A-Infos (en) US, Moncton, High School Students March Against War

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Anti-War Activism On Friday, April 11th people 
gathered at Victoria Park in Moncton around 
1:00 pm. The initiative for organizing the 
demonstration was largely taken up by local high 
school students, who encouraged friends to skip 
school in favour of the demo. Between 50-100 
people gathered in the park, enjoyed music and 
created their own music, while others distributed 
leaflets and pamphlets. Myself, and a few others 
distributed crimethinc pamphlets and writings by 
a local anarchist group.

At 3 pm the crowd, which was over 90 percent 
high school students, took to the streets. The 
march went straight down Weldon Street towards 
Main. At this point i was handing out pamphlets 
to the people at the main street bus stop. As i 
walked towards a man working outside a 
government building he first looked confused, but 
as he realized what we were up to he said "keep 
up the good work." The two lane highway was 
blocked off by the marchers, although some cars 
passed the demonstration on the opposite side of 
the road. At the corner of Highfield and Main we 
met an unmarked police car which quickly 
turned around with sirens blaring and tried to cut 
off the marchers. At this point we were handing 
leaflets to people sitting in their cars. The single 
police officer told people to get on the sidewalk.

People were encouraged to return to the streets 
(which they did) and asked to stay close together 
so that if more cops came they would not be able 
to tear us apart. Beach balls were used by the 
diverse crowd to create a party atmosphere. 
Many people brought drums with them, which 
was great because the stereo system disappeared 
during the march. The police car was stuck 
behind the crowd for the rest of the march until 
the group descended on city hall.

There were signs of support from people honking 
horns and sharing thoughts of encouragement. 
Throughout, people approached me to help distro 
our pamphlets. People seemed encouraged by the 
atmosphere of an unsanctioned march which 
wasn't led by any traditional groups.

Several cop cars joined the festivities at city hall, 
demanding "Who led this march?" and "Who are 
your leaders?" Pictures of the cops were taken 
along with car license plates (Moncton brutality 
squads wear these yellow jackets sometimes and 
their names and badge numbers cannot be seen), 
and cop #1 seemed a little confused when he was 
told there were no leaders. Some organizers 
argued with the cops while others warned people 
not to waste their time arguing with police. Aside 
from the fact that police simply want to control 
us, and destroy any potential for unsanctioned 
actions, Moncton police have a history of 
brutality (several people have been pepper 
sprayed and others tackled to the ground without 
arrests in the past two years, one man was pepper 
sprayed for throwing snow in the middle of the 
street).

In the meantime, a sound system was set up in 
front of city hall so that people could share their 
thoughts on the war. People talked about the 
history of Iraq, the environmental impact and the 
connection to consumerism. i decided to talk 
about the war at home. There has been an 
assault on African people living in America 
(pretty much forever), since Histeria 2001 there 
have been roundups of people of colour and their 
family members have been forced to try and flee 
America, in the recent Anti-war demonstrations 
people in San Francisco have been rounded up by 
the 1000s, people in Boston have been followed 
home because they believe in something other 
than liberal capitalism, and in Oregon authorities 
have tried to create terrorist legislation for 
protestors who take to the streets. Here in 
Moncton the cops have been attacking people 
who appear suspicious or are present at an arrest. 
And worst of all the very life of Moncton, water, 
has been given away by the authorities. People 
were encouraged to boycott and engage in direct 
action against Vivendi Universal and the 
Moncton government.

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