CPA Vancouver is outraged after reading a new statement from local activists in the Palestine movement, detailing more oppressive raids and arrests by RCMP and the Vancouver Police Dept VPD in recent days. Although once again no charges were laid, this pattern of intimidation and harassment of the Palestinian community and its supporters must be stopped and challenged.
We will not stand by nor remain silent and allow these blatant violations of our democratic rights to continue!
There is no justification for dragging people out of their homes in their pyjamas and without shoes, in the early morning hours; this is a cheap attempt to reinforce the desperate campaign aiming at dehumanizing all Palestinians and delegitimizing the Palestinian struggle against occupation and settler colonialism.
CPA is appalled with the anti-Palestinian racism that permeates every level of government, from the municipal to provincial to the federal. And we will not forget nor forgive all those who are complicit in Israeli genocide against the Palestinian and Arab people.
As the activists noted: If we remain silent in the face of the state terror directed at our comrades, they will only continue to push the boundaries of our legal system until we cannot even say “Free Palestine” or carry a Palestinian flag in public without being arrested under the guise of “hate speech”.
- Here are the details of what happened, taken from their statement:
Earlier this week, before sunrise a community member was abruptly woken up by RCMP pounding on their door, shouting that they had a search warrant and threatening to break down their door. As soon as they opened their door (still in their pyjamas and without shoes), officers grabbed their arms, handcuffed them and arrested them. They were subsequently taken to a VPD detachment where they were interrogated for over 6 hours. This continued despite the community member requesting the assistance of a lawyer on multiple occasions and insisting on exercising their right to remain silent. Their home was also raided with many items taken, including several keffiyehs, their devices and other personal items. Their laptop was also stolen despite the fact that laptops were not included in the search warrant. While they were eventually released with no conditions or charges, they remain under investigation. This was all done under the ridiculous and irrational claim that the comrade was “willfully spreading hatred”.
This arrest and raid comes after the November 14th militarized VPD raid of Charlotte Kates’s home, where the VPD Emergency Response Team broke down her door, destroyed her front window and shot a flashbang grenade, causing unnecessary panic in the neighbourhood. The VPD aimed their weapons at her, forced her to the ground, handcuffed her (also in pyjamas and without shoes) and detained her outside in the rain. They searched her home for several hours on the grounds of a similar warrant, also on the basis of potential “conspiracy to incite hate.” Again, the VPD took all electronic devices as well as papers, including multiple items that were not the items described in the search warrant.
In recent weeks, several other comrades have also had police knock at their homes and approach them at night while walking to their cars. Others involved in the Palestine solidarity movement in Canada have reported being detained by CBSA when returning to the country from the United States and questioned about comrades. In all cases questioning focused on and attempted to ascertain the identities of individuals alleged to have spoken publicly or chanted at public rallies.
- The statement went on to call for broad support, urging all groups and organizations to condemn this assault!
This is part of an ongoing repressive assault that seeks to destroy the Palestine solidarity and liberation movement, especially as it exposes and confronts Canadian imperialism and complicity in the US/Zionist war on Palestine, the Arab nation and the region as a whole. Similar cases and incidents have taken place in Toronto, Ottawa and Québec, despite the lack of successful prosecutions in cases to date. We are witnessing a dedicated and corrdinated political intervention by police forces across our cities with the clear objective of further repression of the Palestine movement and to criminalize our presence in the streets. Of course, this also follows the October 15 designation of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a prominent Palestine solidarity and liberation organization in Canada, as a so-called “terrorist entity,” only highlighting the urgent need to abolish the “terrorist entity list,” which serves only as a mechanism of repression against targeted communities and movements.
The state is targeting our community, attempting to intimidate us into submission and distract us from our work to a liberated Palestine. Repression has always been part of the struggle, yet we must remain steadfast.
If you are part of an organization, union, student group, etc release a statement condemning the VPD, RCMP and our state.
Organize demonstrations and actions that center around Palestine while also condemning the repression that our community is facing.
Call out the forms of repression that you see, it is happening all around us. Do not be blind to it.
Donate to the fundraisers for the legal aid that our comrades will require moving forward (more information to be released shortly).
