Two photos from two different Montreal protests from last weekend have gone viral on facebook. One, taken Friday April 20th at a militant demonstration of about 2000 students and activists against Plan Nord, was a photo of police running from protesters. The other was a photo of Sunday's huge Earth day protest in Montreal (April 22nd), where 200,000 – 300,000 people gathered. The mainstream media would like to contrast these demonstrations as opposed, one massive and peaceful, one small and militant. Facebook, while allowing for a quick spread of photos, strips them of context in the way photos are being shared. I was at both demonstrations and have been speaking to Montreal activists over the past week, and this is the story behind the photos.
I’ll start with the first picture, of cops running from protesters. The police violence at the protest started when a demonstrator opened a door and was shot in the head point-blank with a tear gas canister. This is when the protest became more militant. Although there were one or two instances of police (including fully garbed riot police) running, these were the exception rather than the rule, and occured for very brief periods of time. Nonetheless, it might just mark a turning point in what many Quebecois are now calling ‘the Quebec spring.”
I spoke to Claude, who was there as a protester when the cops turned and ran.
“Well I don’t know exactly what was the turning point, what made the police turn and run. Actually, I was running from the policeman! And then I saw people all around me turn and start running the other way. So I turned as well, and started running after the policeman. I don’t know. I cannot help you more than that...just that the energy was so strong from our side that we could beat the police. But it lasted like 30 seconds (laughter), and then tear gas came in and we ran from the police (more laughter)."
"Just to make a little context, I’m 41 years old" he continued. "I’ve been in demonstrations for almost 25 years now and I thought I had some experience with those kind of things. But I quickly understood that the kids there, they know everything, they know how to make a good demonstration, they know how to defend themselves, and I quickly realized that I had to listen to what they were saying and follow them. And that’s...

Comments posted by Megan Kinch