Images: Paris riots follow teen deaths

The deaths of two teenagers in a motorbike crash in Paris have triggered violent clashes with police.

To watch video, click HERE

To view photos, click HERE

Riots break out in Paris suburbs

Youths have damaged police stations, shops and cars in two Paris suburbs, following the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike hit a police car.

Rioters blocked roads with burning cars

Police said 21 officers were injured in the rioting in the northern suburbs of Villiers-le-Bel and Arnouville.

A prosecutor has ordered an internal police inquiry into possible manslaughter and "non-assistance to persons in danger".

The violence - reminiscent of riots in 2005 - lasted for more than six hours.

In 2005, the deaths of two youths in nearby Clichy-sous-Bois led to France's worst civil unrest in more than 40 years.

On Sunday night Villiers-le-Bel police station was set ablaze and another in Arnouville was pillaged, police say. At least seven people were arrested.

Burning cars

Clashes broke out on Sunday night after two teenagers - aged 15 and 16 - were killed when the motorcycle they were driving collided with a police car.

Police sources said the two were riding a stolen mini-motorcycle, and that neither was wearing a helmet.

In pictures: Paris riots

The police car was on a routine patrol and the teenagers were not being chased by police at the time of the accident, police said. The collision wrecked the front of the car and smashed the windscreen.

Witnesses have accused the police of leaving the scene and of preventing local people from trying to help the youngsters as they lay in the road.

The brother of one of the victims has called for the officers involved to be convicted.

After the accident, dozens of youths went on a rampage, setting the police station in Villiers-le-Bel on fire, ransacking the Arnouville police station and torching two petrol stations.

Riot police were sent to the area, but youths blocked their way with burning cars.

French media report that the rioters also damaged the Arnouville-Villiers-le-Bel railway station and nearby shops.

Police inquiry

Meanwhile, a state prosecutor ordered the National Police General Inspectorate (IGPN) to carry out a detailed inquiry on the circumstances in which the two teenagers - named only as Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16, lost their lives.

The Interior Minister, Michelle Alliot Marie, visited the trouble spots

In a preliminary report, the IGPN excluded any responsibility of the policeman driving the car. "The driver did not see the motorcycle arrive and was surprised by the violence of the collision," the report says.

Two witnesses said the police car was driving at 40 - 50kph (25 - 30mph) and had no revolving lights or siren on.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, speaking in Villiers-le-Bel, deplored the deaths and called for "responsibility from everyone", adding "of course the circumstances [of the accident] have to be totally clarified and this will be the job for the judiciary."

The mayor of Villers-le-Bel, Didier Vaillant, appealed for calm and said he would ensure there was "an impartial investigation, for full light to be shed" on the accident.

A brother of one of the dead teenagers, Omar Sehhouli, said the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage".

In 2005, country-wide riots erupted after the electrocution of two teenagers from another Parisian suburb - Clichy-sous-Bois - in an electricity sub-station. They were reported to have been fleeing police at the time.

Relations between police and young people in many deprived areas have continued to be tense ever since.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7112497.stm

No moratorium on tasers, Quebec says

The Gazette

Despite concerns about the use of taser guns, a Quebec government official said today that the devices are effective and have saved lives.

"In many cases, they have saved lives and avoided more serious injury to a suspect or a police officer," said Robert Lafreniere, an assistant deputy minister in the Public Security Department.

There will be no moratorium on the use of tasers pending several police investigations, as requested last week by Amnesty International Canada, Lafreniere said.

"We can't deprive (the police) of the use of tasers knowing what we know," he said at a news conference at the police academy in Nicolet.

The use of the stun guns by police has come under scrutiny after two Quebecers died within a month after being tasered. Also, a 40-year-old Polish man died this month after he was subdued by a taser gun at the Vancouver International Airport.

Taser guns use two barbed darts to deliver a jolt of electricity up to 50,000 volts. They are intended to temporary paralyze someone by causing muscles to contract uncontrollably.

Police use the weapons to subdue out-of-control persons rather than using their firearm. Officers using tasers have been properly trained and use the weapons only when necessary, Lafreniere said.

Amnesty International Canada says 18 people have died in Canada after being hit by tasers since 2001.

In Montreal, Quilem Registre, 38, died in hospital last week, several days after he had been tasered by Montreal police in the St. Michel district. Registre was suspected of drunk driving when he was stopped by police. The vehicle he was driving hit several cars. Police said they subdued him with a taser after he became aggressive.

Tests have confirmed that cocaine was present in Registre's body when he was admitted to hospital soon after the incident. The coroner's office has not determined an exact cause of death.

Claudio Castagnetta, 32, died in Quebec City on Sept. 20, two days after police officers there used a taser on him. His death is also under investigation.

Police forces in Quebec used taser guns 51 times in 2006 with no deaths.

In February 2006, the Public Security Department sent guidelines to the eight Quebec police forces that use tasers. It recommended that officers not fire multiple shots at a suspect, refrain from hitting the head, neck or genital area, and that officers using tasers be properly trained and that police departments keep a log of the number of times tasers are fired.

The committee preparing a report on taser use in Quebec will submit its findings to Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis shortly. The report, which was due in December, has been fast-tracked following the two recent taser shootings in Quebec.

Claude Dauphin, the city of Montreal executive committee member in charge of public safety, said not all Montreal police officers have access to tasers.

"It is the SWAT team, special units and officers at detention centres who have them," he said.

In many cases, when officers pull out the taser guns, aggressive people change their behaviour immediately, he said.

City councillor Marvin Rotrand said Dauphin should impose a moratorium on the use of tasers in Montreal until his department conducts a study on whether they are safe and effective. Rotrand contends there has not been enough debate on the use of stun guns, which Montreal police began using at the end of 2000.

City councillor to mediate in dispute over harassment

Complaints about police soared this summer among black residents of Côte des Neiges

KATHERINE WILTON, The Gazette

Allegations of police harassment and abuse of black residents in Côte des Neiges have become so numerous this summer that a city councillor will meet with both parties tomorrow to try to defuse the tension.

"I have had more complaints (about police harassment) over the past six weeks than I have had over the past 10 years," said Marvin Rotrand, councillor for Snowdon, which is part of Côte des Neiges/N.D.G. borough.

"We have made a lot of progress over the past several years. If there is a problem now, we need to fix it."

Rotrand said at least 10 or 12 people have stopped him on the street or at civic functions to complain about heavy-handed tactics by local police officers and members of Project Advance, a special unit set up to crack down on street gangs.

Simonetta Barth, commander of Station 25, will be at tomorrow's meeting.

Inspector Paul Chablo, head of public relations for the Montreal police department, welcomed the meeting. "It is always better to sit down and discuss things than go to the media," he said.

Black leaders say their community is outraged by two cases of alleged abuse this summer.

On June 13, a 26-year-old Châteauguay man and his mother were arrested for obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest after a confrontation with a police officer from Station 25.

Lynwald Cox claims an officer provoked a confrontation after ticketing him for making an illegal left turn.

Police contend Cox became agitated after receiving the ticket and pursued a police officer in his cruiser, leading to the clash.

About one week later, police arrested Charles Ross, a tourist from New York, after he asked why they were manhandling a woman who they believed was taking pictures of them with her cellphone camera.

Ross was slapped and roughed up by members of Project Advance, said Noel Alexander, the president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal, who witnessed the confrontation near Victoria Ave. and MacKenzie Sts. at 10:45 p.m. on June 21.

Alexander said two officers were manhandling Karla Kirkos, 32, when Ross yelled out: "Hey, fellas, what are you doing?"

According to Alexander, two or three other officers rushed toward Ross, slapped him, handcuffed him and dragged him across the street, forcing him to sit on the sidewalk.

Ross was arrested and charged with assault. Alexander said he asked the officer in charge what was going on and said he was told: "This is a police operation."

The Gazette was unable to contact Ross at his home in New York this week.

Kirkos told The Gazette she was standing outside a restaurant when the officers tried to take her cellphone from her, saying she wasn't allowed to take pictures of them. She said she had taken out her phone to call a friend who was supposed to pick her up after she had ordered food.

Chablo said officers involved in the incident have a completely different version of events.

According to the police report, Kirkos began taking pictures of the officers as they were questioning a man.

The report said she started yelling hysterically at police after they asked her to move on. Chablo said the officers didn't try to take her cellphone.

As for Ross, the report says it was he who grabbed a police officer and punched him in the face.

Chablo urged members of the public not to get involved in police interventions because "you are obstructing justice."

"If you aren't happy (with what you see), take down the car number or police officer's name and call the local commander."

He said he isn't surprised that versions of events differ greatly.

"Sometimes people come in the middle of a situation and they don't know what happened before," he said.

Michael Gittens, president of the Côte des Neiges Black Community Association, said he is concerned by the reports of harassment, particularly since relations with police had been good over the past few years.

For five or six years, the association has given one-day training sessions to new police officers assigned to Côte des Neiges to help them better understand the multicultural community.

Gittens said members of his association, who were running a leadership program for youths in Nelson Mandela Park, had to go to Station 25 recently to complain that a few officers were harassing teenagers in the park.

"Why is this happening now after all the work that we have done? We expect more understanding from the officers."

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=1794f830-86c9-45ff-80f0-9bc8312d5947

Family demands answers in 2005 slaying

Officer shot man while investigating someone else
PAUL CHERRY, Thursday, April 12, 2007

The family of a man killed by a Montreal police officer
16 months ago is calling on the public security minister
to lift the veil of secrecy that still surrounds his death.

Mohammed-Anas Bennis, 25, was fatally shot by a Montreal
police officer on Dec. 1, 2005, in Cote des Neiges. The
officer was on Kent Ave., assisting Surete du Quebec
investigators while they carried out a search warrant in a
fraud investigation.

Bennis, who had no ties to the fraud investigation,
had just left a nearby mosque when he was shot.

ormation made public so far is contained in a coroner's
report released last year on Bennis's death. It cites a
Montreal police report on the incident that states Bennis
stabbed the officer in the neck and right leg "for no
known motive."

Quebec City police investigated the shooting. They
submitted a report to crown prosecutor James Rondeau,
who informed the victim's father, Mohammed Bennis, no charges
would be laid.

But Rondeau and the provincial government have refused to
let Bennis read the police report. Yesterday, during a
small protest in front of the Montreal courthouse, Bennis
called on the provincial government to shed light on why
his son was killed.

"It has been very frustrating," Bennis said of the
bureaucratic runaround he has been put through.

Johanne Pelletier, a spokesperson for Public Security
Minister Jacques Dupuis, confirmed a request for access
to the report was denied.

"Access to the police report was refused because we
applied the law" that covers research on the cause and
circumstances of a death, she said.

"A police report contains lots of personal information on
people who are not directly involved in an event," Pelletier
said, adding the government's decision was based on
protecting such personal information.

She also said the same legislation does not allow the
government to release edited documents.

That interpretation of the law makes it impossible for the public
to know the circumstances behind any police shooting in Quebec,
Bennis said. A letter he and two of his daughters delivered to
Dupuis's office yesterday criticizes the government's explanation
as "patently unreasonable."

Other people involved in the protest, like activist Jaggi Singh
and Dan Philip, of the Black Coalition of Quebec, called for an
independent inquiry into Bennis's death.

Also in attendance at the protest was Projet Montreal leader
and city councillor Richard Bergeron. He criticized city councillor
Claude Dauphin, the executive committee member responsible f
or public safety, for passing the buck.

"I've asked him questions twice (at council meetings) and he
said that the answer has to come from the public security
minister," Bergeron said.

"I'm not happy because that's too easy. The police officer
who killed Mr. Bennis is (a member of) the Montreal police.
We can't be satisfied with such an answer."

Homme abattu par la police: la famille réclame une enquête

Le jeudi 12 avril 2007
Hugo Meunier

La Presse

*Plus de 16 mois après l'opération policière qui s'est soldée par la mort
d'Anas Mohammed Bennis, sa famille et ses proches réclament une enquête
publique et indépendante pour en éclaircir les circonstances.*

«Fatigués! Fatigués! On veut la vérité», scandait une quarantaine de
personnes réunie hier devant le palais de justice de Montréal.

Depuis des semaines, les membres de la coalition Justice pour Anas exhortent
le ministère de la Sécurité publique à rendre public le rapport d'enquête
sur la mort de Bennis, 25 ans, abattu le 1er décembre 2005, dans le quartier
Côte-des-Neiges, par un policier de Montréal. Encore aujourd'hui, un épais
brouillard enveloppe ces événements.

Selon la version policière, Anas Bennis se serait rué sans raison sur un
agent posté rue Kent, dans le but de le poignarder. Le policier participait
à une rafle contre des Montréalais accusés d'avoir détourné des cartes de
crédit, mais d'abord soupçonnés de fabriquer de faux passeports à la solde
du terrorisme international. Le jeune Anas sortait d'une mosquée située au
bout de la rue. Après avoir été poignardé, le policier aurait répliqué de
deux coups de feu.

Comme des agents de la Sûreté du Québec étaient aussi sur les lieux,
l'enquête avait été transférée, par souci de transparence, à la police de
Québec.


Après vérification, il n'est pas possible de mettre la main sur le rapport
produit par les policiers de la Vieille Capitale et ensuite remis au
ministère de la Sécurité publique.

Au Ministère comme à la police de Québec, le dossier est clos depuis
novembre. «Il n'y a aucune matière à porter une accusation criminelle à la
suite du décès de M. Bennis», a conclu à l'époque le substitut du Procureur
général responsable du dossier.

Une porte-parole du Ministère a confirmé hier que la famille s'est vu
refuser l'accès au rapport policier en novembre.

En vertu de la Loi sur la recherche des causes et des circonstances des
décès, le Ministère peut refuser de remettre un rapport s'il juge qu'il
renferme des informations personnelles sur une personne qui n'a pas à
être mêlée au dossier. Et il ne n'a pas le droit de remettre une partie
d'un rapport : c'est le document complet ou rien.

Les proches d'Anas Bennis veulent comprendre ce qui s'est passé ce
jour-là, peu importent les raisons. «Depuis le début, on a été patients,
mais on ne nous explique rien. Je ne peux pas croire que mon frère a
attaqué un policier avec un couteau de cuisine», a soutenu Khadija
Bennis, soeur jumelle du défunt.

La douleur est toujours vive chez les proches, qui disent n'avoir
aujourd'hui qu'un laconique rapport de coroner à se mettre sous la dent.
Pourtant, selon Me Marie-Claude Gilbert, du bureau des poursuites
criminelles et pénales, qui relève depuis peu du ministère de la Justice,
la famille Bennis a pu rencontrer le substitut du Procureur général
chargé du dossier afin de discuter de la preuve.

Khadija Bennis, qui qualifie néanmoins l'affaire de «camouflage», songe
maintenant à porter plainte contre les policiers impliqués dans cette
histoire. «Bavure policière ou non, il y a injustice», a-t-elle résumé.

Le chef de Projet Montréal et conseiller municipal Richard Bergeron a aussi
plaidé auprès du comité exécutif de la Ville pour rendre le rapport public.
«Je pense qu'il y a forcément anguille sous roche. Je vais faire en sorte
que l'administration municipale ne s'en lave pas les mains», a promis M.
Bergeron.

Comme plusieurs, il croit possible qu'Anas Bennis, vêtu de vêtements
traditionnels religieux le jour de l'incident, ait pu être victime de son
aspect.

PART 2 & 3: What does security and policing mean to you?

MP3 and OGG audio: http://ckutnews.wordpress.com/

A four-part radio series on racial profiling and police brutality.
Stay tuned for Part 4, Wednesday, April 18th between 5-6pm
 on CKUT 90.3fm -  we'll feature a workshop on Youth Rights.

PART 3: A public panel on Racial Profiling and Police Brutality
- Standing Up and Speaking Out held at McGill University in
Montreal on  the 29th of March, 2007.

Fimo R. Mitchell hosts with Khadija Bennis,  Rodney Patricio,
and Francois Vanvilet.

http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20070404.17.00-18.00.mp3

PART 2 features Fancois from the COBP (Collective Opposed to
Police  Brutality) on the history of Police Brutality in Montreal &
recordings from Montreal’s DemonstrationAgainst Police Brutality.
French and English.

http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20070328.17.00-18.00.mp3

This series includes discussions, interviews, a workshop for youth
on what are your rights,and a public event at McGill University. 
For more  information emailnews [AT] ckut [dot] ca or call
514.448.4041 x6788.

International women’s day march turns violent

Demonstrators accuse police of brutality

By Annu Saini

The leg of 17-year-old Emma Strople. Police hit her in the chest with a club. PHOTO: Tasha Zamudio

Several women reported injuries at the hands of police officers and one arrest was made at an annual International Women’s Day March in Montreal on March 8.

Over 200 people attended the sixth annual march, including representatives from several community organizations like Women of Diverse Origins, the South Asian Women’s Community Centre and the Iranian Women’s Association.

They marched peacefully on Ste-Catherine—a route cleared by police—from Berri-Square to Phillips Square. The confrontation with police occurred after some demonstrators started marching back to Berri-Square.

“We were marching back on the street. The police got on their bullhorns and told us to get on the sidewalk,” said Bita Eslami, one of the demonstrators. She said the police “just came at us, whipping at people indiscriminately with nightsticks,” and explained the violence against her:

“[The police officer] grabbed my throat and choked me. It was very calculated violence.”
-Bita Eslami

Head of communications for the Montréal Police Paul Chablo said the officers were trying to capture local activist Jaggi Singh, who was taking part in the demo and who the police claim was in breach of his bail conditions.

“The women’s day celebration started like usual,” Chablo said. “We saw that someone was in the crowd who was in violation of [their] conditions [...] we waited until the end of the march, and then we arrested him.

“Other people formed a semi-circle around him to prevent him from being arrested. We don’t recommend that people intervene when the police are attempting to arrest someone,” said Chablo.

Seventeen-year-old Emma Strople was injured during the march.

“I saw the police running into the marchers. People were running towards the sidewalk,” said Strople. “I was thrown to the ground twice. I hit my head on a parking metre. A police officer hit me in the middle of my chest with the end of a billy club.”

Chablo said that “it is a stretch” to call what happened at the demo violence.

“If there’s any abuse, we’ll even help them fill out the forms to complain,” he said.

Dolores Chew, a representative from the Eight March Committee who was also present on Thursday said, “We are horrified by what happened at the march. The Women’s Day march is very peaceful—we invite everyone, men and women, to come and celebrate with us. Its a very innocent march, like mother’s milk or apple pie.”

A United Nations human rights report in late 2005 noted that close to 2,000 protesters have been arrested by Montreal police since 1999, more than any other Canadian city.

As of press time, Jaggi Singh was still in jail.

Women in Manila and Pakistan were also injured by police while taking part in International Women’s day demonstrations.day demonstrations.

Police brutality mars Women’s Day Celebration in Montreal

*For Immediate Release*

Montreal 9 March 2007

Police Assault women at International Women’s Day March





Yesterday, as Montrealers, along with many around the world celebrated  International Women’s Day – the event was marred by *police brutality*
in which *three young women were assaulted*, injured and traumatized.  Among the issues that were brought up during the speeches at Montreal’s
women’s day march was that in Iran women were prevented from celebrating  international women’s day*. *And women in Pakistan were also attacked
yesterday in a women’s day event. * Yesterday’s events ensure Montreal  shares this distinction!*

                     

Marchers celebrating International Women’s Day had walked from Place  Emilie Gamelin (Berri Square) to Phillips Square, along Ste-Catherine
Street.  After speeches they made their way back to Berri Square. The  police made an announcement asking people to walk on the sidewalk.
Jaggi Singh, who had been one of many male supporters among the 200  strong celebrating international women’s day moved onto the sidewalk.
The others continued marching in the street.  Police officers began to rush towards Singh, still walking on the sidewalk.  They grabbed him and
threw him against a nearby police car. 

Other marchers gathered around the car out of concern for the violent  way in which police were intervening.  Police began hitting and pushing
people indiscriminately.  Several people were knocked to the ground with batons and night sticks.  Emma Strople, a 17 year old marcher, was hit
in the chest with the end of a night stick and thrown to the ground, by  an officer later identified as Doyon.  Her ribs were bruised, she was
winded, trembling from shock and her knee was cut open enough that the  blood seeped through her jeans.  Two other women were also injured - one
woman's lips and mouth were swollen and bleeding, from being punched in  the face by a police officer; another left with cuts on her knee and
stomach.  The police showed a total disregard for the injuries mounting  around them. They placed Jaggi Singh in the police car and began to
leave.  The marchers  that remained left by Berri Metro.



*The 8^th March Committee of Women of Diverse Origins*, one of the key  groups involved in the march strongly denounces last night’s police
brutality yesterday and the arrest of Jaggi Singh.  Are we to go back to  the time when women in Canada were not considered ‘persons’? When women
were to be seen and not heard?   In Quebec today on the eve of an  election we have seen how violence against women is still something that
is trivialized, including by those that seek to represent us in the  democratic system. Yesterday’s police attack on  women and their allies
proves that even those who are supposed to be the guardians of the law  and ensure gender equality, see women as people to be controlled with
the threat and the use of violence. Women, as we struggle for equality  are facing a backlash. *How can we feel safe when the police themselves
exhibit the violence that is endemic to patriarchy?*

More than ever the police brutality of yesterday demonstrates that we have a long way to go; that women’s struggles for equality that have
always linked to improving the lives of our families and communities, ensuring democratic processes of equality and participation of ALL in
the political process are constantly BLOCKADED by the state and its  representatives. How can women seek assistance against the violence in
their lives when those entrusted with their safekeeping are perpetrators  of brutality and violence?

Last night’s police violence is shameful and fearful. We demand that the  City of Montreal and the government of Quebec immediately investigate
the assaults and arrest of yesterday and that women, our allies and  supporters feel safe and free to work in support of equality and justice.

Info: Dolores Chew 514-885-5976 dolchew@hotmail.com




-30-

Everyday Police Intimidation Caught on Film

by Cop Watch Long Beach (CWLB)

Over 10 Long Beach Police Department Officers harass one man who was threatened by another man. Officers search the victim and confiscate his four-inch (legal) knife. This footage documents officers intimidating members of CWLB as they drive slowly in their patrol car and speak through
their megaphone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om1RxHZ1CUQ