Globalist Meetings Secret No More

It was a wild and exciting August 20th in the small Quebec town of Montebello

By Jason Snow

It was a wild and exciting August 20th in the small Quebec town of Montebello as GeorgeW. Bush, the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico met in the town’s exclusive Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello resort.

With a protest expected, many residents closed shop for the day and some even boarded up their businesses. The leaders were meeting at the posh resort for secretive talks regarding the “Security and Prosperity Partnership” (SPP—a Bilderberg linked initiative to merge the United States, Canada and Mexico into one entity).

A massive fence was erected around the Chateau property and police on ATVs and motorcycles were abundant. A large turnout of anti-globalist protesters showed up around noon. I was there to document the impressive caravan of buses and cars that rolled into the tranquil town, most bus occupants chanting, “George Bush go home, George Bush go home…”

The buses and cars briefly stopped in front of a field area just outside of town designated by the police as the protest grounds. Apparently, the protest in the field was to be broadcast to the leaders in the far-off chateau. Not surprisingly, the protesters were not convinced.

It started quickly.A group of ironworkers began to walk toward Montebello and the buses, cars and others on foot quickly followed their lead. They made their way past the main entrance of the chateau (which the police had said was a prohibited area) to the center of town. The buses stopped at what looked like a community center and unloaded.

The number of people gathered had to be about 2,000 —maybe more. Others continued to arrive, music started to play on a loudspeaker and the anti-SPP chants began.

Earlier in the day, I heard one of the protest leaders talking to the police. He said in no uncertain terms that they were going to march right to the entrance of the hotel—avoiding the “suggested” field (called “the pen”). So it came as no surprise after a few angry speeches that the group moved down the road toward the hotel.

It was a diverse crowd—communists, nationalists, feminists, unionists and even some Ron Paul supporters. And it was people of all ages—from young children to the elderly.

I was taking pictures and filming the march, so I neglected to see the police in full-riot gear ahead until I almost stumbled upon them. The show of force was impressive—with more troops quickly being added to the initial line—marching in military formation to the entrance area.

The police did not secure the entire entrance immediately. I think that the speed of the march had surprised them somewhat, but it did not take long for it to be cleared.

And then it got really tense. The protesters were right in the faces of the fully equipped cops (helmets with face shields, full riot shields and batons). They yelled and chanted wildly at the stoic troops. A second wave of cops behind the main line put on their gas masks and soon yet another complement of troops came—many with plastic bullet guns. A police helicopter came quite close to the area, adding to the drama. It looked like things were going to get ugly fast. However, about 1 p.m., the situation calmed and the battle lines were drawn for the day.

From 1 p.m. until about 5 there was a strange kind of street party. People danced all over town, there were circus type performers entertaining the crowd—including a man with a Bush mask and suit holding a sign saying “Send Canada to Irak” and “Buy more gaz.”All of this was overshadowed by the presence of riot-police threatening chaos.

At around 5 p.m., the demonstration started to heat up again. It was a long hot day in Montebello, and tempers were flaring.

The more radical parts of the crowd (many with their own improvised shields and body armor and holding large pieces of lumber) began to throw whatever they could at the police who responded with pepper spray, tear gas and, finally, plastic bullets. The organizers called a retreat and the day was done.

Later, many media outlets claimed that there were only a couple of hundred people at the protest. Anyone stating this is a flat-out liar. The turnout was in the thousands. And the press showed up in force as well—with the result being extensive coverage of the event and the issues surrounding it. By the evening of that August day, this secret meeting was not so secret.

(Issue #36, September 3, 2007)