Occupy Montreal protesters fight for peaceful camp to avoid expulsion

MONTREAL — As a leaderless and barrier-free movement, Occupy Montreal is open to the city’s homeless, some of whom suffer from mental troubles.

This has challenged volunteers at the encampment, who must often contend with aggressive or anti-social behaviour from passing itinerants.

“Sometimes they can get out of control,” said Eric Bouthillette, an occupier who volunteers as a “mediator,” who intervenes when things get ugly. First, he tries diplomacy. If that doesn’t work, he calls the cops.

“We just don’t know how to deal with them. We don’t have the tools. There are no social workers here,” he said.

For the occupiers, it’s important that the camp remains peaceful so the police don’t have a reason to expel them and news cameras don’t depict it as another violent protest. For this reason, organizers formed a mediation committee to deal with troublemakers swiftly.

His days working at the psychiatric clinic of the Montreal General Hospital gave Bouthillette a few tips. “You have to come with a respectful approach. Your tone has to be low and peaceful, to show them you’re not there to judge them. But if they don’t co-operate, we have to call the police.”

Fortunately, that only happened once. Anie Lemieux, a spokeswoman for the Montreal police, said officers were called to resolve a conflict between a man and a woman.

“We have no major incidents to report. Things are going well, relations between the people there and police are good,” Lemieux said.

The frequency of conflicts has been decreasing since the occupation began on Oct. 15. Organizers offer two reasons for this. First, public drunkenness is down.

“It’s too cold for people to hold their beers,” said Felix Saint-Laurent, who has been co-ordinating the movement’s daily minutiae since it began.

And second, the people who treated the occupation as a party have gradually walked off as they realize most volunteers mean business.

Dealing with rowdy types swiftly and peacefully also gives the occupation an unintended benefit: They are insured against potential undercover officers who could incite a riot and give police an excuse to clear the square, as some occupiers suspect.

“We have no reason to be paranoid about that,” Saint-Laurent said. “Everyone who has been aggressive has been dealt with. The cops can’t assault anyone, they can only incite a fight. But no one here wants to fight. We’re not reacting to provocations.”

Origin
Source: National Post