Motorists should avoid downtown streets tomorrow - make that for the next four days - as protesters stage marches, demonstrations and street parties to oppose the World Trade Organization ministers meeting in Montreal.
Members of the Popular Mobilization Against the WTO want to disrupt the meeting from Monday to Wednesday, dismissed as "a capitalist masquerade," and draw attention to issues of war, aboriginal rights, lack of affordable housing, deportation, racism and poverty, among others.
"We are for the globalization of struggle," Stefan Christoff, a member of the protest coalition, told a news conference yesterday to announce the group's plan.
The protest gets into full swing at 1 p.m. tomorrow with a resistance march from the corner of Guy St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. to Complexe Guy Favreau on René Lévesque Blvd., with stops along the way to point the finger at corporate headquarters that profit from world trade deals.
Organizers say the "child-friendly" march will not involve civil disobedience or direct action against the WTO meeting.
On Monday, protesters are to rally at 6:30 a.m. at two locations - Phillips Square and outside the Guy métro station - for a march to the Centre Sheraton on René Lévesque, where the ministers' conference is taking place.
Another demonstration is planned outside the Sheraton on Tuesday morning, followed Wednesday by an anti-capitalist festival at an undisclosed site.
Montreal police, aided by the Sûreté du Québec and the RCMP, have been preparing a security plan for the WTO meeting since June 6. An area bounded by Ste. Catherine, Peel, Mountain and la Gauchetière Sts. will be closed to traffic from tomorrow until Wednesday. Arrangements have been made to give people who work in buildings within that perimeter access to their workplace.
In addition, a security perimeter for the WTO meetings will be established, commander Pierre Cadieux of Montreal police said. He would not give details. "We can't reveal who is going to do what because it's part of our strategy," he said.
The police objective is to maintain public order while respecting the right to free speech, Cadieux said. "We respect (protesters') right to protest and state their opinions. If it's done safely and securely, no problem, but if they're doing that with violence, for sure we're going to do our mission to ensure safety."
The protest groups say they will use a "diversity of tactics" to shut down the ministers' meeting and draw attention to their complaints with the WTO.
Does that include riots?
"Hard to say," mobilization spokesperson Mélanie Sylvestre said, adding police might be the ones to instigate trouble.
Three activists accused of participating in a riot during the
G20 finance ministers meeting at the Centre Sheraton hotel in 2000 were acquitted this year in Quebec Superior Court, she noted. "We ask the protesters to observe the principle of respect for life and for human rights," Sylvestre said.
If there are acts of civil disobedience, she added, "it is not just to defy the law."
"We oppose the (political) system on which the laws are based. They do not necessarily apply to our convictions."
Natalie Alcoba of The Gazette contributed to this report
acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com
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