Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 15:41:26 PST
Subject: Police raid gay bar in Montreal
From: anon@queernet.org (Anonymous Sender)

This just in from CBC Radio News Thursday 1994 02 17 17.00

Montreal gay activists are outraged at last night's raid on
a gay bar.  There were 175 clients in  the bar at the time of the
raid (bar name unreported); all of them were arrested and photographed.
They could be charged with the offence of being found-ins in  a
common bawdy house.

The raid was very well planned -- two dozen uniformed policemen
and another 12 plainclothes officers came in with flashlights,
lined  everyone  up and made the arrests.  A gay spokesman said
that it was an improvement that no-one was hurt in this particular
raid [the implication was that previous raids have resulted in
physical injury]; but he was outraged that it happened at all.

"They had 36 cops in there -- you don't see that many out on
the street for any other activity of 175 people".  The spokesman
felt that the police were  singling gays out for particular
attention/harrassment.

A spokesman for the police morality squad spoke, and said "we do
bawdy-house raids 15-20 times a year.  This one just happened to
be in a homosexual bar".  They were acting in response to a complaint.

Technically, all those present in the bar can be arrested  and
charged with being in a common bawdy-house, whether or  not they
knew that sexual acts ("Indecent acts" is the criminal code
phrase for it); the reporter said that the police were planning on
proceding with caution and only pressing charges against those
actually involved in the "indecent acts" [ie sex on the premises]
and those  who the police could prove knew that the  "indecent
acts" were happening.

[sheesh.  Don't they have enough work to do actually chasing real
criminals, without indulging  in this  sort of bravado?]