[asia-apec 1220] VanSun/Southam/CP: RCMP worried about anti-APEC graffiti

[Brian Dawson]

RCMP worried about anti-APEC graffiti
[From Southam's www.canada.com July 31, 1999]

VANCOUVER (CP) - The RCMP was concerned about whether foreign dignitaries 
could see anti-APEC graffiti written by protesters, despite repeated 
claims their only concern was security, an inquiry was told Friday. 

The point came out as RCMP Supt. Wayne May was questioned during an RCMP 
Public Complaints Commission hearing into police actions during the Asia 
Pacific Economic Co-operation conference in November 1997. 

Commission counsel Barbara Fisher noted one section of a police 
operational plan for the University of B.C. portion of the hearing 
referred to the security fence keeping protesters back from the campus 
meeting areas. 

"The application of graffiti to the fence is not seen as a major concern 
given that such will not be visible to APEC delegates anyway," it said. 

Whether or not the RCMP was concerned about foreign heads of state seeing 
protesters has been a key issue at the APEC hearings. 

One of the most controversial incidents during the conference was the 
arrest of law student Craig Jones, who was taken away by the RCMP and 
placed in a jail cell because of signs he placed alongside the APEC 
motorcade route to the summit venues. 

The signs read: Free Speech. Democracy. Human Rights. 

The RCMP has argued that the signs posed a security risk because they 
obstructed officers' views of the route and the coat rack they were on 
could be used as a projectile. 

Throughout the hearings, the RCMP has maintained its only objective during 
the APEC meeting was to maintain security and it had no interest in 
keeping protests out of view. 

May, who was in charge of overall security at the conference, said that as 
a general rule, having things posted on a fence can obstruct officers' 
views and therefore be a security concern. 

He said the plan that mentioned the fence was written by the university 
site commander so he didn't know why it referred to what was visible to 
the delegates or not. 

"Did anyone give you any directions about that?" Fisher asked. "Any 
government official?" 

"None whatsoever," May replied. 

Fisher also quoted from a section of the manual that detailed how the 
police Quick Response Teams should act. 

"They will be expected to mingle with the crowd on a low-key, cordial 
basis," it said. 

"They will attempt to identify any ringleaders/troublemakers who appear to 
be planning or inciting unlawful acts and will take steps at the 
appropriate times to arrest and remove such subjects if legal authority 
exists." 

May said he agreed with the policy. 

"I think the key there, though, is 'if legal authority exists,' " he said. 

About 40 students, protesters and other concerned people have filed 
official complaints with the commission into police actions Nov. 25, 1997, 
when protesters were pepper-sprayed, strip-searched, and pressured into 
signing documents that they would not attend APEC events. 

The commission is attempting to determine whether those complaints are 
valid. 

Many of the complainants have since focused on Prime Minister Jean 
Chretien's alleged involvement in improperly restricting citizens' rights 
of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. 

They maintain Chretien was under extreme pressure from then-Indonesian 
President Suharto to not allow protests in his sight. 

(Vancouver Sun) 

  © The Canadian Press, 1999