OLYMPIC SPIRIT TRAIN SUCCESSFULLY DISRUPTED!

A more complete reportback is forthcoming, however some basic news,updates, and photos are compiled below.

Olympics Resistance Network
News Release to Mainstream Media:

CP-VANOC SPIRIT TRAIN DERAILED WITH ‘SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE’; POLICE MAKE TWO UNPROVOKED ARRESTS

* For photos please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkflip/sets/72157607424169310/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30781453@N08/

Monday September 22 2008- Amidst pots, pans, sirens, and chants of “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”, Olympics Resistance Network (ORN) activists- including families with children- successfully shutdown yesterday’s Canadian Pacific’s Olympics Spirit Train launch in Port Moody as intended.

According to Gord Hill, member of the Olympics Resistance Network, “With protesters nearly outnumbering spectators, the most spirited part of today was the spirit of resistance against the Olympics. We are confident that the forced cancellation of the Spirit Train launch ceremonies will inspire others as the train travels across Canada."

The action in Port Moody was the first in a series of actions against the Olympic Spirit Train planned across the country including in Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto over the next month.

Activists further state that they are outraged by the unjustified and unprovoked arrests of two people, including one elderly woman. The two have since been released.

According to protester Peter Haywood “At no point during this protest did we threaten, provoke, or assault anyone. However, some members of the public as well as identified and undercover police officers aggressively shoved and assaulted protesters, escalating the situation.”

For example, a woman with two children entered into the crowd and very aggressively confronted protesters. Although protesters made space for her to leave, she – despite having two young crying children with her – decided to remain and hurl abuses at protesters. During this time, one young male protester was shoved by a photographer into a police officer, who promptly arrested him for no apparent reason. An elderly woman who, along with other concerned people, was following the police to question them about the arrest was violently pushed against the hood of a vehicle and arrested.

“The police refused to read the arrested people their rights or explain their charges. These arbitrary arrests are an expression of police fascism, who make freedom of expression expendable in order to protect Olympic interests”, according to Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, a witness to the arrests.

According to the Olympics Resistance Network, “Far from being simply about ‘sport’, the history of the Olympics is one rooted in displacement, corporate greed, repression, and violence. In Canada, the effects of the upcoming Winter Games are already apparent – expansion of sport tourism on Indigenous lands; increasing homelessness across the province; ballooning public spending; unprecedented destruction of the environment; and unparalleled police and security spending.”

* For more information or if you are interested in actively organizing or coordinating anti-2010 Olympics resistance efforts, please visit
www.no2010.com or email olympicresistance@riseup.net. A previous ORN
communique is posted at: http://no2010.com/node/295

* Take action against the Spirit Train in your city! For Spirit train schedule and stops, please visit: http://www.no2010.com/node/295

==> COVERAGE OF SPIRIT TRAIN DISRUPTION:

* Dominion article "Protesters Disrupt "Spirit Train" Sendoff":
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2103

* CKUT Audio:
http://www.ncra.ca/exchange/dspProgramDetail.cfm?programID=75602

* 24 hours "Train buoys the spirits - of protesters" by Bob Mackin
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2008/09/22/6836936-sun.html

* Additional Mainstream news coverage:

Canadian Press:
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2sZ79pilyGuihiW34W6BIVrd3...

Vancouver Sun:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=22ca5328-e430-4f40...

Vanocuver Province:
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=e46b84d5-98fe-4c86-...

CTV BC (includes video footage):
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080921/BC_2010_tra...