During the 2012 student strike, now known as the biggest social movement in modern history of Quebec, the liberal government passed a controversial bill (bill 12) that prohibits every demonstration over 50 persons that has not given its exact time, location and path. The bill 12 expired on July 2013.
Meanwhile, the city of Montreal modified the P6 municipal law, which is literally the twin sister of the controversial bill 12. Since the P6 was modified, the police of Montreal (SPVM) use it to make arbitrary mass arrests. For example, during the annual March 15th demonstration against police brutality organised by the collective opposed to police brutality (COBP) there were no less than 284 people arrested who received a 637$ ticket just for showing up to the demonstration, even though it never took place because it was surrounded by police before the people even started marching.
Since March 2013 there has been 77 demonstrations that didn’t respect the bill 12 or P6, and only 17 of those were repressed by the SPVM (most of them organised by the COBP and CLAC). For example, on October 10th 2013 the demonstration against Enbridge, 150 protesters showed up and the police deployed 424 police members to repress the demonstration before it even began.
The latest on the list is the May Day demonstration where over 120 people were arrested before the people even put a foot on the street. Obviously, P6 was modified to eliminate all possibilities for far left groups to protest against capitalism, police brutality, and the like.
To denounce P6, Front Commun Montreal (FCM) decided to sign an open letter published in a major newspaper in Montreal on May 26. Our group is obviously extremely critic of such measures that strengthens systems of oppression. Already in 2013, FCM had distributed a leaflet denouncing the repression of supporters in Montreal.
Since last summer, all flags, banners and tifos must be pre-approved by the Montreal Impact Football Club in order to be allowed in the stadium. The club also took the opportunity to prohibit the Antifacist Action flag deployed regularly by FCM!!!
To counter these actions, our group decided to sensibilize fans about the issue and to sneak our flags and banners in the stadium instead of asking for permission. Front Commun Montreal took this opportunity to denounce police brutality and the escalation of repression in and outside the stadium.
