Expect agents provocateurs at the G20, organizers say

Organizers for upcoming anti-G20 rallies and demonstrations say they expect the police to plant agents provocateurs — police dressed up as activists and provoking a violent response from the security lines.

“There’s no question about it,” said Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, which is co-organizing the June 26 “People First!” rally.

“I’ve watched them in Seattle, jump out of the back of . . . paddy wagons,” he said. “They’ve done it before. I’m concerned about that as a tactic to justify police presence and justify the spending of” more than $1 billion on security.

The Council of Canadians has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding his assurance that security forces won’t use the undercover agents to incite criminal activity during the upcoming summits.

“I’m deeply concerned that neither you, nor anyone in the government, nor the Integrated Security Unit itself, have ruled out the use of agent provocateurs at the upcoming G8 and G20 summits,” Council chairperson Maude Barlow wrote in the letter. “Out of control spending on summit costs must not be permitted to develop into out of control suppression of charter rights.”

“Three undercover police officers attempted to incite violence in 2007 at the Montebello protest against the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The proof of their actions was caught on film,” adds Barlow. “The Sûreté du Québec was forced to admit that they were police officers, dressed in black and holding rocks. Yet, to date no one has been held accountable and through his silence, Harper appears to have given tacit approval of the use of agents provocateurs.”

See a video (it’s a bit choppy) of those agents provocateurs here.