On early hours of last Friday, Hamilton police raided a house associated with some of the people involved in organizing The Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair. In a statement released by Hamilton anarchists, they report:

The door was kicked in, a flash grenade was thrown into the house, and a full swat team entered. With their assault rifles drawn, the swat team proceeded to pull everyone out of bed some of whom were naked, and with one exception, put everyone in handcuffs. Three people were detained and one person arrested. Cedar, a member of The Tower Collective and our cherished friend, was arrested, taken away, and currently remains in custody.

Those who weren’t arrested were forced to wait outside for close to five hours, while cops “searched” the home. Similar to the fascists who attacked The Tower [Hamilton social centre] last month, the police thoroughly trashed the space and even messed with the bookshelves. All three floors of the house were ripped apart and many things were damaged, including a collection of framed feminist postcards that were broken into several pieces and thrown into the bathroom toilet. Police are misogynist pigs, plain and simple, without exception. A long list of items were seized, including all electronics (phones, computers, cameras, external hard-drives etc.), books, posters, zines, and a pretty random assortment of documents (academic journal articles, translated texts from a book project, hand written notes, event programs, pamphlets etc.).

Cedar, one of the arrestees, is facing conspiracy charges in relation to Locke Street incident. Cedar is currently in custody, with a bail hearing scheduled for today.

The events of last Friday follow the so-called “Locke Street Riot” from early March, when a group of people bearing a banner that read “We Are The Ungovernables” vandalised Hamilton’s high street, allegedly causing $100,000 worth of damage. This was linked by the cops to the anarchist bookfair held in Hamilton over the same weekend. The police said they have received evidence connecting the two, but would not specify what that evidence might be.

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The full statement from The Tower social centre is available here.

Photo: The Tower