Victoria Police Chief Claims Cop Drove Protester's Bus to Torch Protests

December 3, Vancouver Coast Salish Territories - According to reports by
24 hours news, on Monday Victoria Police chief Jamie Graham alleged that
an undercover police officer was driving a bus organized by the Olympic
Resistance Network to transport protesters to Victoria for an anti-Olympic
Torch Relay protest on October 30. Graham stated "You knew that the
protesters weren't that organized when on the ferry on the way over they
all rented a bus, they all came over on a bus, and there was a cop driving
the bus."

In response, the Olympic Resistance Network is making the following
statement:

"This latest revelation of police infiltration and surveillance
reinforces the notion of an Olympic police state that anti-Olympic
activists have long been warning about. Infiltration tactics, in
conjunction with ongoing harassment of activists and a $1 billion police,
security and military budget including high-tech equipment like the LRAD
sonic gun and close circuit TV cameras, have created a chilly climate for
the right to protest and the protection of basic civil liberties. Our
organization and our activities are public. With allies in Victoria we
organized a successful and disruptive protest with over 400 people. While
the police will increase their surveillance activities and their attempts
to divide us, we are seeing increasing resistance across the country with
additional protests planned against the Torch relay in Quebec and Ontario.
We encourage more residents who are enraged and affected by the impact of
the Games to get involved and to express their right to dissent against
this five ring circus of oppression."

Undercover cop infiltrated torch protesters' ranks
Victoria police chief Jamie Graham said protesters were “probably going to be violent”
By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS - December 1, 2009
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Sports/vancouver2010/2009/12/01/11999726.html

An undercover cop watched Lower Mainland anti-Olympic torch relay protesters in the rear-view mirror on Oct. 30, according to Victoria Police chief Jamie Graham.

"You knew that the protesters weren't that organized when on the ferry on the way over they all rented a bus, they all came over on a bus, and there was a cop driving the bus!” Graham told the 12th Vancouver International Security Conference on Monday.

Graham said protesters were “probably going to be violent,” so uniformed police infiltrated the crowd. A group of 300 people, many in Hallowe’en costumes, peacefully blocked traffic, diverted the torch relay and delayed its arrival at the Parliament Buildings.

“The relationships individual field officers have with protesters and so on just kills these kinds of disturbances and it worked extremely well,” he said.

Graham described the $220,000 policing bill as “well beyond our ability to pay,” but worth it.

"Police departments from all over the country have taken our game plan, our operational plan and adopted it as their own,” he said.

The day was not without incident. Graham said two ferry passengers were arrested for dumping water on an undercover security person, while two motorcycle cops wiped out on slippery pavement. “One of them was hurt quite badly, but has since recovered,” he said.

Meanwhile, a secondary security vehicle "got T-boned by an old guy who ran a red light.”

Victoria cop infiltrated anti-Games group
Civil liberties advocates unhappy with police, call undercover officer’s actions ‘invasive’
(http://www.globaltvbc.com/world/Victoria+infiltrated+anti+Games+group/22...)

Darah Hansen, VANCOUVER SUN: Thursday, December 3, 2009

Victoria police chief Jamie Graham was lying low Wednesday after reportedly disclosing that an undercover police officer, posing as a bus driver, had infiltrated a group of anti-Olympic activists on their way to a rally.

“You knew that the protesters weren’t that organized when on the ferry on the way over they all rented a bus … and there was a cop driving the bus,” Graham told an amused crowd attending the Vancouver International Security Conference on Monday.

The revelation was made public Wednesday in an audio recording posted on the 24 Hours newspaper website.

The voice on the recording is attributed to Graham.

In it, the chief can be heard saying that police initiated the undercover operation in an effort to quell potential violence stemming from a planned anti-Olympic rally in Victoria.

About 300 people converged on the city’s core Oct. 30 in a coordinated effort to delay the Olympic torch relay from its scheduled arrival at the legislature.

Very few arrests were made.

“Everyone left upset that not very much action happened,” Graham said.

He declined The Vancouver Sun’s request for an interview Wednesday.

Victoria police did not issue a denial of the report. Spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton responded via e-mail that the chief “will not be commenting any further on this.”

The story broke the same day that a new Olympic watchdog group warned police against planting plain-clothes police officers in protests at the Olympic Games.

The Civil Liberties Advisory Committee (CLAC), in a media statement, said that plain-clothes officers should be allowed to observe protests but not participate in the demonstrations.

Tensions between Olympic resisters and security forces — including municipal police, RCMP and national security personnel — have been building as the Games approach.

Protesters have made repeated claims that police are stalking their movements to deter them from participating in events that are considered to be anti-Olympics.

“They’re treading so close to intimidation,” Olympics critic Chris Shaw said of police tactics, which have included officers questioning family and friends of people involved in Olympics resistance.

Police say they are just doing their job. By keeping tabs on protesters, officers can better maintain public safety while ensuring protest messages are still heard.

“We will use all lawful tools at our disposal to ensure we all enjoy safe and secure Games,” said Staff Sgt. Mike Coté of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit.

CLAC spokesman Michael Byers said that having an undercover policeman drive a protest bus isn’t a clear violation of civil liberties because it falls into a “grey zone” between police officers observing and participating in protests.

“I’m not happy about the [bus] incident, but I don’t regard it as fundamentally in contravention of our recommendations,” Byers said.

Meanwhile, David Eby of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said news of the undercover operation will likely be unwelcome among activists who already feel threatened by police leading up to the Games.

“It makes it very difficult for police and activists to have a constructive relationship with each other when activists know that they can’t even book a bus without potentially engaging a police officer in the middle of their planning,” he said.

Eby called the police decision to place an undercover officer among the protest group “invasive.”

“This is not al-Qaida,” he said. “This is a group of activists whose most serious threat they present is potentially delayed traffic.”

Coté said no one from the ISU was present to hear Graham’s remarks and so he was unable to confirm the accuracy of reported statements.

Coté said that generally, “we do not comment on specific investigative techniques that we may or may not be using.”

The ISU’s portion of the $900-million Olympic security budget is just over $490 million.

dahansen@vancouversun.com

With files from Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun