A routine fight-stopping operation turned into virtual riot management, resulting in nine overnight arrests from Friday to Saturday in Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships.
Coming back to the events of Saturday around 1am on Sunday morning, police said they first intervened after a fight broke out on Wellington Street.
But while the patrol officers were making an arrest, a hostile crowd of about a hundred people formed around the police officers, who were initially heaped with insults. Objects and fireworks were then thrown in their direction, Sherbrooke Police Department spokesman Benoit Pellerin said.
The arrival of reinforcements made it possible to gradually regain control of the situation. To accomplish this, officers arrested nine people, including three on charges of assaulting police officers with a weapon, assaulting police officers and assault. One of the suspects, a 25-year-old man, was due to be formally charged over the weekend.
A police officer and a policewoman were slightly injured in the fight. Vehicles were also damaged, police said.
This new episode of violence adds to a long list of disgraceful events that have marked Wellington Street – a key gathering place for young people in Sherbrooke – in recent months.
Remember that in August six young people were attacked and injured by a group of men. Five suspects were eventually arrested by the end of the month.
Saturday’s event appears to have been the straw for police, who were due to announce new measures to secure that artery on Monday, Mr Pellerin suggested.
A member of the Sherbrooke Police Department is due to provide an update on securing Wellington Street on Monday.