A downtown march against the World Trade Organization today will "go ahead as planned" despite mass arrests yesterday during an early-morning protest, organizers said.
"This doesn't affect our resistance. We're going to be back on the streets," said Tamara Herman, a spokesperson for the protest coalition.
She said the protesters, whose numbers were cut in half by the arrests, were meeting last night to regroup.
Yesterday, police arrested more than 230 people, including several minors, after downtown windows were smashed and buildings vandalized as protesters denounced the opening of a three-day WTO meeting at the Sheraton Centre.
Many of the arrested will remain in custody until their court appearances today, Montreal police Constable Carolyne Courteau said.
Chanting "Resist! Resist! Fight the capitalists!" hundreds of protesters converged about 7:30 a.m. on the security perimeter around the Sheraton, where 26 trade ministers are meeting through tomorrow.
There, they came face to face with an equal number of stone-faced riot police, gas masks on and batons in hand.
Before most downtown shops and businesses had opened for the day, five arrests had been made - including well-known activist Jaggi Singh, who police said violated court orders to stay away from demonstrations. The activists got nowhere near the WTO meeting.
Most of the arrests were made for what police said was illegal assembly.
Chanting "Our streets!" and spray-painting anarchy symbols on sidewalks, banks and BMWs, the remaining demonstrators snaked through downtown streets before coming head to head with police on René Lévesque Blvd.
The protesters, some of whom wore helmets and goggles, taunted police. Someone hurled a paint bomb across the barricades, splashing mustard yellow onto an officer's blue uniform.
Within minutes, the police read the riot act, telling the protesters to disperse, then moving in on them from all sides.
But the police failed to stop some of the retreating protesters from wreaking havoc on Ste. Catherine St. They shattered windows at the Gap, Burger King and a Canadian Forces recruiting office.
"I suppose it's to be expected," said one man surveying a Porsche whose windows had been shattered. "It looked like a peaceful march up till now. I guess they changed their minds."
Protest organizer Stefan Christoff said the businesses that were targeted represent the type of global capitalism perpetrated by the WTO.
The real violence is done by the WTO, he said, charging that it stands in the way of generic anti-AIDS drugs reaching patients in Africa.
"So millions face death. That's much more violent than a couple of broken windows."
It wasn't until protesters had made their way to what they called a violence-free "green zone" on St. Laurent Blvd. that most of the arrests were made.
"You're not supposed to stay on the scene when people are doing something illegal," said Montreal police Constable Ian Lafrenière, adding that 10 police officers suffered minor injuries during the march.
Protester Krystal Kraus, 23, from Toronto, who watched her friends corralled in front of the Just for Laughs museum, called the arrests "obvious overkill."
One by one, protesters were plucked from the crowd by a pair of police officers, handcuffed, photographed and loaded into a bus or police van.
"The fact that they crossed the city and surrounded people in a zone that was safe for us is completely disgusting," coalition organizer Herman said.
For his part, Canada's international trade minister, Pierre Pettigrew, said the police reaction seemed appropriate.
Pettigrew told reporters he was disappointed that some demonstrators had resorted to violence, adding that they had lost "a lot of credibility" for their causes.
"I like softwood lumber, as you know, but not when protesters use it to break windows," Pettigrew said.
Still, those who smashed windows did not represent all the protesters yesterday. Most of those in the streets were peaceful.
While some of their messages to delegates left little room for nuance - "F--- the WTO," said one placard; "WTO in town, shut it down," said another - one woman's sign simply read: "Please make trade fair."
"Democracy is where you give your opinion and constructive criticism," Margaret Dales said. "And I think there's a lot of potential for fair trade - and consumer consciousness is growing."
An elementary-school teacher in town from Boston for some of the city's festivals took the opportunity to denounce the WTO. "You know why the WTO doesn't stop world hunger? Hungry people work cheap and hard. Hunger is good for the stock market."
One woman, a self-described "agent McDonut" who fashioned a hat from Dunkin Donuts boxes and carried a plastic sword and shield, said she was there to fight for human rights over corporate rights, and to denounce trade policies that destroy the environment.
"Quebecers' sense of social solidarity is developing, and it's not through voting," she said.
Today's march was to begin about 10 a.m. at Phillips Square, near the McGill métro station.
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