MONTREAL—A symphony of smashing, spray-painting and projectile-tossing played out Thursday in downtown Montreal during the city’s notoriously raucous annual anti-police march.
Protesters lobbed objects at officers, vandalized some stores and smashed two police vehicles. Authorities responded by firing off chemical irritants in a bid to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 people.
There were more than 100 arrests — although that number had potential to grow, given there were more than 200 detained last year.
There was a surreal backdrop to some of the unruly scenes.
On the one hand, anarchists and anti-authority types tossed objects like garbage cans at police cars, and police responded by pumping chemical irritants into the air. In the background, regular crowds went about their ordinary business like evening shopping and eating out.
The march did disrupt some economic activity, however. Security at some Sainte-Catherine Street boutiques locked their customers inside to protect them.
“Smoke bombs aren’t great for business,” joked one store manager, yelling across the street at another one.
Police asked the protesters to disperse, but they merely headed north to the area not far from the Bell Centre. A large group was eventually surrounded by police near the city’s central metro station, Berri-UQAM, where the lion’s share of arrests were made.
Some protesters had been carrying around rocks, looking for targets. One police spokesman joked, in reference to the diverse, unpredictable crowd: “The problem with this type of protest is some people have a peace sign in one hand, and a rock in the other.”
This year’s anti-police march comes at a particularly sensitive time.
There have been battles in recent weeks at massive student protest marches against tuition hikes. One student suffered a serious eye injury amid a police intervention at a march last week.
Also heightening tensions are several shootings involving Montreal police, including one where an innocent bystander was killed by a stray bullet on his way to work at a hospital.
Police say 13 of the previous 15 editions of the march have degenerated into confrontations where arrests have been made.
A group called the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, which organizes the annual event, never provides authorities with the protest route in advance as more mainstream protest organizers do.
“The route of the demonstration has not been provided and there exists no provision that obliges anyone to ask for a permit to demonstrate,” the collective said in a statement.
Organizers say other protests are planned in Toronto, Vancouver, Dallas, Brussels and Paris.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Sidhartha Banerjee
Protesters lobbed objects at officers, vandalized some stores and smashed two police vehicles. Authorities responded by firing off chemical irritants in a bid to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 people.
There were more than 100 arrests — although that number had potential to grow, given there were more than 200 detained last year.
There was a surreal backdrop to some of the unruly scenes.
On the one hand, anarchists and anti-authority types tossed objects like garbage cans at police cars, and police responded by pumping chemical irritants into the air. In the background, regular crowds went about their ordinary business like evening shopping and eating out.
The march did disrupt some economic activity, however. Security at some Sainte-Catherine Street boutiques locked their customers inside to protect them.
“Smoke bombs aren’t great for business,” joked one store manager, yelling across the street at another one.
Police asked the protesters to disperse, but they merely headed north to the area not far from the Bell Centre. A large group was eventually surrounded by police near the city’s central metro station, Berri-UQAM, where the lion’s share of arrests were made.
Some protesters had been carrying around rocks, looking for targets. One police spokesman joked, in reference to the diverse, unpredictable crowd: “The problem with this type of protest is some people have a peace sign in one hand, and a rock in the other.”
This year’s anti-police march comes at a particularly sensitive time.
There have been battles in recent weeks at massive student protest marches against tuition hikes. One student suffered a serious eye injury amid a police intervention at a march last week.
Also heightening tensions are several shootings involving Montreal police, including one where an innocent bystander was killed by a stray bullet on his way to work at a hospital.
Police say 13 of the previous 15 editions of the march have degenerated into confrontations where arrests have been made.
A group called the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, which organizes the annual event, never provides authorities with the protest route in advance as more mainstream protest organizers do.
“The route of the demonstration has not been provided and there exists no provision that obliges anyone to ask for a permit to demonstrate,” the collective said in a statement.
Organizers say other protests are planned in Toronto, Vancouver, Dallas, Brussels and Paris.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Sidhartha Banerjee
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