Re: Short Report from Quebec

["Jay Moore" <research@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's a good report from the Vermont IndyMedia Web site that more or less
picks up the story from where I left off.  As we were departed the scene, we
stood around and talked with these same dancing folks.  Seems like the cops
came out from behind their barricades and things got heavy just moments are
we had left.  And I see from other, later-filed reports that the cops
subsequently moved in force on the encampment with the burning pyre he
describes here busting heads and arresting many people.

**********

Quebec City is under siege. Half a kilometer for here there is a vaulting
overpass. About 50 meters below this asphalt entry to this normally sleepy
city is a pyre started by black clad comrades who seemed intent on burning
everything they can get their hands on. The size of the pyre is growing
rapidly. Perhaps tomorrow the city will be gone - or alternatively, since it
is right beside Graffiti Park and the main Food Not Bombs free kitchen -
perhaps all that we be destroyed will be the infrastructure for the actions.

As i watched i was inspired by the power of fire as destructive, but also as
transformative. It is a most poetic blaze and one is naturally drawn to it
and impressed. A large crowd gathers around this most radical of elements.

i walked by a group of armored and gas masked anarchists who were clearly on
search for weak links in the fence which they continue to perforate. They
looked purposed and strong and like they are prepared to go thru this all
night if needed.

I enter the independent media center and am brought thru the airlock that
requires 4 different people to operate it. One outside checking indy media
id, two inside the airlock - one to bring you in and hold the door and lock
it when you go into the airlock, another to signal the airlock outer door
and one outside the last airlock door and then your in - almost.

Your in the hospital. There are perhaps a half dozen medics and support
people helping the perhaps 15 people who are suffering from serious effects
of tear gas. Some people are crying audibly and perhaps in shock. To get
into the press center you go thru a second 4 person airlock system.

Dancing in the park: at one of the many fine city parks there was a small
truck carrying significant sound equipment powering a dance part of about
100 people. A tracker trailer is climbed by some immodest dancers, including
myself and the rave sound system fills the entire space. Perhaps 100 dance
to the music, while another 500 mill around the park, talking, laughing,
some drinking or getting high. Tear gas passes near by but not really on
this park.

At one point the SOS Gaya group shows up and identifies itself and says
anyone can join it in its actions. The first of which is a giant circle,
perhaps 300 people filling a small urban park - over one city block wide.
The hand holders then charge in on themselves in what was dubbed the
"Canadian version of the group hug". Shouting, singing and chanting draws
the crowd, many who have never met before into the center of the circle. We
pull back out again in a large roundish shaped group (tho many can not see
each other because of curves around various obstacles. And then we come
together for a second and last time and there is an announcement for a
"non-violent, but effective" action of taking our winding tail of humans
thru to the perimeter. Now even more protestors who had been dancing,
getting high and/or talking before the final clustering grab on and we start
looking like a fairly significant size group heading up to the perimeter.
But the air quality is so low we can barely make it up the steps (a good two
blocks from the perimeter) before we must turn back because of tear gas.
No-one can remember (including Seattle vets) a protest in which so much tear
gas was used. I've lost well over an hour of this day just waiting for my
eyes to stop stinging and tearing.

Earlier in the day, the living river affinity group moved into a narrow
alley in an area where the fence had been breached to read the Cochabamba
Declaration about water rights and ask that it be delivered to the
delegates. We moved to the front of a small group of people already
clustered there and read the piece with it being repeated by the crowd. The
focused speech disturbed the police who came out from behind the barricade.
Everyone in the alley sat down and started singing "hold on, hold on, hold
the vision until it's born." There had been one man beating on the dumpster
near the front of the crowd and he left as we proceeded singing. The police
seemed to relax and started to move back behind the fence and as the first
policeman went back over the fence a bottle was thrown - the crowd booed the
bottle thrower and continued singing. The police showed great restraint (or
perhaps clam aided by the ritual) and continued to retreat.. We moved back
into the intersection at the end of the alley and created a circle of
singing and dancing. The tear gas they threw at us was largely blown away by
the wind. People throwing confetti from the roof top. As we were preparing
to leave police in riot gear arrived behind the fence and prepared to push
people out of the alley. We moved to the next gate in the fence to deliver
our declaration and hopefully create a bit of a diversion.

Spot! saw a man get hit by a rubber bullet and fetched the bullet. i was
surprised at how large the bullet was: perhaps 10 cm (cigarette length) and
4 cm wide. Apparently the one Alexis saw hit a man was larger and broke the
skin upon impact. There are several new or experimental weapons in use,
including a blunderbuss type gun which fires a white powder that
incapacitated one man, who had to be rushed away by medics. Water canons
were added to the list of crowd control devices, but mostly the protestors
were happy about these cooling devices, which also downed tear gas fumes.
Two fire bombs were thrown at water canons earlier in the day and at one
point the tank like device had to retreat to be dosed in water itself to
keep from burning after stuck by a molotov cocktail. Contrary to rumors no
one has been killed about a number of people (including at least 2 police)
have been hospitalized.

i am just told that the anarchist pyre has been extinguished by the police -
and they are enraged and dispersing into the city.

i just heard two molotov cocktails were thrown at police outside this
building this evening. Later our medics are gassed while working indoors by
the police who broke in and pulled gas masks off of their faces as they
tried to leave.

There are confirmed reports that some of the delegates have left the Summit
this evening, well before the negotiations are completely. We don't really
know what this means (and we certainly don't claim any credit for it), but
it seems it can only be good news - at least the unanimous version of the
treaty negotiations have collapsed.

We hear news that there is a large break in the perimeter at Saint Johns
street and a large number of people have moved in to protest and enter
there. 150 are reported having been arrested since Friday midday. It's 2 AM,
Joy has relieved the woman who has been working the door for a long time and
is now going off to help the medics.

Even tho some quite nice food has been brought in and we have been told we
can sleep here - It is going to be a long hot night.

There is an up to the moment website (skip CNN and Yahoo!) at
http://www.indymedia.org/ftaa/

viva