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Olympics Resistance Network members claim two Wednesday incidents are evidence of rising surveillance and harassment by the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit.
Chris Shaw, author of the Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games, said RCMP Cpl. Jeff Francis and Vancouver Police Det. Doug Fell found him near Tony’s Coffee on West Broadway during the noon hour. Shaw was taking a break from work at his ophthalmology laboratory on the Vancouver General Hospital campus.
"They walked me towards my work, they said we just want to get to know you, we read your book,” Shaw said. “There's a couple things in your book that concern us."
Shaw said he declined the Joint Intelligence Group members' invitation for a private meeting, but advised them to "hold public forums, invite the press."
There was no answer at Fell's office late Wednesday afternoon, but Francis answered his phone and said "no comment."
"They know who we are, they're watching us," Shaw said. "They're trying to get activists to talk to them. I suspect they'll do this to everyone they've identified."
Veteran anti-globalization protester Garth Mullins said he had a similar encounter near his workplace by the Burrard SkyTrain station around 3 p.m. He said Greg Smith of the RCMP and Ken Stoarchuk of the VPD suddenly appeared beside him on the sidewalk. Mullins said they told him they had been waiting for three hours.
“It seemed to me like an intimidation tactic,” Mullins said.
Mullins also declined the invitation for a private meeting. He said Smith and Stoarchuk wanted to ask him about the concerns he raised earlier at a Wednesday morning Olympic transportation planning public meeting in the Japanese Hall on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Mullins said he could not speak on behalf of ORN, but said as an individual he does not advocate violence or property damage.
“I said that I'd prefer that they stop ambushing me,” Mullins said.
Smith and Stoarchuk could not be reached for comment on Wednesday night.
Mullins, Shaw and Alissa Westergard-Thorpe were approached by aboriginal liaison constables David Marchand and Jeff Chartrand and a civilian activist liaison Derek Mcklusky at Vancouver city hall on Jan. 22. Mullins, Shaw and Westergard-Thorpe had just complained to city council at an open meeting about the lack of public consultation on security planning. They also raised their worries that city hall’s anti-ambush marketing bylaws would curtail freedom of speech.
B.C. Civil Liberties Association president Rob Holmes complained in a Feb. 17 letter, but V2010 ISU chief Bud Mercer had no apologies for the tactic.
“I would challenge you to look in a newspaper or telephone book and find a phone number for all the protest groups we’re looking to make contact with,” Mercer said at a Feb. 20 news conference in V2010 ISU's Richmond headquarters. “They’re not doing it in a negative way or an unscrupulous way, they’re approaching individuals who are identifying themselves and providing their business cards and asking them to call. I don’t know what’s evil about that.”