MONTREAL, March 16 (UPI) -- Police arrested about 200 people when an annual downtown march against police brutality in Montreal turned violent, the force said.
The march Tuesday afternoon drew about 500 demonstrators who were met by a heavy contingent of police, some wearing riot gear, others with dogs or on horseback, while all were monitored by a hovering helicopter, The (Montreal) Gazette reported.
Earlier in the day, Chief Inspector Sylvain Lemay made a public statement to the anarchist demonstration organizers they wouldn't be harassed "as long as they don't break anything," the newspaper said.
However, police moved in after a rock was thrown through a plate glass window. As police were breaking up the march, rocks and snowballs were thrown at them. Officers responded with stun grenades, police said.
Officers also arrested people whose placards were stapled onto 2-by-4 boards, the report said.
Organizers allege Montreal police have a long history of physically abusing suspects.
A simultaneous protest in Toronto drew only 100 people and was short-lived with no arrests, the QMI Agency reported. UPI
