MONTREAL:

MINISTER RECEIVES "BAPTISM OF FIRE" BY ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS IN MONTREAL:

Last Wednesday evening newly appointed Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier showed up at the downtown Montreal Omni Hotel to deliver a speech supporting Canada's military role in Afghanistan. This was to be delivered at a dinner meeting opening the 'International Conference on Canada's Mission in Afghanistan', sponsored by a consortium of academic think tanks, governmental agencies and war material suppliers such as Bell Helicopter, General Dynamics and Oerlikon. The speaker had barely begun his keynote address when he was interrupted by protesters from the Bloc the Empire/Bloquez l' empire group who had infiltrated the dinner. Over the course of the next 15 minutes he was interrupted more than 12 times. The police removed protesters from the hall, handcuffing several and ending up by charging only two individuals. The Bloc the Empire/Bloquez l'empire group is a coalition of Montreal anti-imperialist, anti-war individuals. The full story of this action, coverage of their past actions and references to mainstream media accounts of what happened can be seen a A STORY that the group published to A-Infos yesterday. There is also the text of the leaflet the group passed out protesting Canada's role in Afghanistan. Go on over and have a look.