BATTLEGROUND: QUEBEC CITY DAY 2

The ACC marched with the Black Bloc and quite a few other protesters in the morning the morning towards the perimeter. As they marched, members of the black Bloc destroyed anything that was related to multinationals that was in their way. Selective destruction only. Not a single mom and pops store was touched, nor were residential buildings and houses.

During that time, 60 000 protesters from various groups, such as unionized workers and SalAMI converged in the lower city for a peaceful march against the FTAA. Ironically enough, SalAMI led these 60 000 men, women and children... away fron the fences, away from where they could make a difference...

The march of the ACC and the peaceful march met by accident at a certain point, and after a few moments of discussion, each march went its seperate way to fill out their agenda. The ACC, the Black bloc and the others arrived on the scene soon enough...

And the fight to breach the fences begun anew.

The attack was seperated into three fronts. One at the highest point of the high city, where civil disobedience protesters tried to sit their way to victory...and were gassed like crazy. They were pushed back to the second front quickly enough.

There were many breaches on the fence on the second front. At one point, the Black Bloc knocked down one of the unprotected fences and people got into the perimeter easily. The occupation of that spot lasted for a good while, but the protesters were pushed back by the Anti-riot squad eventually, and that part of the fence was replaced by a buldozer. Cops gassed that area like crazy even though it was a residential part of the city. Meaning that people who lived there were gassed along with protesters.

Behind the lines of that front, a man in his appartment was filming the protest from behind the fences. He witnessed police officers nabbing a protester, dragging him behind the lines, beating the protester up, ripping off his gas mask and opening a can of tear gas in his face. The man filmed the whole scene when a cop looked up and saw him filming all this. A shot of tear gas was sent directly into his balcony...Inside his appartment, his 3 year old son was sleeping...

The Anti-Riot squad was more agressive than ever, rubber bullets were shot at practically point blank on this front, at times, 6 to 7 cans of tear gas cans were sent into the crowds. Not at an angle so that protesters could see the cans coming, but directly atthem. Rubber bullets were often aimed at the face or in the, uh, private parts. A protester received a rubber bullet on the throat, wich litterally crushed it. Medics rushed to his rescue and he was hospitalized. Word is that his vocal cords are permanently damaged now and that he can no longer speak.

And at the third and final major front. this was positively the longest and most intense confrontation of the day. As soon as you went to the high city from l'ilot Fleurie, there was a bridge( duh... L'ilot fleurie was situated under a bridge). Protesters lined themseves along the whole bridge and drummed on the side of the bridge, in harmony with each other. Drumming the side of the bridge was done to disrupt the meeting atthe parlament wich, according to many, was at a relatively near distance and the delegates of the 34 countries could hear the intensity of the drumbeats. In front of the people who drummed their disagreement to disrupt the meeting were more members of the Black Bloc and other protesters, fighting the cops and drawing the fire away from the drummers. A can of tear gas was sent every minute or so. The water cannon truck would go relopad it self and return every now and then to send sprays of water to knock down people. The protessters fighting the cops would retreat for a second and return to fight some more. Every time one of the fighting protesters was too tired or was too affected by the gasses to go on fighting, and he/she drew back to l'ilot Fleurie, another one went to the front lines to take his/her place.This showdown lasted from noon to 2 in the morning. This showdown lasted for 14 full hours...

Eventually, the cops got through to the lines and attacked "l'Ilot fleurie" again. This time around, it wasn't just gassing the place like the day before, but rather a full out attack. Medics were arrested on the spot for taking care of people without a permit. "Food Not Bombs" were also arrested for serving food without a permit. A retreat was sounded, and "l'Ilôt Fleurie" was deserted. Soon enough, it was buldozed. Having losttheir home, and having seen the cops mistreat the cooks and the medics who had worked so hard to care for them, a good number of protesters went on a rampage. A massive amount of people went back to the higher ciy through another entrance and a riot started. for about three hours, it was a showdown between cops and thoe participating in the riot. Destruction of properties were going rampant. Selective destruction wasn't what was in the peoples' minds anymore, but it wasn't, as the media claimed, the work of the Black Bloc.

Another anecdote: A member of the Black Bloc was running around with a cop belt, complete with hand cuffs, bullets, club and all. Appearently, a cop went out of his way to hit an old lady with his club, and members of a Black Bloc cell jumped the cop, beat the stuffing out of him and took away all of his equipment.

At 5:00 a.m. the riot finally dispersed, and a good number of arrests were made.

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