Thousands of Quebecois took to the Montreal streets on Saturday in protest of Premier Legault's lockdown measures. These measures are strict and include a 8PM curfew for everyone. Exclusive reporting from the Westphalian Times depicts Service de police de la Ville de Montréal pushing and teargassing protestors.
Westphalian Times editor Marie Oakes estimates around 3,000 - 5,000 attendees at the protest showed up initially, followed by thousands more. Footage shows massive crowds marching down St. Denis in Montreal.
Souvenir de la marche pacifique, 13 MARS 2021#MONTREAL#STOPDICTATURE
— Lili Rose (@Lili_Rosea) March 13, 2021
Source: MarcThebuzzer67
Telegram pic.twitter.com/Vu6viAnhd0
It is wall to wall packed of protesters on St Denis in #Montreal pic.twitter.com/IQNliVaWsm
— Marie O (@TheMarieOakes) March 13, 2021
The police were out in full force and used megaphones, warning attendees to socially distance or face fines in the thousands. Eventually, back up arrived and the SPVM began shoving protestors. According to Oakes, one protestor yelled over the intercom, "this is a peaceful protest, you don’t have to do this. People are peaceful here, you’re the violent ones. There’s a woman lying on the ground."
Police then began deploying teargas with no warning to the crowd. This led to the Westphalian Times editor herself getting hit with a canister of teargas.
The Montreal Police began deploying teargas on the crowd without warning.
— Marie O (@TheMarieOakes) March 13, 2021
Reporting for @WestphalianNews #Montreal #MontrealProtest #LockdownProtest pic.twitter.com/rBRzQTZJFl
The protest is still on-going. The is a breaking story and will be updated as more information comes in.