Tracking Black Bloc like trying to 'chase dust'
Date : mercredi 28 avril 2010 @ 11:57:39 :: Sujet :
From CTVBC
They go by the name Black Bloc, but even the masked, black-clad protesters who trashed store windows during an anti-Olympic march on the weekend wouldn't call themselves an organization.
The self-appointed "ninjas" of the anarchist movement have been a factor in European radical politics for decades but appeared spectacularly on the radar in North America during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle.
Police cracked down hard and a peaceful march and blockade by 50,000 anti-globalization protesters degenerated in a cloud of tear-gas and pepper-spray.
With no structure and no purported leaders, they're maddeningly hard for authorities to pin down.
"What we know is what we pulled up on the Internet," said a spokesperson with the RCMP-led Olympic Integrated Security Unit.
Funny, but close to the truth, says Michel Juneau-Katsuya, an anti-terrorism expert and former member of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
There's a lot about Black Bloc actions on the web but little to help track individuals. They may belong to other groups or none at all, and need only show up at protests in the basic uniform -- black clothing and a scarf or balaclava -- and ready for action.
"Not having any sort of structure to that kind of organization makes it very difficult because basically you're just trying to chase dust," Juneau-Katsuya said from Ottawa.
He said police tried to infiltrate the group at the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec but the undercover officers' age and police-issue shoes gave them away.
The Black Bloc has an uneasy relationship with those it ends up marching beside. Some of the groups opposing the Vancouver Winter Olympics won't disavow the violent actions they took on Saturday.
Adherents say it gives their causes an attention-getting edge but others worry it muddies their message and alienates would-be supporters among the public.
The Black Bloc strategy is simple: Show up at demonstrations and attack the prominent symbols of capitalism. Then hope the police react, or over-react, while they shed their black clothes and melt into the crowd.
In Seattle, it was McDonald's and Nike. In Vancouver, Black Bloc members smashed windows at Olympic sponsor HBC's downtown store displaying Games merchandise and spray-painted the anarchist circle-A symbol on at least one bus and city vehicle.
A Black Bloc contingent that was part of a march by about 2,000 people Friday evening that coincided with the Games' opening ceremonies tossed things at a police line blocking access to B.C. Place stadium.
Police pushed back but the scuffle failed to spark a Seattle-style melee.
Saturday's vandalism brought a stiffer response, including seven arrests, though protest organizers said none were part of the Black Bloc action.
Supporters of aggressive tactics call them successful because they force a thickening of security around big events and further expose what they see as a police state.
But a U.S. anarchist in Vancouver blogged that on Saturday bloc activists were getting heckled by bystanders themselves.
The protest also exposed cracks in the anti-Olympic movement.
David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said he was "sickened" by images of Black Bloc members smashing windows and tossing newspaper boxes into the streets.
Eby, who's been outspoken against what he considers police intimidation of Olympic dissidents, said protesters were prepared for civil disobedience, such as sit-down demonstration to block an intersection.
Eby said there was a hint that the protest would turn violent when his group was asked by a faction of the protesters not to send legal observers to the march, saying they were worried they'd been infiltrated by police and could have their video documentation used as evidence in court.
Anti-Olympic protest organizers spun Saturday's actions as non-violent attacks on inanimate objects by those who think the more peaceful message is being ignored.
"It's a situation where people feel frustrated," said Melissa Westergard-Thorpe of the Olympic Resistance Network.
While stopping short of endorsing the vandalism, she said her group supports "a diversity of tactics."
Eby rejects the explanation.
"As far as our organization is concerned, property destruction is violence," he said.
The Pivot Legal Society, as an advocate for residents of the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside, has had bitter disputes with Vancouver police in the past but reached a deal with them to unfurl a huge banner on a bridge adjacent to the athletes village Monday as part of a tent-city protest against homelessness.
Juneau-Katsuya said police have appeared to show a lot of restraint in the face of Black Bloc provocation. That may change if they see signs of anything close to what happened Saturday.
"I'm predicting that we might see a little bit more prompt reaction from the police," he said.
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Resistance writers say anarchist protest successful
By: Darcy Wintonyk, ctvbc.ca
Date: Monday Feb. 15, 2010
A violent protest that saw seven people arrested and windows smashed at downtown Vancouver businesses was a success, according to a group of journalists from California covering resistance against the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
More than 100 protesters clad in all-black took over an otherwise peaceful protest Saturday morning, tying up traffic for several hours, clashing with police and throwing newspaper boxes into the road. Another 200 protesters remained peaceful, police said later.
The San Francisco-area blog, entitled "Beneath the snow: covering the resistance to the 2010 Olympics," said the group of masked protesters, members of the "black bloc contingent," have been a strong force of resistance since the Games opened in Vancouver Friday.
"What's especially striking here… is how disciplined and strategically -- even politically -- effective they've been, and how much respect they've earned through their organizing efforts leading up to this point as well as their actions on the streets," the author, who remained anonymous, wrote. The blog is produced by three writers involved in the social justice movement.
Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu described the troublemakers in the mostly peaceful demonstration as a loosely organized group of "thugs" from central Canada and across the United States that promotes anarchy.
Chu said the group travels to any event that attracts media coverage and "promotes anarchy wherever they go." Many of those involved wore masks and hid among the legitimate protesters, he added.
Mission accomplished?
While riot police blocked the protesters access to the Lions Gate Bridge, what is believed to be the anarchist's final destination to block access to the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the author said the contingent functioned "very well."
"They were good about focusing on the mission: to put obstacles in the streets so as to slow or stop traffic, and thus hopefully the Olympic spectacle. And equally good at focusing on not needlessly antagonizing the police -- a distraction to this mission -- but doing so when needed."
The protesters were often met with outcries from members of the public as they passed. Some told the group to "grow up" as they yelled at police and pushed newspaper boxes into downtown intersections.
The blog author admitted success of black blocs is often hard to gauge in large-scale protests, but quoted a Vancouver anarchist to describe how the group felt they were having a positive effect.
"It's upsetting when you're ‘standing up for people's rights who don't know that you're standing up for their rights and they are against you [when] little do they know, a few years down the road, they're going to be in our shoes themselves.'"
Remaining vigilant
In a statement issued Saturday, B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed praised the quick action of police to protect the public while the world visits Vancouver.
He promised police forces would remain vigilant to ensure everyone enjoys a safe and successful 2010 Games.
"One of the hallmarks of any civil society is respect for the law. The very laws that protect our right to free speech and the right for peaceful demonstration are at risk when a small group in society think they are above the law," Heed said.
"The [police] will continue to ensure that athletes and the public are safe from unlawful activity and able to enjoy the Games without concern."
Believed to have originated in Germany in the 1970s, the black bloc movement first gained international notoriety during the anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, when a masked group damaged retail stores for GAP, Starbucks and Old Navy in an anti-globalization protest.
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