500 Gather to Protest Police Brutality
March 23, 2006
MONTREAL (CUP)–For the tenth year in a row, Montreal was the scene of a heated anti-police-brutality demonstration. Established in 1997 as an initiative of Switzerland’s Black Flag organization and the Montreal-based Collective Opposé à la Brutalité Policière, the demonstration is meant to highlight the excessive use of power regularly attributed to the Montreal PD.
As the group set out on their meandering march, squeegees became implements of destruction against provincial election signs, while garbage cans and other debris were strewn across the streets.
The situation turned serious when demonstrators marched up St. Laurent, north of Sherbrooke. The windows of resto-bar Club Med were splintered by projectiles and an officer was struck in the face with a bottle. Police doused the crowd with pepper spray and several divisions of riot police charged the crowd.
Demonstrators fled and a lengthy pursuit ensued. Remnants of the crowd eventually regrouped outside of a metro station.
After a large fire was set in the street, police pursued protesters into the metro station, trapping them inside.
In the end approximately 30 people were taken into custody. Four were charged with vandalizing vehicles, while the rest were issued municipal fines for attending an illegal demonstration.
Now you go...
Got something to say?