Arrests from Quebec protests far exceed number jailed in FLQ crisis

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This article was published 25/05/2012 (5193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — The historic scope of the unrest in Quebec was illustrated in surreal scenes and statistics compiled early Thursday: more people were detained within a few hours — at least 650 of them, in mass roundups — than were arrested in all of the October Crisis.

More than 2,500 people have been arrested in a months-long dispute, which is at least five times the number jailed during the 1970 FLQ crisis that saw martial law declared in Quebec.

While nobody has died, unlike the 1970 crisis, and most people arrested have been ticketed and released unlike those left to languish in jails back then, critics of the provincial government have spared no adjective to describe current events.

“The government has led us to the worst social crisis we have ever known in Quebec,” Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois scolded the premier in the legislature Thursday.

“Six-hundred-fifty-one — that’s the number of arrests yesterday… of ordinary citizens, men, women, young people arrested because they wanted to voice their opposition to decisions of the Liberal regime…

“That’s where the Quebec Liberal Party has taken us: mass arrests, more often than not arbitrary ones, to silence opposition.”

In that gloomy atmosphere, rays of hope emerged for possible progress.

There were plans for the government and student leaders to meet again, likely early next week. Education Minister Michelle Courchesne said she expected a “very, very important” session after having had positive discussions over the phone.

A new point man has also been assigned to help resolve the crisis: Premier Jean Charest has replaced his chief of staff with a well-regarded veteran who once served in that same role for him, bringing back Daniel Gagnier from political retirement with a mandate to make peace.

Restoring order in time for the tourist-filled festival season, which starts in a few weeks, appears a monumental task given the events that unfolded in the wee hours Thursday.

A peaceful evening march that began with people festively banging pots and pans ended with police using the controversial “kettling” tactic on a crowd of demonstrators and arresting 518 people in Montreal. Scores of others were arrested elsewhere.

Kettling involves officers surrounding demonstrators and limiting their exits. It often results in the scooping up of innocent bystanders as well as rowdies.

— The Canadian Press