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