Protest runs amok

>> Man beaten by cops in feminist-cum-KKK demonstration

By CRAIG SEGAL

The second floor wall of Le Commensal restaurant downtown is made of glass, offering restaurant patrons an enviable view of McGill College street. On Tuesday, March 7, that giant window also gave patrons a clear view of a violent 10-minute arrest at McGill College and Cathcart. Staff saw numerous policemen hit Michel Bujold-Leblanc on the head repeatedly with batons, causing blood to "pour" from his head while he was lying on the ground.

"Three [police officers] were hitting him with batons in the head while he was on the ground," says Sabastien Morais, a busboy at Le Commmensal. "He was really attacked."

A cashier agrees. "They hit him more than once in the head," says Amelie Groleau. "A pool of blood was on the ground the entire day."

The arrests came minutes after a feminist action at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral on Rene-Levesque. Around 15 people entered the church at 3 p.m., spray-painting the altar, tearing hymn books and littering the church with condoms. On the steps outside, crosses were burned.

Six people were arrested on charges of illegal assembly, obstructing justice and assault of a police officer. "One protester was injured slightly to the head and one police officer was injured slightly to the hand," says MUC Police spokesperson Constable Michel Fontaine. Friends of Bujold-Leblanc say he was released from the hospital with stitches.

Ungodly acts

Why mess up a church? "The church was chosen because it's the Montreal Archdiocese [Catholic headquarters]. Cardinal Turcotte lives behind there. The nuns have to do his cleaning," says Mary, a member of the Collectif Autonome Feministe. "It's the symbolic heart of the Catholic Church."

The church action was the first for the newly formed group, made up of 20 young, militant feminists who oppose inequality, the patriarchy and capitalism.

Mary says no one realized a burning cross might come across as a KKK symbol. "It was maybe something we could have thought more about," she says. Canada's Catholic Civil Rights League is calling the action a hate crime and is demanding that Montreal police press hate-crime charges.

"I don't agree with that at all," says Gene, another protester. "What's hateful is the way the church treats women." Gene says a more docile protest would not have been enough. "People would not have understood why we did it because they've been put to sleep by the church and the media."

Extreme measures

While the church action may appear extreme, protesters and eyewitnesses say the police beating of Bujold-Leblanc was unnecessarily brutal. According to Mary, an ambulance technician told the police to stop beating Bujold-LeBlanc five times. Urgences Sante refused to comment on the incident.

The altercation appears to have resulted from a general melee. Police say Bujold-Leblanc was resisting arrest; protestors say Bujold-Leblanc's beating came after he tried to stop the police from beating another man.

The restaurant staff say the baton blows were unnecessary since Bujold-Leblanc was lying on the ground, surrounded by three officers. :

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