First of all, let me give you some news from the 16 people who drove up to Quebec this weekend. They made it through the border at Detroit with no problem. From there, they went to Montreal and I received a short email from one. The Buffalo group did not have any other contact from them. We received a call late last night on hte drive back to Chicago from the mother of one of the members and apparently all except one members are being detained in Canada until the protests are over. They did not make it to the protests, they were found with anti-FTAA paraphrenalia. The wife of another member says she received a call from the member and the police are treating them well and they have ok accomodations. They should be released today if they weren't already last night. We will keep you posted as new information comes in.
The Buffalo group had a fun and productive time. Buffalo is a city in which you can see the obvious effects of NAFTA. The CIA (Chicago In Action) represented Chicago quite well I must say and helped plan the civil disobedience march across the Peace Bridge into Canada. We were stopped by riot police of course, but we did shut down the bridge for 3 hours. The police had tear gas, but did not use it. Part of the march included us dressing up as dollar bills and asking the police to cross the bridge because capital is allowed to freely cross borders. They looked at us like we were on crack. :) It was awesome. One person got arrested but we sat down on the street and didn't move until they gave him back. Even the local media expressed disbelief that the cops released him. The vibe from the community was good, and we felt like we were doing a good thing for Buffalo and for all those affected by trade agreements that rank profits over people.