Around twenty people were inconvenienced by an irritant gas in the common areas of Place des Arts on Saturday evening, after a conflict degenerated in the metro station of the same name, according to the Police Department of the City of Montreal (SPVM).
Posted at 9:28 p.m.
Updated at 11:20 p.m.
Trains on the four lines were stopped shortly before 9 p.m., due to an intervention by emergency medical services, said the social networks of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). Service resumed normally on the green and orange lines around thirty minutes later, and the SPVM confirmed the resumption of the entire network shortly after 10 p.m.
The mischief occurred around 8:20 p.m., when several calls were made to 911 to report that people were inconvenienced by an irritant gas in the common areas of Place des Arts, which appeared to be pepper spray, said the SPVM.
Police, firefighters and paramedics were deployed to the scene. People presenting symptoms similar to exposure to irritant gases were quickly treated, but no one was seriously injured or transported to hospital, assured the SPVM.
“The place was evacuated and ventilated, as were the Peel and Berri-UQAM metro stations as a preventive measure,” explained agent Véronique Dubuc, spokesperson for the SPVM.
The event could be explained by a conflict between two groups of young people at Place-des-Arts station, according to initial information collected by the authorities. Some allegedly sprayed irritant gas before fleeing by taking a metro car.
No arrests had been made at the time of writing.
Multiplication of attacks
Last April, two pepper spray attacks were reported in two days to the SPVM, in the Montreal metro. In recent years, cases of deliberate use of irritants have multiplied in the STM network, which frequently paralyzes entire lines of the network.
In the presence of irritant gas in a metro station, the first thing to do is to get out and get access to fresh air, according to Urgences-santé. Coughing, difficulty breathing, irritation to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract are the usual symptoms of exposure to the gas.
Last year, The Press revealed that the phenomenon of pepper spray attacks was 10 times higher in 2022 than it was 10 years previously.
With information from Lila Dussault, The Press
Read the article “Second irritant gas attack in two days in the Montreal metro”
Read the article “Use of irritant gas soars”
