(March 15) International Day Against Police Brutality

18th International Day Against Police Brutality: Let’s react to the militarization!
Although this is the 18th year of the International Day Against Police Brutality, the cops have been abusing their power long before the inauguration of this tradition. Since the creation of the first police force, brutality, abuses, injustices, profiling – everything that enrages us – were institutionalized and normalized. Yves Francoeur, the president of the Montreal police Brotherhood, said it best: “Our job at the police is repression. We don’t need no community agent as a director, but a general. The police is a paramilitary organization, let’s not forget it.”
The past few years exemplify political repression. Thousands of people were arrested using sketchy pretenses, despite the very consitutionality of these bylaws currently being debated in court. The para-militarism of the police is clear. Ian Lafreniere, spokesperson of the SPVM whose graffiti portrait was popularized by the media, has a history in the Canadian Military. Recently, he was a liaison with the cops in Tunisia to help them control the revolt. At least once, the SPVM has refused a potential new cop because they were not violent enough. Internationally, the New York cops refuse anyone above a certain IQ!
Jean-Loup Lapointe, Fredy Villanueva’s murderer, was promoted to the SWAT team for his killing prowesses, demonstrating how the SPVM prefers lethal militaristic force. We should not be surprised that army backgrounds are privileged in Quebec’s police forces as its constituents are all trained at Nicolet, a school-barracks where these individuals are brainwashed into robots that do not question orders. After the riot in Montreal North, the SPVM consulted the army about how to control social uprisings, proving the already evident police-army alliance and breaking the law that states that the army cannot act against “their own people.”
As popular indignation increases toward all the lies and atrocities of cops, their arsenal also increases. We can only remark the increasing militarization. Let’s remember the surreal events of Victoriaville during spring 2012 and the numerous victims of police brutality -students, marginalized and racialized people, homeless folks and so on! The police brutalize us using flash bombs, armoured trucks, helicopters, rubber bullets, gas masks, pepper spray, guns, and tasers, on top of their traditional truncheons and shields. This is the image of their “justice”.
In response to all the bruises and wounds that these barbarians have inflicted upon us, inflict on us and will continue to inflict to us, we have to show a black, red, yellow, multicoloured anger! Let’s not lose ourselves in some useless arguments between us. The enemy is the police, but mainly the governments that hire them and especially the companies (the multi-nationals and capitalist monopolies of all kinds) that they protect against the legitimate raging population. Let’s not forget David Lacour, Donald Ménard, and Alain Magloire whom are only 3 victims from a way too long list of innocent individuals killed by the SPVM.
Friends, comrades, human folks! This March 15th, let’s take the streets together! Because it’s our silence that allows all this violence to happen. Because we’re all victims of systemic oppressions. Because the streets are ours! Because we are the only possible revolution!
The Collective opposed to police brutality