To François Legault who calls for “reestablishing order” in Montreal and suggests sending the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) as reinforcements, Valérie Plante retorts that the metropolitan police have “all the skills and experience” required to manage an event.
Posted at 5:11 p.m.
« Yesterday I spoke to François [Legault]. And what I told him is that the SPVM really has all the skills and experience to manage demonstrations. In the last year alone, 500 different events have been managed by the SPVM,” argued Mr.me Plante, in the press scrum on Wednesday.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante
She assures that she does not want to “do political interference in the operations of the SPVM”. “We have already played in this film and Montrealers are not interested in seeing that,” continued the elected official, referring to her predecessor, Denis Coderre.
Prime Minister François Legault said on Tuesday that he wanted the “thugs” and “thugs” to be arrested in order to “restore order” in Montreal, denouncing the violence that occurred Friday evening during a demonstration against NATO , in the city center, where the parliamentary assembly of the international military alliance was held.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Prime Minister François Legault
Protesters threw smoke bombs and smashed windows during the rally. Around thirty people are believed to be responsible for the breakage, according to the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM).
Monday, Mme Plante denounced the presence of those who were there “to cause damage, to break up windows for no reason, if only by provocation or to divert attention”. “They are known to the police. It could have been a demonstration on housing, on the economy, on support for Palestine… they would have been there,” the mayor said.
Mr. Legault claims to have offered M.me Plan to send the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) as reinforcement. To which the mayor replied that this is already partly the case.
Maybe Mr. Legault didn’t know it, but the SQ has been working with the SPVM for a long time. They were there Friday and Saturday, but maybe the memo didn’t get through.
Valérie Plante, mayor of Montreal
So far, three people have been arrested in connection with the protest, but more arrests are expected in the coming days.
With The Canadian Press
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