Four Saskatchewan residents were arrested Monday in Montreal, where protests against a World Trade Organization meeting turned violent, according to a local activist.
But Don Kossick, an Oxfam Canada volunteer and Saskatoon activist who was in contact with the Saskatchewan protesters Monday, said "they certainly were conducting themselves peacefully."
Kossick also said the Saskatchewan protesters were not part of "any kind of a destruction of property.
"(They were) trying to get a message through on what the WTO could do to our economy and our environment," he said.
"It really concerns us that they ended up being arrested. So we're trying to do everything we can to make sure that's sorted out."
According to Kossick, other activists and the mother of one of the protesters, the arrested demonstrators are Peter Garden, Rachel Engler-Stringer and Tyler McCreary of Saskatoon and Laura Alafero of Regina.
It was not certain Monday whether they had been charged.
In an interview Monday, Kossick said it's his understanding the Saskatchewan protesters were doing some "creative things" to get their message across and were doing so "on the basis that they had a parade permit and that it was OK.
"I did a radio interview with them for the community radio (Monday) morning, and they certainly were acting peacefully when I was talking to them (prior to their arrest). And that's basically what they were doing. So we were really shocked that the police would come in on them like that."
Kossick said local residents were trying to put together bail money for the Saskatchewan protesters Monday, in the event they might need it.
Gail Garden, whose 28-year-old son, Peter, was arrested Monday, spoke to her son while he was in the process of being arrested. The protesters had "been up near the front" of the building where the talks were being held, she said.
They then "moved off when the riot police kind of stood (their) ground," she said.
After that, protesters went to a parking lot they believed was a "safe area" and were standing around, singing and dancing, when the riot police surrounded them and arrested them, Gail Garden said.
"They had encircled a bunch of the people in the protest, and they were just running them through, one at a time, putting the handcuffs on them and processing them one at a time," Garden said.
"He (Peter) hadn't been arrested at that point, but he has since, from what I understand," she added.
Gail Garden said her son had also protested at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001. However, Monday marked the first time Peter, a University of Saskatchewan student, had been arrested, she said.
"He was upset, naturally, and concerned about the other people with him as well," she said. "I mean, nobody was hurting him at the time. It seemed to be quite a quiet situation at that point."
Gail Garden said that while arrests may take place at the protests her son attends, "you hope that they won't be in a situation where this could happen.
"And, from what I understand, they weren't in a situation that would cause them to be arrested," she said.
Garden said her son believes it's important to stand up for what he believes in.
"He thinks he should be able to do that without being arrested, if he's not in any violent situations. I mean, they have the right to assemble, and they did."
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