Its about time they start beating the shit out of them. Hopefully the same in Toronto Monday.
Montreal police use gas, batons on pro-Palestinian protesters
Police said: 'We had to intervene, as they were blocking a main street and not complying with police orders'
The Montreal police used tear gas and batons to disperse a pro-Palestinian protest they say was blocking a busy downtown street Monday afternoon.
Video of the intervention circulating on social media shows officers in riot gear firing gas canisters, as well as shoving and aggressively striking protesters with batons.
Police say protesters from the nearby
Université du Québec à Montréal pro-Palestinian encampment attempted to block President Kennedy Ave. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. around 3:30 p.m.
“When police intervened to disperse them, the protesters did not co-operate with the officers’ demands,” said police spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier.
“After several discussions on-site, the officers had to use chemical irritant gas and batons to repel the demonstrators,” Gauthier added. “We had to intervene, as they were blocking a main street and not complying with police orders.”
She said there were no arrests or tickets issued; nor were any serious injuries reported, according to Gauthier, though protesters say otherwise.
A spokesperson for the encampment at UQAM could not immediately be reached Tuesday morning.
In a social media post, those behind the encampment denounced the police force’s “immediate crackdown” and said it came without warning or notice to disperse.
“Demonstrators were pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed and bludgeoned,” they wrote.
“Several people were injured, including head injuries (falls and truncheon blows), facial injuries (tear-gas grenades to the head and truncheon blows), minor wounds and contusions,” they added.
They said the protest was intended to be a “temporary zone of autonomy” for the Palestinian cause. It was used to draw awareness and invite people to join the student protests
against Israel’s military response in Gaza.
“The disproportionate police intervention testifies to the police’s fear of the spread and popularization of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine,” they added.
The pro-Palestinian encampment at UQAM
has been in place since May 12. There was a noticeable police presence around the site over the weekend.
On Monday, UQAM rector Stéphane Pallage released a statement to staff at the university saying the situation had become more worrisome of late, with three entrances to the school shut off by protesters, more barricades being erected around the encampment and some protesters stockpiling pieces of asphalt within the camp.
“People dressed in black with their faces covered are intimidating those who approach the barricades,” Pallage wrote. “There was an altercation with a journalist, and even with two police officers who were attempting to stop graffiti from replacing the name Pierre Dansereau with Al-Aqsa. Some of our employees are speaking of a growing sense of insecurity.”
Pallage said the encampment has been infiltrated by groups with more radical objectives, and with entrances being blocked and the security situation deteriorating on campus, he would not hesitate to call for an injunction to dismantle it if things do not improve.
Another encampment has been in place on McGill University’s downtown
campus for more than three weeks.
"We had to intervene, as they were blocking a main street and not complying with police orders," the SPVM said.
torontosun.com
