The president of the Brotherhood of Police Officers of Montreal, Yves Francoeur, denounces what he describes as double talk by politicians, both municipal and provincial, who have been criticizing for several days the management of the demonstration which went wrong on Friday evening last, on the sidelines of a NATO meeting at the Palais des Congrès.
Our police officers work with the legislative instruments that exist. I remind you that by-law P-6, which prevented masked demonstrations, was invalidated by the Superior Court in 2016. The City of Montreal does not[a] not [fait] appeal of this decision. And there have been no legislative changes to compensate and give us new tools
thundered the union leader in an interview with -.
Yves Francoeur reacted after hearing, in several media, the Minister of Public Security insist that he expected more arrests of thugs.
The Brotherhood recalls that the possibility for police officers to catch agitators during a demonstration was invalidated in court.
In 2022, there were eight class actions against the City because we [la police] acted too quickly; Arrests were made too quickly during the demonstrations. What has the City of Montreal decided to do? She granted a check for 8 million to the pursuers so as not to go to the Court of Appeal
added Mr. Francoeur.
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The numerous appeals won by pressure groups in court, without an appeal from the City of Montreal, have taken away tools from the police when a demonstration turns into vandalism, according to the Montreal police union. (Archive photo)
Photo : -
For his part, Prime Minister François Legault has repeatedly offered help from the Sûreté du Québec to restore order in Montreal after the broadcast of images of the vandalism that occurred in the city center. According to the union leader, not only does this proposal constitute an insult to the Montreal police officers, it also indicates a profound incomprehension of events.
It is the responsibility of our governments, at the municipal or provincial level, to [mandater] lawyers to find regulations or laws to equip us in the field. We found that waiting for them would be too long. We have mandated our own lawyers to study all the decisions rendered and to make recommendations to us which will be submitted to the Commission on Public Safety at Montreal City Hall.
decided Yves Francoeur.
We cannot act too quickly. We cannot act if people are masked.
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The president of the Brotherhood of Police Officers of Montreal accuses politicians, who criticize the SPVM for the management of the demonstration which turned into vandalism, of disempowering themselves as elected officials.
Photo: - / Charles Pépin
Before criticizing and making proposals that he considers crazy, Mr. Francoeur invites politicians to think before judging the quality of the work of his police officers on the ground.
This is not normal, in a democratic society like ours, in a law-based society, where we all agree [sur le fait] that it is a constitutional right to demonstrate, it is not normal to demonstrate masked. Even a moderately intelligent individual can anticipate that a person who is going to demonstrate in a mask has bad plans in mind.
he summarized.
At the time of writing these lines, the office of Mayor Valérie Plante and that of the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, had not yet reacted to Yves Francoeur’s comments.
