Wild brawl greet Oka surrender

Page 1

A wild brawl between Mohawks, the military, and police ended the 78-day siege of the Kanesatake drug and alcohol treatment center Wednesday night.

About 50 Warriors, women and children had opted for an "honorable disengagement" to the violent dispute over Indian land claims. They were crossing the army's razor-wire fence surrounding the center to surrender to the military when chaos broke out.

Scuffles and fights broke out after the Mohawks fanned out rather than walk directly to military buses that were supposed to take them to an army base - and protect them from the Quebec provincial police.

Women and children were dragged by their hair and punched by soldiers and police. The police arrested a number of Mohawk warriors that slipped through army lines.

A few hours later, on the nearby Kahnawaka Reserve, soldiers fixed bayonets and aimed at hundreds of angry Mohawks who temporarily blockaded Mercier Bridge into Montreal to protest the surrender violence at Oka.

It was the first time soldiers were ordered to point their weapons.

The Warriors decided to give up the center out of fear of falling into the hands of the Quebec provincial police, said Joe Deom, a Mohawk negotiator.

The military was supposed to leave the next day and be replaced by the police.

George Erasmus, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, described the action as "appalling."

He said he "couldn't believe" how soldiers could be ordered to fix bayonets against unarmed men, women, and children, and was enraged at the way police and soldiers "were throwing women and children around...pulling them by the sweaters and tossing them around."

Erasmus warned that the Mohawk protests are only a sample of what's to come across the country unless governments begin to deal seriously - and immediately - with aboriginal land and rights claims.

"This is not the end," he said in an interview. "It's not even the beginning yet. "

And he blamed Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon for the summer of violence "which could have been settled peaceful" if the minister had acted instead of hiding away throughout the confrontation.

"Siddon was no place to be seen for the last 100 days," he said. "Where was he during this time period?"

The AFN leader wasn't alone in his warning.

Bill Wilson, the normally moderate president of B.C.'s First Nations Congress, warned the federal and provincial governments are in for a "big surprise" if they don't begin to settle Aboriginal grievances. "We've finally woke up."

Miles Richardson, head of the Haida Nation in B.B. echoed the warning that more direct action is in the wings unless governments take action.

He said the Oka battle was a "triumph for what Natives believe in" and "governments can no longer ignore us."

Erasmus, responding to fears that First Nations want their own separate countries, said "we're prepared to live in one state" but only if Natives are given control of their own jurisdictions.

The Army said 16 women, 28 men, and half dozen children were taken into custody by the military. The Army loaded them onto buses and took them to the nearby base at Farnham.