by CHRIS BARRY

Liz Lofts is a 19-year-old University of Victoria student and part-time lifeguard who has come to hang out in Montreal for the summer. She was one of the 340 people arrested following the anti-World Trade Organization (WTO) protests last week. This is her story, as told to the Mirror.

I got arrested with everyone else in the [activist-designated safe, non-violent] Green Zone on Monday. I'm not especially political, you know, but I'm opposed to what the WTO is doing for all the usual, well-trodden reasons. I'm certainly not what the cynical might call a professional protester.

My friend Megan and I had joined the snake march that went down to the Sheraton Centre but left once the police started chasing everybody. In fact, we were actually just hanging around downtown when we came across everybody again at the Green Zone on St-Laurent and decided to check things out.

Nothing much was happening there, really, and we were heading home, like everyone else, when we overheard somebody saying the police had given us 10 minutes to disperse - which is what we were doing anyway. But within seconds all these riot police had come out of nowhere and were running towards us. It was pretty scary. A few people tried to escape through this construction site but suddenly there were riot cops everywhere. I guess they'd been hiding, I don't know, but there was nowhere to go.

All in this together

They circled us for maybe 15 minutes, not telling us anything, until a police van arrived and announced over a loudspeaker that we were all going to be arrested. At first it seemed almost exciting, you know, like, "Okay, I'm getting arrested, there's nothing I can do about it, I haven't done anything wrong, I'm sure it won't be that big a deal." Ha!

They handcuffed me, put me in a paddy wagon and brought me to some detention centre that I think was in the East End. The handcuffs hurt a lot. The whole night I had red marks all over my wrists.

At the detention centre they made us all sit on the concrete floor. The police were standing around laughing at us, just sniggering to one another. Nobody would tell us what was going on. I was pretty scared, but tried to put on a brave face. We had no idea what they were going to do or how long they intended to keep us there. We'd heard stories of people being strip-searched and humiliated at the Quebec City summit, and in the paddy wagon we saw cops putting on latex and black leather gloves. I don't know why they decided to do this but it was scary. One girl said that while being searched, her shirt was lifted almost all the way up past her breasts while male cops stood around sniggering at her.

They took my shoelaces and put me in a cell with 12 other people. My shoes kept falling off. The mood was pretty solemn. It all seemed very unjust.

Cold and hungry

They finally fed us around 6 p.m. Most of us were vegetarian and we'd heard they'd only be giving us ham and cheese sandwiches. So some people asked if there was anything else they could eat. They laughed and said that was all we would be getting. Ultimately they only gave us ham - not even the cheese - saying that's all they had, even though another guard had said earlier they could feed us cheese sandwiches instead. I think they thought this was funny. That was the only meal they fed us that day.

Later that night we got to see a lawyer and he confirmed that we'd only be seeing a judge in the morning, and that we might be let out after that, but they could also keep us there for three days if they wanted - until the WTO meetings were over.

I felt completely hopeless. The thought of having to spend the night there was bad enough, but being imprisoned for a couple of days just seemed impossible, so horrible. I wanted to cry but tried to hold it together - like everyone else was trying to do. I didn't want to start crying in front of everyone.

There were a few wooden benches in the cell and I actually got to sleep on one of them. But they wouldn't give us blankets and had taken our sweaters away. I think around 4 in the morning someone was given a blanket, but they wouldn't give us more than one, even though we'd already walked by a whole room full of them, but they told us they didn't have any.

Freedom costs $200

I did manage to sleep a little but it was a pretty restless night, very bad dreams. A few times I dreamt I was able to leave the prison but then I'd wake up and feel thoroughly depressed again.

They woke us up around 6:30 the next morning and loaded us onto another paddy wagon. They wouldn't tell us where we were going, but at least they didn't handcuff us this time. They took us to another prison, dumped us in a bigger cell with more people and gave us each a muffin, still refusing to tell us where we were.

The guards at this jail were completely horrible, really mean. Some people asked for their badge numbers, which they legally have to tell us - but they just laughed. One guard thought he was really funny. Whenever someone asked for his name, he'd go, "No, what is your name?" back at them. When asked for his badge number, all he said was, "It's 911," laughed, and just left.

I couldn't understand why they would want to be so shitty with us. Maybe just because they could be. They obviously wanted to make us feel like crap. Which they did quite successfully. A few people were crying, and one girl was very sick and puking, but most people tried to stay calm.

Around noon, some people were brought before the judge, but not me. They gave us a sheet with the conditions of our bail, which was set at $200, but most people didn't have that much money on them, myself included. There was a lot of confusion about what to do. Some people had debit cards, but every officer we talked to told us a different story, some saying we could pay with our cards and others saying we couldn't. I had my bank card with me, but, of course, didn't know if I could use it, and couldn't access a phone to call someone to come bail me out. I grew increasingly anxious, not knowing anything and worrying about what I would do if I couldn't use my debit card. I tried not to think about it and wanted to sleep, but couldn't because I was too stressed out. I was wishing I had sleeping pills with me, or at least a few cigarettes.

Kept in the dark

By late afternoon I was finally handcuffed to two other girls and brought to see the judge, which was pretty much just a formality. He asked us our address, if we agreed to the conditions of our bail and announced that we were liberated - or something to that effect. They brought us to another cell to sit with a bunch of people who had also seen the judge and been waiting at least several hours for their bail to be processed.

Three hours later they let me call my uncle to come pay my bail. I was told that if he didn't get there by 7. the cashier would be closed and I'd be forced to spend another night in jail. It was already 6:30 and I had no idea if he was even going to be home. Fortunately, he was and arrived before 7 but the police made him wait until 8 before letting him into the courthouse to pay it. Obviously they'd been lying when they told me he had to be there before 7.

Sitting there in my cell I had no way of knowing if he'd got there in time. It was way after 7, it kept getting later and, as always, nobody would tell me anything. After several hours of waiting, there was no longer anything I could do to take my mind off my situation. I started freaking out, just thinking, "What if I don't get out, I HAVE to get out, right now, I have to get out." It was unbearable.

A legal question

They finally released me around 9:30 - which was pretty fast, compared to some people. By then I was ready to burst into tears, I'd just had it. When they called my name I practically ran to the door. I'd been in jail for over 36 hours.

I will attend other protests someday but for now the conditions of my bail state that I'm restricted from attending any illegal demonstrations. But how are you supposed to know when a demonstration is illegal? Whenever the police decide it is, I suppose, and maybe then it's too late. And I simply can't take any chances, because honestly, as much as I want to support the cause, I just can't go through this again. I just can't.