There wa sa huge riot in front of my house last night !
Cars overturned in the middle of the street. Others charred or sporting smashed windshields. Store windows smashed. In all, at least 19 damaged vehicles.
The war-zone-like scene occurred during a riot that broke out last night following a cancelled punk concert at the Medley Bar at St. Denis and René Lévesque Blvd.
"It doesn't seem possible," said the woman, who didn't want her name published. "You feel like you're elsewhere and not in Montreal. We always feel safe in Montreal."
Mayhem erupted around 8 p.m.
That was when organizers announced that the band Exploited could not make the show.
Hundreds of young people milled around the street for about 45 minutes before the violence began. Several then picked up material from a nearby construction site and hurled the items at cars and windows, said a witness.
Minutes later, cars were overturned and set on fire, flames shooting out the side windows as firemen directed streams of water at them.
Some of the rioters grabbed a computer from one of the stores and hurled it at a car. The windows of one large music store, a clothing shop and a printer were smashed.
"There was a lot of anger," added Sylvain Bouchard, who said the concert was highly anticipated.
"People jumped on cars," said Bouchard, who had a ticket for the show. "They were on the hoods. They broke windshields. They turned cars upside down .... and they set them on fire."
"Let's start a war! We want to riot," is how one bystander described the shouts of the rioters.
The riot squad arrived and police sealed off streets. One police officer suffered a minor leg injury. A few security agents from the Medley were also injured from broken glass. The injuries were not serious, said police.
"Things are stirred up pretty good," said one police officer at the corner of René Lévesque and Sanguinet Ave. as he hopped into his cruiser.
"I find it deplorable," said Bouchard as he watched flames shooting up from two cars on St. Denis St.
"Miraculously, my car wasn't touched," said Amir Khadir, a physician and an unsuccessful candidate for the left-wing Union des forces progressistes in last provincial election. Khadir had attended a forum at UQAM and parked his car across the street.
The UQAM professor was also one of the lucky ones. Only the front lights of her car were broken.
The incident took place after concert-goers were told that the groups wouldn't be performing because some members of the group were refused entry into the country by Canada Customs, the French-language TV channel LCN reported.
Riot police with helmets and shields blocked off a several block area as the young people fled. Several arrests were reported.
Montreal Gazette article
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