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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Canadian police search people at border, deny crossings |
Current rating: 0 |
by Chris Strohm and Eric Laursen
(No verified email address) |
18 Apr 2001
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Canadian police are cracking down at the border, searching
people and photocopying items, and denying activists entry into the
country. Stay posted to the IMC for updated coverage.
Follow the links on the left to the Quebec IMC or go to the global IMC site link below for full coverage. |
Canadian police are searching people and cars at the border and denying some people
entry into the country merely because of the way they look, according to reports.
People have been denied entry into Canada when trying to cross the border by car and
train from Buffalo, NY, to Richmond, VT -- in some cases with no reason given by the
authorities.
Police are searching everything from cars and luggage to wallets and diaries and
questioning people about whether they are heading into Canada to protest the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Quebec City, activists said.
Several activists have been denied entry in the last 48 hours; about 100 have been turned
away since January, an activist said.
There are no reports of items being confiscated or people being arrested, and many
activists are converging in Burlington, VT after being denied at the border.
However, authorities are photocopying items they search and asking people to provide
documentation of any previous arrests, activists said. Activists with prior arrests at political
demonstrations are being denied entry outright.
One activist said border officers told her, \"We can turn you away just because of a feeling.\"
She was kept at the border for two and a half hours while her car and belongings, including
a diary, were searched by police. At the same time, she witnessed police let a man who
was driving a humvee and had a riffle pass with hardly a delay. The man showed his gun to
police, paid $50 and was permitted to cross the border, she said.
Ultimately, she was permitted to cross but her friend was not because he had a prior
arrest.
Two activists traveling from New York City to Quebec City were removed from a
passenger train after being told, \"You\'re not getting into Canada.\"
Other passengers appeared to have been taken off the train as well, and the entire train
\"seemed to be swarming with immigration agents and police.\" The activists were taken to
an immigration office, where they were interrogated for more than an hour and
photographed, and all documents in their possession were photographed as well.
Canadian immigration\'s practice appears in many cases to be to detain people for 48
hours in a detention facility before letting them see someone. In this case, however, the
activists were released on the American side after just a few hours with immigration.
Another activist, named Issac, said he and his friend were kept at the border for an hour
and a half while police searched his possessions and photocopied phone numbers,
receipts, bank statements and books.
The police asked the two men repeated questions about whether they were going to
protest the FTAA. They said they were not going to protest.
The authorities eventually found what they called three \"questionable objects\" -- a business
card from a Seattle nonprofit, an old license plate frame with the phrase \"Animal
Liberation,\" and a little firecracker that was left in the bottom of a bag for years. Finally, the
police denied Isaac\'s friend entry because he had a previous arrest, saying he needs to
provide documentation that he was not convicted.
Issac said the odd thing was that his 62-year-old uncle tried to cross the border days later
and was also denied, even though he is a Quebec native.
Also, within the last 48 hours a medic was turned away at the border. She was denied
entry after she told police she was going to Quebec City to be a street medic. She had
contacts with the Quebec Red Cross and no previous arrests. |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/.
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