Three people were arrested after pro-Palestinian and anti-NATO protests in Montreal turned violent on Friday, police said.
Protests denouncing NATO occurred in the city all day as it hosts the 70th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from Friday to Monday. The protests turned violent, however, after demonstrators began to throw objects at police and two vehicles were lit on fire.
The protest began in Emilie-Gamelin Place at about 4:30 p.m., Montreal police spokesman Constable Manuel Couture said. Shortly thereafter, the group met with another set of protesters nearby.
This is happening in Montreal now
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Protesters then set a mannequin ablaze at around 6:10 p.m. before they started to march. They then started tossing items such as smoke bombs into the street in what appeared to be an effort to obstruct police.
Couture said protesters subsequently assaulted law enforcement and threw fireworks. Those who were apprehended were accused of assaulting police officers and obstructing police work.
Law enforcement then used multiple techniques, including the use of chemical irritants, to break up the crowd, which was when several windows were broken and two vehicles were set on fire. According to police, protesters smashed the windows of the Palais des Congres, where the NATO summit is taking place.
By 7 p.m., the crowd had dispersed.
Friday also marked the second day of a provincewide student boycott over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Images out of Universite du Quebec a Montreal showed students draped in the Palestinian and Lebanese flags in the halls and holding posters with anti-NATO slogans, according to CTV News Montreal.
A group calling for pro-Palestinian student strikes at the university posted online that “it’s clear that Israel can only act out its murderous plans thanks to weapons from and the economic and political support of western imperial forces, including Canada.”
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The post also says that for NATO members, “the massacres in Palestine and in Lebanon are just another opportunity to make a buck. They will continue unless we force them to put an end to it.”
One Canadian lawmaker, Sen. Leo Housakos, a member of Canada’s Conservative Party, took issue with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attending a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto as the protests took place.
Tonight, while Justin Trudeau is partying it up in Toronto, I was meeting with several members of the Jewish community of Montreal.
Meanwhile, this is our hometown tonight. The proHamas crowd emboldened by Mr. Trudeau’s pledge to arrest the Israeli PM.
Hope you had fun at the… pic.twitter.com/mJEU3etzPr
