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Ottawa police have suspects in firebombing
By Gary Dimmock and Tony Spears, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Police detectives investigating Tuesday’s bold firebombing of an uptown Ottawa bank have now identified suspects, all of whom live in Ottawa and are linked to an anti-establishment network.
The firebombing by anarchist group FFFC-Ottawa was filmed and posted online, and seasoned detectives have collected trace evidence from the burnt-out Royal Bank of Canada branch.
The police department has also retrieved security video from storefronts along Bank Street and First Avenue, including high-definition images.
The homegrown terrorists, who attacked the bank because it sponsored the Vancouver Olympics, made their getaway in an SUV.
They are believed to comprise a group of at least four people, linked to an online independent media site and an anti-establishment network which organizes protests against G8 and G20 Summits, unfair trade and government cuts to welfare.
Some of the network’s meetings are held at a coffee and juice shop in Ottawa’s Chinatown.
Thursday, employees and patrons of the coffee shop spoke openly about the firebombing, and were quick to condemn it. The coffee shop, once a co-op, used to attract a small group of self-proclaimed anarchists who often spoke of taking action against the establishment — but their talk was dismissed as just that.
They were considered misguided “kids” and they severed their ties to the coffee shop a few months ago after strained relations with staff and patrons. They didn’t fit in with the so-called hippie and poetry scene, which is thriving at the friendly cafe.
The police said they are confident that evidence will yield arrests. Detectives are in overdrive, prompted in part, by the brazen “catch-me-if-you-can” online video.
In their pursuit of the suspects, detectives are exhausting solid leads gained from video of the culprits and their getaway vehicle. They have not been overwhelmed with tips from a concerned public because the firebombing happened around 3:30 a.m., when the normally busy Bank Street is quiet.
Police expect to use search warrants in the firebombing case and have enlisted help from the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been briefed about the case because the firebombers posted an online statement saying they will be at the upcoming G8 summit in Huntsville, Ont., and at the G20 meeting in Toronto.
Since 2007, RBC branches across Canada have been targeted in dozens of attacks by Canadian anarchists and other extremists who view the bank as a symbol of corporate greed. RBC’s major sponsorship of February’s Olympic Games in Vancouver brought the simmering hostility to a boil.
But until now, the actions have been limited to vandalism. Several anarchist websites are threatening confrontations at next month’s summits. Police have enlisted top security experts to stop protesters from disrupting the meetings.
As police continue to investigate, some users of the website which hosted the firebombing video have alleged harassment by law-enforcement and have taken steps to preserve their anonymity.
The site is indymedia.org and is described as “a network of collectively run media outlets.”
John Hollingsworth, part of the “editorial collective” of the Ottawa Indymedia page, said editors provide a “janitorial” service by dealing with inflammatory or inappropriate postings as necessary.
“Being an ‘open publishing’ model, users of the site typically post content themselves without us knowing much about it,” he wrote in an e-mail. "We take no ‘editorial’ position on (the firebombing) as that is not what we do.
“We’re pretty much a passive but secure vehicle for activists of various stripes to post their news and views . . . it is not a specifically ‘anarchist’ website by any means.”
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/Ottawa+police+have+suspects+firebombing/3054901/story.html