Last night hundreds of people protested in Montreal, Canada on the 21st annual march against police brutality. Watch the videos of yesterday demonstration

Written by Riot Turtle for Enough is Enough

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of these events, we are publishing them for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on.

Yesterdays protest in Montreal denounced police brutality against indigenous people, people of color, women and the homeless. People marched after a snow storm that shut down many schools and businesses, but hundreds of people took part.

Around 7 p.m., protesters began marching westward on Ontario St., trudging through slushy streets. As the march headed downtown, masked activists threw fireworks, rocks, and smashed a car car parked outside McGill Metro.

After about 1 hour, riot cops and cops on bicycles surrounded protesters, trapping them at Place des Arts between St. Urbain St. and Jeanne-Mance St.

Riot cops kettled protesters in a parking lot behind police headquarters on St. Urbain St. The riot cops started pushing protesters against a wall, but released the people in the kettle without issuing any tickets or charges. Cops also confiscated backpacks of protesters. A police spokesman later said the backpacks may be used for evidence.



This years protests against police brutality in Montreal took on the theme of gentrification. Hochelaga, where the protest began, is an area currently struggling with the effects of gentrification with an influx of high-end businesses and high-earning households.

Before the protesters started to march, activists of the Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière gave speeches at Place Valois, calling police brutality and gentrification “two sides of the same coin.”

One of the COBP activists said: “Let us remember that condos are growing like weeds. […] Let us remember that the cops protect the bourgeois businesses while the community centres decay.”

He continued, saying that Ontario St., where the protesters marched through, is constantly patrolled by police. Officers harass community members like the homeless and sex workers repeatedly, he added.

“They’re harassing people that already suffer enough,” the COBP activist said.

According to police authorities there were no injuries and no arrests.

Video of yesterdays lives stream from the demonstration in Montreal:

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