arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Block the Empire: Anti-War Activists Shut Down U.S. Consulate

Montreal, February 21st – With the help of Montreal police, Block the Empire, a campaign that brought together over 200 anti-war activists, successfully shut down the U.S. Consulate for several hours this morning. The U.S. Consulate had been warned on Wednesday that it would be shut down for having failed to comply with two demands presented: No war on Iraq, and an end to the sanctions that have devastated the country for a decade.

This action is the first of many planned direct actions in a campaign against the war. Block the Empire is firm in its conviction that the war on Iraq is part of a larger hegemonic agenda to secure the interests of U.S. oil companies. Furthermore, in VP Dick Cheney's own words, whoever controls the oil of the Persian Gulf, has a "stranglehold" on "the other nations of the world as well." A case in point, before 1992, the U.S. did not have a single military base in the Middle East. Since 1992, they have amassed 12.

Protesters marched and expressed angry opposition against what we called "an imperialist, corporate war."
Meanwhile, Montreal police, who were up early this morning erecting barricades in time for the 7 a.m. commencement of the action, failed to move the protesters that had barricaded one entrance and closed access to another. Despite being surrounded by nearly 100 riot cops and RCMP officers, and with three empty city buses waiting on St-Urbain, as well as more reinforcements posted nearby, we refused to be intimidated. Nevertheless, after an hour of protest, demonstrators were corralled on Rene Levesque, squeezed against the building and then redirected down the street. There were no arrests today.

Upcoming direct actions against the war and imperialism will focus on Canada's role in the war; the need for U.S. weapon's inspections, highlighting the fact that the U.S. has the largest stockpile of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in the world; and, a demand for reparations made to the Iraqi people for years of economic hardship due to the sanctions. Today's successful action is the first of many actions that aim to block the empire.

Contacts:
BlocktheEmpireMontreal@yahoo.ca : 848-7488 or (cells) 583-4890 or 569-8429 (English)
BloquezLEmpireMontreal@yahoo.ca : 848-7488 (French) (cell) 569-8429