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An anti-capitalist protest for International Workers Day turned violent minutes after it began on Tuesday.

More than 200 protesters gathered at Lafontaine Park around 6 p.m., many already wearing masks.

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Around 6:30 p.m., protesters began marching toward downtown, accompanied by a large number of police officers in riot gear.

As the march reached the corner of Sherbrooke and St-Timothée Sts., less than 10 minutes after it began, fireworks went off. Some protesters appeared to be throwing firecrackers at police, who took cover behind parked cars.

Police used chemical irritants in an effort to disperse the crowd, splitting it into two groups, as police chased some protesters west along Sherbrooke, another group was chased back to Lafontaine Park.

In the park, police largely dispersed the crowd, though a couple people remained in front of the police line, yelling at the officers.

One police officer stepped forward and shoved one young man, who pushed the officer back, as other officers moved forward and started wrestling the young man to the ground, the crowd started to re-form.