SSDD

by titocurtis

“To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

Since the controversial Bill 78 came into effect Saturday, four out of Montreal’s five night marches have ended in violence and mass arrests. Privately, most officers will tell you the new law (which more or less forbids spontaneous protests) is uninforceable and renders their work even more difficult.

And, truth be told, it can’t be too easy being a cop in Montreal these days. They’re constantly on the job, the nights are getting warmer and they’re clearly sweating bullets under all those layers of armour and weapons. Plus more and more people are pouring onto the city’s streets every day and night.

To make matters worse for the boys in blue, protesters are getting tougher, more organized and less afraid of the chemical irritants and plastic bullets their are coming into more frequent use these days.

For awhile that didn’t seem to change policing strategies so much: crowds were still heavily dosed with tear gas, flash bangs and the gamut of riot control weapons. But people keep showing in the streets by the thousands and challenging the province’s strict new demo laws, they march for miles on end and some of them still throw things at police.

Last night, however, felt like the beginning of a new and far more arbitrary strategy on behalf of the Montreal police. Not one chemical irritant was used. It was just old fashioned head busting.

Over 500 were arrested after a handful of projectiles were thrown at riot cops, according to police sources. Now there are rumours that the demos will be shut down before they even begin.

I doubt this is the solution Jean Charest had in mind when he drafted Bill 78 but it seems clear that this is the new reality on Montreal’s streets.