http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/05/18/13988216.html#/news/otta...
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A group of anarchists has claimed responsibility for firebombing a Royal Bank of Canada branch in the Glebe early Tuesday, going as far as posting a video of it online.
The seven-second video begins with two people inside the foyer of the RBC at Bank St. and First Ave. at about 3:30 a.m.
Seconds later a man is seen exiting through the side door as an orange fireball erupts throughout the front of the building, shattering windows and landing on the sidewalk.
Another man then pops out seconds after that. The video was shot diagonally across the intersection by a third person. It was posted on popular activist website ottawa.indymedia.org at about noon.
The video is known to Ottawa police arson investigators and accompanies a message from the anarchists complaining RBC “was a major sponsor of the recently concluded 2010 Olympics on stolen indigenous land.”
“The Vancouver Olympic games are over, but a torch is still burning,” a rolling text reads after the video abruptly ends.
It continues to say the land was never legally “ceded” to colonial British Columbia.
“This hasn’t stopped the government from assuming full ownership of the land and its resources for the benefit of its corporate masters and to the detriment of aboriginal peoples, workers and the poor of the province,” it said.
Several men were seen driving away from the scene just before the flames erupted.
Fire crews were called to the bank at about 3:28 a.m. after several passersby spotted the flames.
The getaway car is described only as being an SUV, and no other descriptions were made available.
Damages are estimated at about $300,000 and the entire front of the bank was destroyed. The fire started in the ATM area and the rest of the 1 1/2 storey building suffered smoke and heat damage. Fire crews had the blaze under control in less than 30 minutes and saved it from spreading to other buildings.
The video is now evidence for police.
“It’s information that needs to be followed up like other information,” said Sgt. David Christie of the Ottawa police arson squad.
Christie was busy working the investigation all day and was about to sit down and go through more calls and messages at about 6 p.m.
One police officer described the web posting as a case of “catch me if you can,” while another said it’s crazy and “that’s the way it is with those guys,” referring to the anarchists.
In their message, the anarchists said RBC is a major financier of Alberta’s tar sands while advertising they are one of the greenest companies in Canada.
“The tar sands, now the cause of the second fastest rate of deforestation on the planet, are slated to expand several times its current size. The games in Vancouver are now over, but resistance continues. An RBC branch can be found in every corner of Kanada (sic),” they said, implying more attacks could occur.
It’s not the first time RBC branches have been targeted in Ottawa. In early 2008 bricks were thrown through the windows of the Glebe branch and another branch on Elgin St.
Anarchists took credit for those incidents, also saying they were done in opposition to the Olympic games.
RBC didn’t immediately return calls from the Sun.
The anarchist group is vowing to be at the G8 and G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto next month.