The early morning operation came on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, an extremely lucrative tourist event for the city. Politicians and officials have been concerned about protesters who’ve promised to disrupt that event and others this summer.
Yalda Machouf-Khadir, 19, was arrested at the home of her parents in Montreal’s trendy Plateau Mont-Royal district. A sign near the door reads: “When injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes a duty.”
Armed with a warrant, police searched the Khadir’s household, along with several other residences in Montreal and Longueuil. They’re still searching for some of the 11 people targeted in the operation.
According to Machouf-Khadir’s mother, Nima Machouf, the warrant indicated police were acting on allegations of mischief, theft under $5,000, breaking and entering, and possession of break-in instrument.
Machouf-Khadir, a prominent activist in the student movement, already faces strict bail conditions related to charges for having participated in a demonstration in which the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, an important commuter link, was blocked by protesters on May 15. She had previously been fined for blocking another Montreal span, the Champlain Bridge.
Police said they were targeting those suspected of playing a role in different acts of vandalism related to the student strike, including throwing smoke bombs in the Montreal subway system on May 10, placing bags of bricks on the subway tracks in April 16, and for incidents at the offices of former education minister Line Beauchamp and the l’Université de Montréal.
The smoke bomb incident shut down the entire Métro system and caused rush-hour chaos for more than 200,000 people.
Khadir, the National Assembly member for the riding of Mercier, which includes part of the Plateau Mont-Royal, said police picked up his daughter relative to the occupation of Beauchamp’s offices in April.
He described her as “an inordinately wise” woman. “I think that my daughter always acts in the interest of the common good,” said Khadir, the sole elected member for the ultra-left party Québec solidaire. “She has a huge concern for justice.”
“Everyone is equal before the law,” he added, “and my daughter will assume her responsibilities.”
Khadir was arrested during a protest in Quebec City on Tuesday night, which had been declared illegal.
He was demonstrating against the government’s Bill 78, implemented on May 18, which sought to impose stricter rules on street protests.
On Wednesday, Khadir said it was an act of “civil disobedience” and that he was simply doing “what Martin Luther King would have done.”
Khadir has faced criticism for encouraging civil disobedience of the new law.
Student movement leaders sharply criticized the arrests and searches.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for the most militant student group, the CLASSE, said it wasn’t a coincidence they happened just hours before the start of the Grand Prix.
“We can ask ourselves questions about when this is happening, at the moment of the Grand Prix,” Nadeau-Dubois ventured. “We can ask if there isn’t a preventive effect, if they weren’t looking for a dissuasive effect, at the start of a sensitive weekend.”
Police created a huge perimeter Thursday night around a west Montreal venue where the Grand Prix’s opening cocktail was taking place. They kettled about 100 protesters and arrested several people, police announced on Twitter.
The student strike has been going on since last February. Some protests have turned violent.
Several rounds of negotiations with the provincial government have failed.
In recent days the number of students at the nightly demonstrations in Montreal has been dwindling.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Andrew Chung
No comments:
Post a Comment