Vancouver Police accused of excessive force, surveillance of pro-Palestinian protestors in legal complaints

The Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) say the Vancouver Police Board is set to consider two out of three complaints Thursday that were launched in September, alleging excessive use of force and surveillance of the pro-Palestinian movement.

In a release, the legal groups said members of West Coast LEAF and the South Asian Legal Clinic of B.C. intend to speak at the Police Board’s meeting about the “systemic discrimination concerns raised in the complaints.”

The release states that one complaint to the board follows the excessive use of force against pro-Palestinian protesters on May 31 at a CN Rail railway track.

“Extreme use of force included deploying military-grade pepper spray; standing on the backs of cuffed people and placing knees on necks (in contravention of VPD’s own policy on restraints); and strangling and choking a person,” the groups alleged.

The second complaint is regarding the VPD’s alleged surveillance of “Palestine solidarity demonstrators,” including the ongoing use of drones and filming by officers.

The BCCLA is calling on the police board to impartially investigate what it calls the VPD’s “biased policing of people advocating for Palestinian human rights in Vancouver.”

“At their upcoming board meeting, we expect the civilian oversight body to swiftly use its powers to protect people in Vancouver from being further harmed by the undemocratic practices forming the bases of our complaints,” said Meghan McDermott, policy director at the BCCLA, in a release Wednesday.

Staff lawyer at Pivot Legal Society Simone Akyianu says in the release that the complaints raise significant legal policy issues, including the VPD’s “egregious incursions on marginalized people’s rights to equality and free expression in support of Palestinian humanity.”

Akyianu calls for the board to refer the two complaints to an external investigator with expertise in dealing with anti-Palestinian racism because of what she says is “the pervasive and insidious nature of anti-Indigenous racism baked into racist and biased policing.”

1130 NewsRadio has reached out to Pivot Legal Society for more information.

-With files from John Ackermann.