Vancouver Now - Vancouver protesters fall silent

For weeks leading to Vancouver's Games, the broad-based coalition of social activists broadcast its intention to disrupt the multi-billion dollar party. Now, there's only awkward silence.

By Brian Hutchinson, National Post

VANCOUVER -- Protests? What protests? There's trouble inside the anti-Olympics movement. Hints of a fissure. No more daily calls to action, no more mass-distributed news releases from the Olympic Resistance Network. For weeks leading to Vancouver's Games, the broad-based coalition of social activists broadcast its intention to disrupt the multi-billion dollar party. Now, there's only awkward silence.

You can blame -- or thank -- the black bloc, a jackboot tactic that relies on fear and violent confrontation. It was used on Games Day Two last weekend, during a ORN-led demonstration in downtown Vancouver. A disastrous deployment for the movement, it turns out.

Clad head to toe in black, about 100 thugs assumed control. They went on a vandalism spree, smashing store windows, spraying paint on parked vehicles. Some Vancouver police officers were struck and at least one reporter covering the march was accosted. And then it all unravelled.

The masked mob's violent actions caused immediate public backlash. Most disturbing to the anti-Games contingent, especially those on the political left, the demo-thugs and their actions lent legitimacy to a massive, $900-million security presence at these Games. "Disgusting," roared wiser, more experienced protest elders, venting their displeasure via home computers and posting on blogs and online forums. Having tuned in briefly, many of them tuned out.

Meanwhile, in an unexpected twist, Vancouver police are winning praise for their restraint. "They have demonstrated the kind of professionalism that Canadians expect of them [during the Games to date]," says Robert Holmes, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which is usually critical of police. "They have been exemplary."

The rabble -- not so much. "The idea that violence and disorder will attract approval from the Canadian public, it's just not on," Mr. Holmes says. "You don't persuade Canadians that way."

Rather than denounce the violence, the ORN has gone AWOL. Members took a vow, explains Bob Ages, a Vancouver-based activist and the only ORN organizer who returned phone calls yesterday. "There was a call-out," he says, "a request to respect the diversity of [protest] tactics. There's an agreement not to criticize each other in public. That's not to say there isn't internal criticism, but we're not going to dump on the young people [in the movement]. And they are kids, most of them."

On Tuesday, the kids mass-emailed media. "Participation in the black bloc is an act of courage," their missive read. "With only the shirts on our backs and the masks on our faces, we took to the streets against Canada's largest ever 'peacetime' police force ... When we put on our black clothing we are not a threat to you, but to the elites. Whoever you are, one day you'll join us. As long as government and corporations attack our communities, we're going to defend -- and that means attack."

It went on to warn that the public will "never know who was in the black bloc" action. In fact, police arrested 11 of the protesters; charges range from causing a disturbance to assaulting a police officer.

Charged with mischief is the alleged mob ringleader, one Guillaume Beaulieu, a baker and painter who is originally from Quebec. According to police, "he was seen on Saturday, Feb. 13, dressed in black, pulling a cloth over his mouth and nose and a hood over his head. Using an air horn, the leader of the group who has described himself publicly as an anarchist, told the others to feel free to vandalize."

Trouble seems to follow Mr. Beaulieu, 27. Five years ago, he thumbed a ride from Montreal to Philadelphia, where he joined a protest against a biotechnology convention. Mr. Beaulieu threw water at a policeman. In the ensuing melee, another officer suffered a heart attack and collapsed. He died.

Mr. Beaulieu was arrested immediately and charged with one count each of resisting arrest, conspiracy and disorderly conduct. Two counts of aggravated assault were later quashed but his bail was set at $100,000, an indication of how seriously the local district attorney's officer took the case.

Convicted in February 2006, Mr. Beaulieu told Municipal Judge Marsha Neifield that what he did "was a stupid thing. I admit that it's stupid. That's proven ... But I didn't mean any trouble." The judge sentenced him to a period of probation, and Mr. Beaulieu became Vancouver's problem.

He was released from Vancouver police custody a few days ago. His whereabouts are unknown, a police spokesman says. The protests may resume yet.

Vancouver protesters fall silent

About the Author

Recent Entries

Archives

Canadian Athletes

CBC Commentators

National Post Contributors