The traditional anti-capitalist May Day demonstration did not last long in Montreal Monday night, being broken up less than half an hour after protesters left for various misdeeds.
About a hundred protesters first gathered at Madeleine-Parent Park in the Pointe-Saint-Charles sector before taking to the streets at 7:50 p.m. Participants crossed the Atwater market before walking up the avenue of the same name.
Thierry Laforce / QMI Agency
Demonstrators, mostly dressed in black and masked, quickly committed various crimes, most notably by using smoke bombs, causing havoc on vehicles or shop windows, or throwing garbage cans on the street, Manuel Couture, spokesman for the Service de Police de la Ville de la Ville, said Montreal (SPVM).
“There was a confrontation with the police and bullets were thrown at the police,” he added.
Thierry Laforce / QMI Agency
These clashes prompted police to use chemical irritants to disperse the protesters around 8:15 p.m.
A report of possible arrests was not immediately available.
Thierry Laforce / QMI Agency
Organized by the Association of Anti-Capitalist Struggles (CLAC-Montreal), the demonstration aimed in particular to denounce inflation and the rising cost of living that enrich owners and businesses.
“The socialization of the rental park, the abolition of the wage condition and the free and collectively managed public transport are elements of radical solutions to these problems,” explains the CLAC in its demonstration call.