2009-03-16

Montreal: 221 arrested as cars, windows and police cars vanadalized

After about 90 minutes, police used tear gas to break up the crowd at Sherbrooke and St. Denis Sts.

That started what turned into a long cat-and-mouse game, as police chased down roving bands of protesters.

Some became violent.

Marchers overturned garbage cans and set some on fire, and some vehicles and businesses were damaged by people throwing rocks.

Three hours after the march started, dozens of protesters were encircled by riot police at Ste. Catherine and Bleury Sts., where police fired rubber bullets at people throwing bottles and rocks.

Thirt-two of the arrests were for Criminal Code violations, including assault, theft, mischief and posession of a weapon with dangerous intent, Montreal police Constable Laurent Gingras said Monday morning; of these two were minors and 17 were detained and are expected to appear in court Monday morning to be arraigned.

Another 189 were cited for municipal by-law infractions like unlawful assembly, Gingras said. Police ruled the protest to be illegal just as it began because some people were carrying weapons.

“We let them walk but then when we gave the order to leave, when it started to get violent about 3:30 or 4 p.m., we started arresting people,” Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafrenière said Sunday night.

Hundreds of officers worked the protest, including the riot squad and police on bicycles and horseback.

Many were wearing camouflage pants, something the city of Montreal tried unsuccessfully to stop for fear of mixing up police with protesters. Two police officers were slightly injured – one when he was hit in the arm with a rock; the other when he fell. Some people were arrested even before the demonstration started because they were carrying rocks and other objects, police said.

The protest, organized by the Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière, began around 2 p.m. at the Mont Royal métro station, where people clapped as a band played and listened to speeches criticizing police for the Aug. 9 killing of Fredy Villanueva. Villanueva, 18, was not armed when he was fatally shot and two others were injured. A public inquest is to begin May 25.

Organizers told protesters the police were “already on edge” and looking for any opportunity to arrest them.

“The police think they can do what they want, hit us with billy clubs, use pepper spray, arrest us – just because we say no to them,” said one man, who added he has been arrested countless times, for things like spitting and sitting on park benches.

There was confusion throughout the afternoon, first when service on the métro’s orange line was interrupted for nearly an hour – many demonstrators were taking the subway to the Mont Royal station. Someone pulled an emergency brake on the platform in one of the stations, Société de transport de Montréal spokesperson Marianne Rouette said.

Outside the Mont Royal métro station, several hundred demonstrators were confined by police to two blocks of the street. Some protesters lit firecrackers and lobbed bottles, broccoli and other vegetables at riot police across the street. Police responded by spraying the crowd.

Police eventually let the crowd out onto St. Denis St., where they filled the street, blocking traffic and heading south. At some intersections no one was directing traffic, and drivers trying to cross or turn onto St. Denis St. were left cooling their heels.

Police had advised businesses to take precautions like keeping garbage cans and flower planters indoors, but most were open for business and few seemed worried about the demonstration, although some had moved items indoors.

“I have no problem with this; it’s a march against violence, so there’s no reason for me to believe there will be violence,” said an employee at a framing shop on St. Denis. Customers were in the store, one paying for his purchase as chanting marchers went by.

But others disagreed. One man watching from the sidewalk shook his head as masked young people walked by.

“If it’s a choice between them and the police, I’ll take the police,” he said.

Riot police eventually boxed in several dozen protesters at Bleury and Ste. Catherine, near a construction site. Some people went into the fenced area and picked up rocks and other items and threw them at police. Protesters said police responded by firing rubber bullets at them.

Riot police marched along Ste. Catherine toward the corralled demonstrators, clearing the street, and around 6 p.m. began arresting demonstrators, taking them out of the crowd one at a time, putting plastic handcuffs on them, frisking them and putting them on waiting buses. Four buses were filled with people arrested, and several police vans were also filled. It took until about 9 p.m.

At last year’s march, 47 people were arrested and about 10 restaurant windows were broken and one car was firebombed.

An analysis by the Collectif last August says that 42 people have died at the hands of police in Montreal since 1987. Of those, 28 per cent were visible minorities. And in 86 per cent of those cases, police were exonerated.

That compilation did not include the Villanueva case.

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Police+brutality+march+damages/1392340/story.html