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Nearly 500 arrested in Montreal as protesters take aim at private club at centre of Quebec corruption inquiry
Hundreds of anti-capitalist protesters were detained and ticketed in Quebec as they tried to tie this year’s May Day demonstration to the theme of corruption.
The protesters tried to gather Wednesday outside a private club where politicians and construction executives have been known to meet.
Details of private rendez-vous at the exclusive Club 357C in Old Montreal have emerged from the province’s Charbonneau inquiry.
The probe has heard that construction companies created a cartel that drove up the price of public contracts and split the extra profits with the Mafia, corrupt bureaucrats and political parties. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)
Montreal woman arrested for posting photo of anti-police graffiti to Instagram
A Montreal woman is facing a criminal charge after posting a photo online of graffiti showing a senior police officer with a bullet in his head.
Jennifer Pawluck was placed under arrest on Wednesday, released under conditions and ordered to appear before a judge at a later date to face a charge of criminal harassment.
The picture she snapped is of a graffiti drawing of Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere, a longtime Montreal police spokesman and one of the most visible faces of the force.
Police defended the decision to proceed with charges. Spokeswoman Anie Lemieux says it’s zero tolerance when lawyers, judges or police officers are believed to be targeted. (Instagram)
Interesting day of reluctant testimony at Montreal corruption probe
TOP: Justice France Charbonneau, head of Montreal corruption probe, getting firm with hesitant witness Nicolo Milioto: MIDDLE LEFT: A Christmas party in 2005 at the headquarters of the Montreal Mafia attended by many construction company bosses and mobsters; MIDDLE RIGHT: Nicolo Milioto, known by the nickname “Mr. Sidewalk” because of his specialty in the construction trade, on the stand. Hewas described earlier in testimony as the middleman between the businessmen and the mafiosi; BOTTOM: Sonia LeBel, the commission’s chief counsel, questions Mr. Milioto. #CEIC #Mafia #Corruption #Montreal #Crime #Law
Here’s the backstory to today’s fascinating testimony at today’s corruption probe in Montreal:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/02/18/charbonneau-inquiry-mr-sidewalk/
‘At the moment there are no rules’: Alleyway skating rinks graveled over then rebuilt in Montreal
Mélanie Cyr’s sons would throw snowsuits over their pyjamas and head into the night to flood the narrow skating rink in the alley behind their house. Then two weeks ago they returned home from school to find the city had dumped a load of crushed stone on the rink, ruining it after a neighbour complained about the slippery conditions. Another rink farther down the alley suffered the same fate.
“I won’t repeat the words they used,” Ms. Cyr said Monday of her three boys, aged 11, 13 and 15. “They were mad because it was a lot of work…. It was like seeing their work destroyed.”
With winter’s arrival, the city’s roughly 475 kilometres of back alleys, which have inspired writers and artists over the decades, become mostly snow-covered and deserted. Parents in at least one central Montreal neighbourhood thought they had found a way to change that.
On a two-block stretch of the alley behind Casgrain Ave. in the Villeray district, three homemade rinks popped up in December. The alley, running behind two rows of houses, is city property, but in the winter it is not plowed.
“There are many of us who want to make skating rinks, who want to take advantage of our winter,” said Sylvain Guilbeault, who for the second year created a rink behind his house for his seven-year-old son Raphaël. “A lot of children in the neighbourhood come to skate. Sometimes there are eight children skating.” (Christinne Muschi for National Post)
Canada continues to shiver through record cold snap — and there’s little relief in sight
Canadians continue to battle a wicked spate of winter weather that has brought torrents of snow to parts of the country and sent temperatures plunging to their lowest levels in years. Just winter weather or “extreme weather” media hype?
Photo: Ice fog from the St. Lawrence river blankets Montreal as windchill temperatures hit -38C, Jan. 23, 2013. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)
Student expelled from Montreal college after finding ‘sloppy coding’ that compromised security of 250,000 students personal data
A student has been expelled from Montreal’s Dawson College after he discovered a flaw in the computer system used by most Quebec CEGEPs (General and Vocational Colleges), one which compromised the security of over 250,000 students’ personal information.
Ahmed Al-Khabaz, a 20-year-old computer science student at Dawson and a member of the school’s software development club, was working on a mobile app to allow students easier access to their college account when he and a colleague discovered what he describes as “sloppy coding” in the widely used Omnivox software which would allow “anyone with a basic knowledge of computers to gain access to the personal information of any student in the system, including social insurance number, home address and phone number, class schedule, basically all the information the college has on a student.”
“I saw a flaw which left the personal information of thousands of students, including myself, vulnerable,” said Mr. Al-Khabaz. “I felt I had a moral duty to bring it to the attention of the college and help to fix it, which I did. I could have easily hidden my identity behind a proxy. I chose not to because I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.” (Image courtesy of safesolvent.com)
‘If I have to wear shoes, I suffer’: Montreal resident discusses the perks and pitfalls of going barefoot, full-time
Anemone Cerridwen does not wear shoes. Ever. Shoes made her feet ache, and bleed, and so three years ago she abandoned wearing them altogether. Embracing a barefoot life has led to legal skirmishes with transit authorities in Vancouver, where she used to live, and Montreal, where she lives now, and Ottawa, her hometown. She complained to the Canadian Transportation Agency, saying her foot problems amounted to a disability under the law. In a newly released decision, the CTA makes it clear it was not convinced: “The Agency is of the opinion that the problems with Ms. Cerridwen’s feet — overlapping toes, bleeding heels, corns, calluses, blisters and squeezed toes — are common, relatively minor and, in most cases, easily addressed by people and usually without medical intervention.” In an email interview with the Post’s Joe O’Connor from her Montreal apartment Wednesday, Ms. Cerridwen, a writer, explained her choices. (anemonecerridwen.net)
Eagle snatching baby video is fake: It’s a Montreal student animation
Relax, world — your baby won’t get snatched by an eagle if you visit Montreal. An online video of the massive bird plucking an infant off the ground has been acknowledged by its creators as a fake.
The admission comes after the video, produced by students at a new-media training school in Montreal, had gotten more than 2.7 million views on YouTube and been covered by dozens of media in Canada and internationally.
Update: Eagle snatching baby video is fake: It’s a Montreal student animation
The horrifying moment an eagle swoops in and apparently snatches up a Montreal toddler — Is it fake?
A Canadian family has become the centre of a viral hit as a YouTube video of a toddler being seemingly picked up by a huge golden eagle gets passed around the Internet.
The moment, apparently captured by chance by a park vistor filming the massive bird at the Montreal park, has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
All that attention aside, it’s impossible to verify the authenticity of the video, posted by a user going by the name “MrNuclearCat” — a YouTube member since Tuesday with only one video to his credit.
‘If she survives, she will become more wise’: Afghan woman accused of stabbing daughter at Montreal home
Her daughter was in hospital being treated for stab wounds, to the head, shoulder and arm. She herself had been arrested that morning at the family home with blood on her hands and feet and a gash on her left arm. And Johra Kaleki, facing charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault, decided she was going to disregard her lawyer’s advice and tell the story “from A to Z.”
“I know I committed a crime, yes,” she told Sgt.-Det. Alexandre Bertrand.
But even if the law says it was wrong, she added, “For myself, I know I did the right thing.” (Photo: Marie-France Coallier/Postmedia News)
‘Donnie Brasco’ takes the stand: Mafia expert made famous by Hollywood to testify in Quebec corruption case
There was a time, when describing who Canadian Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto was, I needed to say he was a gunman in a legendary gangland hit recreated in the movie Donnie Brasco. That connection between a real-life Montreal mobster and an acclaimed thriller fortified the Rizzuto name for those not acquainted with the streets of Montreal.
Such is the influence of Hollywood. And such is the power of the true story behind the movie: a stunning six-year infiltration of the Mafia in New York by an exceptional agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It is because of the movie that Joseph Pistone is better known by his undercover name than his real one, the titular character portrayed by actor Johnny Depp.
Like Rizzuto’s name 15 years ago, news that Mr. Pistone is scheduled to testify Monday at Quebec’s corruption inquiry needs the notation that he is better known as “Donnie Brasco” to spark the appropriate, excited response.
Montreal police arrest 12 as hundreds march in post-Grand Prix protest
Protesters sent a clear message Sunday night that while the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix may be over, their nightly demonstrations will continue.
After a weekend of violence and arrests that put Quebec’s student protests back on the international stage and brought claims of police “profiling,” several hundred marched in a downtown demonstration that almost immediately was declared illegal.
Windows were smashed, notably those at the offices of the Caisse de depot pension manager and at the National Bank.
A police cruiser was also damaged and police said they made 12 arrests — nine for bylaw infractions and three for alleged criminal offences, including assault. It was the 48th consecutive night that protesters gathered in Montreal. (Photos: Gazette; Reuters; AFP/Getty Images)
Quebec tuition protesters clash with Grand Prix partiers in Montreal
A group of activists, protesting capitalism in general and Quebec’s tuition hikes in particular, tried their hardest last night to crash the party on the Montreal street most closely associated with this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
On one side of the barrier they shouted about injustice; on the other they sipped beer and wondered what the fuss was about.
Thousands of Formula One fans flock to Crescent Street each year for the expensive cars, the free swag and the popular nightclubs. It is the focal point for scenesters, for those looking to see and be seen.
A protest march that began near a community center in one of the city’s working-class neighbourhoods projected an altogether different ethos.
1,2,3,4, this is f—ing class war,” the crowd of several hundred chanted. “5,6,7,8, overthrow this fascist state.” (Photos: Canadian Press; AFP/GettyImages; Reuters)
Luka Rocco Magnotta’s alleged victim identified as Concordia student Lin Jun
Police revealed today they have uncovered a key piece of evidence in the Montreal body parts murder mystery by identifying the victim of alleged killer Luka Rocco Magnotta.
Magnotta, 29, a self-confessed Canadian porn star wanted in connection with a killing that saw a torso left in a suitcase and a hand and foot mailed to the Ottawa offices of the Liberal and Conservative parties fled to Paris on the day of the May 25 murder, police believe.
Detectives revealed today his alleged victim is Lin Jun, a 33-year-old Concordia University student from Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Manhunt underway for Luka Rocco Magnotta as police search for missing body parts
The police had finished their work inside and Apartment 208 was pretty much stripped bare, but the stomach-turning stench and darkened red stain on the mattress left little doubt that something terrible had happened here.
“The smell of death is not funny,” Eric Schorer, the building’s superintendent, said as he opened the door Wednesday afternoon. “If you look at the bed, that’s where it happened.”
Within hours, Montreal police would issue a wanted bulletin for the tenant of the one-room apartment, 29-year-old Luka Rocco Magnotta, sought for one of the most gruesome killings in Montreal in recent memory.
Not only was the unidentified victim dismembered, not only were two body parts apparently mailed to political parties in Ottawa, but it has emerged that the killer filmed his crime and posted it on the Internet. The snuff film titled 1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick, depicting the dismemberment of an Asian male body and various indignities to the remains, has provoked online debate about its veracity since it was posted last week. Police have confirmed the video depicts the actual crime.
Related:
Police probe video of porn star suspect allegedly dismembering victim
Luka Rocco Magnotta dated Karla Homolka, police confirm
Political mastermind behind Stephen Harper made grisly discovery of human foot
The web can help topple dictators, but it can also embolden killers
