Protests 'to get more violent'

Note: Government and media propaganda against anti-Olympics resistance, which portrays our movement as far more advanced and organized than it really is. Despite this, it is true that anti-2010 resistance is off and running!

Protests 'to get more violent'
Gov't unprepared for radical action, security expert says

Kent Spencer, The Province
Published: Monday, May 05, 2008

Diverse protest groups will join forces at the 2010 Olympics amid an upsurge of violence, says a former RCMP intelligence and national-security expert.

Tom Quiggin says anarchists, native warrior groups, poverty activists, anti-capitalists and students will come together in Vancouver for the Winter Games.

"A convergence among a number of groups has occurred," said Quiggin, writing from Israel last month in a report for the International Policy
Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

"More social-activist groups appear to have shifted their focus from traditional issues and are taking on a more radical perspective," he said.

"Numerous groups have already begun violent activities and further organization may occur against the background of a troubled global picture."

Quiggin said three major international events in Canada will be targeted in 2010 -- meetings of the G8 group of developed nations and of the
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, as well as the Olympics.

He said there have been 19 attacks already in Canada "where violence has been used," such as throwing objects and destroying property.

"A clear upturn in violent protest activity is occurring. It is unprecedented to see this kind of forward planning by activists," said Quiggin, an expert in jihadist terrorism who has spent 20 years in various intelligence positions in Canada and the U.S., as well as other countries.

"Most disturbingly, there has been an increased identification of public and private figures by name in numerous postings which announce or
encourage violence," he said.

"These attacks have been aimed at senior company officials as well as other employees."

Quiggin said attacks related to the 2010 Games have included:

- Spray-painting and throwing objects at the Olympic clock outside the Vancouver Art Galley.

- Stealing the Olympic flag outside Vancouver City Hall.

- Nine instances across Canada of breaking windows at bank branches of the Royal Bank of Canada, an Olympic sponsor.

- Paint bombs thrown at the Olympic clock in Ottawa.

- Vancouver Organizing Committee signs hit with paint.

Quiggin said issues sparking diverse groups include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, globalization and the potential downturn in the economy.

He said it is not too late to acquire the base of "knowledge" needed to respond to the threats, but authorities are moving slowly.

"The federal government does not appear to be actively engaged in monitoring or reacting to such issues. The apparatus that should be dealing with security issues related to the Olympics is in more of a set-up phase than an operational phase," he said.

"A number of actions can be undertaken now which would serve to mitigate the issues.

"If these are not taken, the problem will become increasingly unmanageable as the events approach," he said.

Neither RCMP nor 2010 Games officials were available to comment.