Vol. 72/No. 33      August 25, 2008

The day before, Fredy and his brother Dany were playing dice with friends in a park on the northeast side of Montreal when two cops arrived. A few moments later one cop fired four shots, killing Fredy and injuring Denis Meas and Jeffrey Sagor Metelus.

“The cops came to me and said ‘You, come here,’” said Dany Villanueva. “And then a cop took my hand, bent my arm, and threw me on the hood of their car. When I freed myself he took me by the throat and threw me on the ground. The other cop put her knees on my back. My brother came and asked what they were doing.” That’s when the cop killed his brother.

“I have absolutely no idea why the cops harassed us. They told me nothing,” added Villanueva, whose family came from Honduras in 1998. He was detained for few hours after the shooting and released without any charges.

None of the youth were armed. The cops said they felt threatened by 20 people surrounding them, but most witnesses denied these claims.

People in the community gathered the next day, some with hand-made placards, to march against what the cops had done. Many more stood by on the sidewalk supporting them. Patricia Villanueva, Fredy’s oldest sister, thanked people who marched. Something must be done, she said, “because what happened to my brother could happen to somebody else.”

Long after the march had ended, clashes broke out between the cops and some young people. Several cars were set on fire and three fire trucks were damaged. The cops say that one police officer was shot in the leg.

Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay is leading the efforts to defend the cops. “I will not tolerate cops becoming victims of physical attacks,” he said.

“What they [the cops] did was criminal,” responds Lilian Villanueva, Fredy and Dany’s mother. Her daughter Wendy calls for justice. “We know that there is racism,” she said. “Today we want justice.”

Many in the neighborhood denounce the bullying and racist tactics of the cops. Mirlande Louis, a nurse whose parents came here from Haiti, recounted how seven cop cruisers surrounded her car recently as she was going to work.

“They told me that my car was suspicious because it is the type of car that is often stolen,” she said. “While I was dressed as a nurse on my way to work, they said that couldn’t be and asked if I am a dancer instead. So you can imagine how they treated these young men playing dice in the park. I would have reacted the way these young men reacted.”

Suzy Fournier and Véronique St. Jacques, who were present at the march, also defended residents of the neighborhood. “We’re not a violent community. The cops are those who treated people badly,” said Véronique.

“Sometimes a young Black man trying to avoid being harassed by the cops asks if he can walk with us because we are white,” added Suzy.  
 
 
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