Jaggi Singh

Jaggi Singh is a Canadian anti-globalization and social justice with anarchist leanings.

Singh has worked with Montreal based groups such as Solidarity Across Borders and No one is illegal collective.

Singh first came into the public spotlight during the protests outside the 1997 APEC conference held in Vancouver.

According to Canadian Member of Parliament, Svend Robinson, the day before the summit started: "Jaggi Singh, one of the organizers of the APEC alert ... [was] arrested, wrestled to the ground on the UBC campus by three plainclothes police officers, handcuffed, thrown in the back of an unmarked car with tinted glass, driven off and locked up during the APEC summit."

Singh was charged with assault after allegedly yelling into the ear of a campus security guard with a megaphone and spent the duration of the conference in jail.

In February 1999, the assault charge was dropped by Crown prosecutors before going to trial.

Singh was one of 51 people to file a complaint against the conduct of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the APEC summit that sparked a formal investigation by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

In March 2000, he was one of three people to formally withdraw from the inquiry, alleging that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's rejection of an invitation to testify before the Commission was proof that the process was flawed.

In one of the findings condemning RCMP behavior issued in the final report by the Commission, it was noted that: "Mr. Jaggi Singh was arrested on a warrant based on a spurious charge; the manner of his arrest was inappropriate in the circumstances; the timing of the arrest was calculated to prevent him from attending protests on November 25; the bail conditions sought were overly restrictive."

Singh continued to attend Canadian rallies and protests, and continued to face arrests.

In October 2000, he was arrested at a G-20 protest in Montreal, and charged with "participation in a riot", illegal assembly, and mischief.

Police claimed that Singh’s speech against the International Monetary Fund incited the crowd, and that he announced the availability of medical help while riot police were charging at the crowd.

In his ruling, Judge Beaulieu of the Quebec Superior Court agreed with Singh’s position that: "... the bail conditions imposed on May 2001 have restrained his right to freedom, opinion, expression and the right of freedom of association as protected by article 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

Singh was also known for his pro-Palestinian activism and for organizing protests in and around Montreal.

On September 9, 2002, he participated in a protest against a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which was to be presented by the pro-Israel Hillel club at Concordia University, with support from the Asper Foundation.

The talk was canceled when confrontations between protestors, police and security agents became violent, resulting in widespread coverage in the media, including an article in The Globe and Mail written by Singh himself.

He had initially been denied entrance to the country upon his arrival in December 2002, but fought the decision in court.

Though he won the right to stay for three weeks, he was barred from visiting the West Bank.

Singh refused to abide by the order and made public his reasons for doing so, writing: "It's not for an occupying power to decide who can or can't enter Palestine... I've decided then to ignore the Israeli security services and listen to the Palestinian activists. It was an easy choice to make."

In April 2003, he was acquitted of the riot charges.

Singh gained notoriety as the longest-detained demonstrator arrested by police at the Quebec City Summit of the Americas.

Witnesses reported that, "he was grabbed from behind by police masquerading as protesters" and "dragged away in a beige van".

Singh was held for a total of 17 days, and charged with breaking conditions from previous arrests and with weapons charges - for a catapult that launched teddy bears that was actually constructed and operated by an unrelated group from Edmonton, which released a satirical statement denying Singh's involvement with the catapult.

He was released on $3,000 bail with conditions that prohibited him from leading or organizing any demonstrations or using a megaphone.

In a telephone interview conducted while he was in the Orsainville jail near Quebec, Singh explained his view that legal action against him and other political activists was designed to intimidate them into silence, and split them off from mainstream public opinion: "'Everybody is an idealist. Everybody has this idea that things should be better and that's really a non-ideological thing. The fear is that those idealists will become radicals and start questioning the roots of the system, start questioning the power structure. People in power don't like that. You have to turn these idealists into realists, because once they're realists, they can accept the compromises that opportunists make; those being the politicians.

And how do you turn an idealist into a realist instead of a radical?

Well, a baton blow to the head is one way.

Getting wafts of tear gas is another.

Yet another is making the radicals seem crazy and criminal.

Give the distinct impression through the media that you will be jailed.

You will be treated differently and it's not worth the trouble.

As long as idealists stay that way, or even better become realists or opportunists, that's great.'"

During the lengthy pre-trial process, the weapons charge was dropped, and Singh’s request in November 2003 for a stay of proceedings based on "unreasonable delay and abuse of process," was accepted two months before the case would have gone to trial in January 2004.

In January 2003, Singh was deported by Israeli authorities after having gone to the West Bank on an invitation from the International Solidarity Movement.

On January 8, 2003, Singh was nabbed by undercover police officers in Jerusalem.

He was held at the Russian Compound and then the Maasiyahu Prison, before being deported back to Canada.

On January 20, 2003, Singh was to speak at a demonstration in support of students facing disciplinary charges for the September 9 protest against Benjamin Netanyahu.

He was arrested on university campus by police and charged with illegal assembly, obstruction, mischief, assault, conspiracy and breaking prior conditions, for the September 9 protest.

Singh mounted his own defense and filed an abuse of process motion after the prosecution failed to disclose more than 30 unedited videos taken by surveillance cameras the day of the protest.

He put it to the court that the videos showed inconsistencies with the evidence given by security guards and supported his version of events.