Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120198
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OKA, QUEBEC LENGTH: Medium
Provincial police officers in helmets, fatigues and gas masks exchanged hundreds of rounds of bullets with the Indians and fired tear gas and stun grenades during a battle over several hours.
Police later retreated and both sides remained behind barricades in a standoff. The Indians patrolled the edge of the disputed golf course in stolen carts in preparation for another attack.
Mohawk tribe members reacted angrily to the police attack.
"We were pushed around for centuries, and we're being pushed again," said Eleanor Montour, 67, "and we're getting awfully tired of it."
The dispute centers on land owned by the town of Oka since 1947. The Indians always have maintained it is their land, and their Kahnesetake settlement surrounds it.
Oka, 18 miles west of Montreal, rents the land to the operators of the private nine-hole course. The operators say they want to clear the land and expand the course to 18 holes.
On Tuesday, Oka Mayor Jean Ouellette asked police to enforce a court injunction ordering the removal of a Mohawk barricade set up three months ago on the access road to the disputed land.
Quebec's public security minister, Sam Elkas, insisted neither he nor any other government official knew that provincial police were headed to Oka. He said the police intervened at the request of Oka municipal authorities.
After the police warned Oka officials of the possible consequences, the police then asked the Mohawks to leave the barricade, Elkas said.
"They refused, at that point we went in to remove them, and gunshots were fired," Elkas said.
But Mohawk spokesman Harvey Nicholas said the Indians were just returning fire after police began shooting.
"They can shoot us down like animals, but we can't shoot back," Nicholas said. "People are getting killed because boys want to run around and play golf."
Cpl. Marcel Lemay, 31, was shot in the face and was declared dead about an hour later at nearby St. Eustache hospital.
by CNB