Two students arrested at UBC in non-violent protest
ADMINISTRATION ORDERS THE ARREST OF STUDENTS FOR ACTIVITIES AGAINST APEC
VANCOUVER, September 23, 1997 -- Yesterday, two University of British
Columbia (UBC) students were arrested by RCMP officers while participating
in a non-violent action to raise awareness about the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation (APEC) Leaders' Summit to be held on campus this November 24
and 25.
The arrested students, Shiraz Dindar, 25, and Mark Luchkow, 22, were
painting a circle on pavement around the Goddess of Democracy statue which
commemorates the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre. The students, part of
a grassroots campus group called APEC ALERT, have dubbed the circle an
"APEC-Free Zone."
RCMP arrived on the scene and promptly arrested the people who happened to
be painting at the time. Dindar and Luchkow were fingerprinted, had their
photos taken and were charged with mischief. RCMP officers told the
students, who have no criminal records, that they were told to make the
arrests by members of the UBC administration. The administration decided
unilaterally to hold the controversial APEC meeting earlier in the year.
Dindar, a sociology student, defended the actions of APEC ALERT: "We're
trying to establish an APEC-Free Zone, a place where we can be free from
the tyranny of dictators like General Suharto." Suharto, the President of
Indonesia, is due to visit UBC this November along with 17 other leaders
as part of APEC.
Dindar also scoffed at the charge of mischief against him: "What's more
mischievious, our line on the pavement, or [UBC] sneaking in APEC withot
consulting students, faculty or staff?"
According to Luchkow, a music student, yesterday's protest by students is
to draw attention to the negative effects of the APEC process, which aims
to impose a "free" trade zone in the Asia-Pacific region by the year 2010:
"I think APEC is a mechanism to create an aura of approval that doesn't
exist .. having it at a university legitimizes it."
Members of APEC ALERT are also claiming intimidation from the
administration in the form of threats from campus security. Security
officers threatened suspension and academic discipline for the actions of
APEC ALERT, some of which involve non-violent civil disobedience and are
unrelated to classroom work.
The action yesterday is part of a campaign called "REFUSE APEC!." After
the arrests, UBC students vowed to increase their awareness-raising
activities and civil disobedience in order to show their opposition to
APEC on campus and the APEC agenda in general.
As part of yesterday's action, a permanent shelter was constructed near
the Goddess of Democracy statue. Moreover, at a meeting shortly after the
arrests, UBC students agreed to return to the statue on Monday, September
29th at 12:30pm to enlarge their APEC-Free Zone. They intend to have the
zone reach the Museum of Anthropology -- site of the APEC Leaders' meeting
-- by November, in time for protests against the Summit. APEC ALERT
members insist that they will not be intimidated by the administration's
threats of arrest and suspension in order to exercise their free speech.
For more information, or for interviews, contact APEC ALERT at 251-9914 or
alert@netinfo.ubc.ca.
APEC ALERT
... grassroots action to oppose APEC at UBC ...
tel: (604) 251-9914 * alert@netinfo.ubc.ca
www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/fuller/apec_alert
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