Protests Begin Before Montebello Summit

One day before the arrival of the U.S. and Mexican presidents, some protesters placed two concrete blocks on opposite sides of Canadian Pacific railway tracks and tied a banner between them. The act took place in the middle of the night and the rail line — which leads to container ships at the Port of Montreal — was reopened Sunday after a security inspection and a delay of several hours. "A couple of trains were delayed," said CP spokesman Michel Spenard."(The banner) is in the possession of Montreal police." The anonymous saboteurs sent out a news release claiming credit for the blockage but didn't identify the group responsible or their main motivation. They merely listed a range of unrelated complaints: treatment of indigenous people, the post 9/11 security clampdowns at the border, politicians' alleged pandering to business and — apparently unaware that they were attacking Canadian Pacific tracks — several complaints about competitor Canadian National. News of the incident came as several hundred protesters gathered peacefully on Parliament Hill for a rally organized by a range of economic nationalist, environmental, labour and other groups. They waved posters calling U.S. President George W. Bush a war criminal and described Prime Minister Stephen Harper as his lackey. They also accused Bush, Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon of being in the pocket of big business... Full article is at www.globeandmail.com [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 20, 2007]

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