Protest or block party? 10,000 Canadians take to the streets (PHOTOS)

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Published time: May 27, 2012 09:59
Edited time: May 29, 2012 01:43

AFP Photo / Rogerio Barbosa

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Crisis, Education, Gayane Chichakyan, Human rights, North America, Opposition, Politics, Protest

Demonstrating in Canada does not necessarily mean clashing with riot police. Some 10,000 protesters on the streets of Montreal proved it by turning a Saturday march into a free-spirited festival resembling the world-famous Love Parade.

Protesters, most of them students, waved everything from the flag of Quebec to banners denouncing the latest national emergency laws curtailing the right to demonstrate..

Many rolled their way through the march on bicycles, rollerblades, and skateboards. Some came in attire befitting a Halloween party, while others chose to wear very little at all. Most of the protesters were either banging pots and pans or playing instruments and whistling.The cacophony created by the scores of protesters was reportedly deafening.

The police presence at the march was minimal, with no reports of arrests being registered at the peaceful event.

Canadian students have been protesting for over 100 days now, with several instances of violent clashes with police having been reported. Last Wednesday night police harshly cracked down on a similar student demonstration.

Some 700 people were detained throughout the Quebec province, pushing the total number of those detained over the last several months to at least 2,500.

Students march in Montreal during a protest against tuition fee increases on May 26, 2012 (AFP Photo / Rogerio Barbosa)

AFP Photo / Rogerio Barbosa

Comments (12)

Scott (unregistered) 30.05.2012 13:18

Jacob (unregistered) wrote in #10
The title of the article is not really honest journalism. This is in the Province of Quebec, and the matter of student tuition is a provincial issue, not a federal one. The "Rest of Canada" and 75% of Canadians are not involved with this. How is this not "honest journalism"? According to basic geography, Québec is still considered part of Canada. Thus people living in Quebec may rightly be called Canadians.

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State of Affairs (unregistered) 29.05.2012 14:21

As the number of demonstrators increase and the scope of unrest widens the Canadian government levels will run out of jails and arrest processing capacities. At that point, there is only one solution: To empty the jails and make room for the police and government officials to be inaugurated in former jails as their safe houses with maximum security that their earlier freedoms could no longer provide.

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Jacob (unregistered) 29.05.2012 03:09

The title of the article is not really honest journalism. This is in the Province of Quebec, and the matter of student tuition is a provincial issue, not a federal one. The "Rest of Canada" and 75% of Canadians are not involved with this.

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