Montreal: Establishment calls for increased police powers after mini-riot

After the nights game between the Montreal Canadians and the Boston Bruins, several thousand fans took to the streets in the downtown area to celebrate their teams victory. Approximately an hour after the match, when the number of fans in the streets had diminished considerably, a small group of people began to cause trouble. The City of Montreal Police Department (SPVM), which had deployed 300 police officers in the downtown area for what was only a first-round playoff game, brought in the riot squad. Confrontations ensued and the police arrested 16 people. Five police cars were burned and twelve others damaged. The windows of a dozen downtown stores were broken, and several of the stores were looted. No serious injuries were reported.

The mass media have since criticised the police for being too timid and friendly in their approach. Yves Boisvert, in the Montreal daily La Presse, wrote that ... if the goal of the operation is to stop things from boiling over, there must be a show of force [and] active retaliatory steps. Jean-Robert Sansfaçon, the editor-in-chief of Le Devoir, declared that it was most important to ... know how to protect the businesses, and above all how to disperse crowds rapidly, instead of letting people come together in the expectation of doing something, regardless of the nature of that thing.

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