One-year anniversary demo fizzles

Christopher Curtis, The Gazette 

One-year anniversary demo fizzles

Protesters are arrested after police shut down their march within 15 minutes in Montreal as they mark the one year anniversary of the largest demonstration that drew more than 100,000 people in 2012 against student fee hikes.

Peter McCabe / The Gazette

MONTREAL —  Police sent a clear message to the city's protesting students Friday evening by cracking down on their demonstration before it could even begin.

About 200 people were surrounded by riot cops, detained and issued $634 fines just moments after defying a police order instructing the crowd not to march throughout downtown Montreal.

It was a stark contrast to the student demonstrations that dominated the cityscape last spring — when violent clashes between protesters and police were a regular occurrence in Montreal.

Friday night's gathering, which began at Parc Émilie-Gamelin at 6 p.m., was organized to mark the one-year anniversary of a huge protest held last March 22 in Montreal that drew hundreds of thousands. In contrast to last year's massive event, only a few hundred braved the cold and snow for the anniversary march, which also protested the PQ government's plan to increase university tuition fees by about $70 a year.

The techniques used during Friday's protest, in which three large groups were encircled and 'kettled' into a tight space, seem to indicate the Montreal police will be taking a zero tolerance approach to illegal assemblies.

Montreal's P-6 bylaw gives authorities the power to declare a demonstration illegal if police were not given a parade route for the march at least 24 hours ahead of time. Although the law came into affect last spring, police half-heartedly enforced it at the time, often waiting for things to turn violent before stepping in with CS Gas canisters, baton strikes and arrests.

There was no vandalism Friday and not one criminal act according to Montreal police Sgt. Jean-Bruno Latour. As hundreds gathered in the cold outside of Berri métro station, the cops quickly got on their megaphones to declare the event an illegal assembly and order the crowd to disperse.

The crowd attempted to defy the order, running through the snowy park and onto de Maisonneuve Blvd. to begin their march. They were almost instantly met by mounted police and a column of riot cops, who banged their shields and batons together as they charged the small crowd.

"Is this what democracy is supposed to look like?" said Andrea, who did not want her last name published. "I think we knew we would be arrested right away and that's sad. It's sad that we can't demonstrate, it says something about what we've come to expect from our institutions."

Andrea claims the police force's new strategy of instantly breaking up protests that violate bylaw P6 is working.

"Plenty of my friends didn't come tonight," she said. "They didn't want the hassle of being arrested and couldn't afford to pay their fine. Sure these things can get messy, but democracy is messy."

During a demonstration against police brutality held last Friday, a crowd was rapidly dispersed with tear gas, corralled against a brick wall, loaded onto a bus and detained. In the end, 250 people were arrested and slapped with a $634 fine for participating in an illegal assembly.

On Tuesday, police arrested 45 protesters before their demonstration against tuition hikes could even begin. Both protests were a violation of the city's P-6 bylaw.

A total of three groups had been kettled by lines of police at de Maisonneuve Blvd., St-André and St- Timothée Sts. Friday night.

Several journalists were among those detained, as was the protester known as "Anarchopanda." A man in a panda suit could be seen peering out from inside one of the kettles.

As darkness fell, the encircled protesters did their best to remain boisterous and defiant in the increasingly cold night. Some sang songs, jumped up and down and there were a few screaming matches with police.

After being processed, and issued their $634 tickets in a makeshift police station fashioned out of a city bus, protesters were released into the night.

"I can understand not wanting vandalism and widespread crime, but is this really the solution," said Rick, who did not want his last name published.


Twitter: @titocurtis

