Last Updated: Monday, August 13, 2007 | 4:15 PM ET
CBC News

One of two men charged at a weekend protest in Ottawa says he expects much more "police aggression" at the North American Leaders Summit next week in Montebello, Que.

"I think this is just a taste of the police aggression that people who go to Montebello might be facing," Dan Sawyer, who helped organize the protest, told CBC News on Monday.

Sawyer, 32, and Matthew Morgan-Brown, 31, were arrested and charged with assaulting police after a demonstration by an estimated 50 to 80 people outside the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel on Saturday.

The protest was against the 2005 Security and Prosperity Partnership pact, which will be discussed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the summit in Quebec on Aug. 20 and 21.

The agreement was signed between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in 2005 to boost co-operation on security, trade and public-health issues, but opponents of the pact fear it will erode Canadian sovereignty in areas such as natural resources, security and military issues.

Protesters 'confrontational and aggressive': police

The Ottawa police said in a news release that the arrests took place because several of the protesters were "confrontational and aggressive."

Ottawa Police Const. Alain Boucher said Sawyer was arrested after an officer tried to stop some graffiti from happening and Sawyer allegedly intervened, ending up in an altercation with the officer. Boucher said he did not know the circumstances of Morgan-Brown's arrest.

But Sawyer said police approached him and about seven others after the protest ended.

"At the time of my arrest, all I was doing was walking home," he said Monday, adding that he has not been told the time or other details of his alleged assault on a police officer.

Sidewalk chalk crackdown was 'overkill': Sawyer

Sawyer said the arrests are not the only action police took Saturday at the protest outside the hotel, which was chosen because it is part of the same chain as the Fairmont Château Montebello where the summit will take place.

"What I saw was police charging the crowd, tackling people, grabbing other individuals, pulling them off to the side, threatening to make arrests, threatening with pepper spray," said Sawyer, who added that police seemed to be responding to protesters who wrote on the sidewalk with chalk.

"Which to me seems definite overkill by the police.… It's just chalk."

Police trying to crack down on organizers: Sawyer

Sawyer accused the police of making the arrests to try to quell dissent by cracking down on protest organizers, arguing that the conditions of his bail were proof.

Both men were released Sunday after agreeing to abide by a list of conditions, which include engaging in good behaviour, keeping the peace and not going within 500 metres of several sites that include the Fairmont Château Laurier and the U.S. Embassy. In Morgan-Brown's case, they ban him from associating with Sawyer.

Sawyer said he plans to appeal conditions that:

* Ban him from the area bounded by Rideau Street, Sussex Drive, the Rideau River and the Ottawa River, an area where he says none of the demonstration took place.
* Prohibit him from participating in or attending any demonstration against the SPP.

"I think that points directly to the reason for the arrests, in that they're trying to get organizers … out of play," said Sawyer, who said the conditions violate his Charter rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

"I really hope that doesn't dissuade people because SPP needs to be opposed."

Police shoved protesters: footage

CBC footage from Saturday showed protesters chanting "So-so-so-solidarité!" as one man was handcuffed and put in a police car.

Fellow protester Shannon Willmott identified the man as Sawyer.

Afterward, the footage shows a male officer approaching some of the other protesters, shoving two of them, then chasing and arresting a protester who shoved back. That man was Morgan-Brown, Willmott said.

As the men were questioned inside a police station, other protesters such as Denis Rancourt stood outside demanding answers about why the men were arrested.

"I think it's a procedure for discouraging organizers [of protests], for intimidating," he told CBC's French-language service Radio-Canada. "I think they're techniques of a police state."

Police have already said they will have a large presence at protests at the summit in Montebello to maintain peace and order.
--------------------------------------------
Wonder Why There Were
"Politically Motivated" Arrests of Ottawa Activists?

Group Calls for Disclosure of the Reasons Why Opponents of the Security and
Prosperity Partnership Were Targeted.

For Immediate Release: August 12, 2007

Ottawa - Yesterday, two local Ottawa opponents of the so-called "Security"
>and "Prosperity" "Partnership" (SPP) were arrested in a move clearly
>designed to intimidate resistance to the plan for deeper integration with
>the US war machine. In one week's time George W. Bush, Stephen Harper,
>Felipe Calderon, and 30 North American CEOs will meet to discuss the
>reshaping of North America on everything from food, water and energy, to
>security and war. They plan to do so without pubic consultations or
>consent.
>The two protesters, Dan Sawyer and Matt Morgan Brown, were arrested for no
>apparent reason other than their political views on the controversial and
>illegitimate SPP.
>
>"Intimidation will not silence legitimate dissent against the SPP," says
>Dylan Penner of ACT for the Earth. "Opponents of George Bush's pending
>visit
>to Canada are being targeted because of their political views, and we stand
>in solidarity with them against these politically motivated arrests."
>
>Several eyewitnesses to the arrest noted that the protest against Tom
>D'Aquino (the leading corporate proponent of the SPP) which drew about 60
>people, had already ended. Twenty minutes after the conclusion of the
>protest, as Sawyer and Brown were walking home with others, police were
>observed to aggressively arrest them while refusing to state the reason for
>the arrests.
>
>Sawyer and Brown were eventually released at 2:30am last night, after 30
>people rallied in solidarity for over 4 hours at the police station where
>they were being held. Sawyer has been charged with assault on police,
>despite eyewitness accounts that it was actually the police that were
>aggressively pushing him during his arbitrary arrest. Both, Sawyer and
>Brown
>have been banned from protesting against the SPP and from associating with
>each other until their cases are resolved. These restrictions effectively
>squash their democratic rights of political expression and assembly, and
>not
>to be arbitrarily arrested, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and
>Freedoms and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The two plan to fight the
>conditions in court.
>
>"We denounce the harassment, intimidation, and violence of the police,"
>says
>Francine Dumas of the Outaouais-Ottawa Stop the SPP Committee. "They also
>tried to arrest three other people right in front of me during the action."
>
>"Resistance is under attack," says Penner. "Everyone across the country who
>is opposed to the agenda of George Bush and his corporate allies should
>raise their voice loudly against these arrests. This is a flagrant human
>rights violation." ACT for the Earth is calling on concerned individuals
>and
>organizations to lodge complaints about these heavy handed tactics with the
>Ottawa Police and Mayor Larry O'Brien.
>
>The SPP is a direct threat to democracy in Canada, the US, and Mexico, as
>it
>is a process led by corporate CEOs with no public participation. The
>upcoming meeting in Montebello, Quebec will be heavily militarized in an
>attempt to prevent anyone from getting close to where the "leaders" summit
>will take place. Despite our government's attempts to criminalize our
>resistance to their non-democratic agenda, ACT for the Earth will be
>participating in the protests in Ottawa and Montebello to stop the SPP
>alongside dozens of other organizations.
>
>-30-
>
>For More Information:
>
>Dylan Penner, ACT for the Earth,
>613-859-6996
>
>Francine Dumas, Outaouais-Ottawa Stop the SPP
>Committee, 819-643-4155
>
>ACT for the Earth is encouraging the media as well as concerned individuals
>and organizations to ask why these arrests took place:
>
>Professional Standards Section of the Ottawa Police Service: 613-236-1222,
>ext. 5830
>
>Activist/Community Liaison Team of the Ottawa Police Service: 613-236-1222,
>ext. 6368
>
>Ottawa Police Services Board
>110 Laurier Avenue W
>Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
>Fax: (613) 580-2728
>Email: Lynn.Kennedy@ottawa.ca

>Mayor Larry O'Brien
>City of Ottawa
>110 Laurier Avenue West
>Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1J1
>Phone: 613-580-2496
>Fax: 613-580-2509
>E-mail: Larry.OBrien@ottawa.ca