Police stage protest during civic celebrations
Off-duty officers parade through city to voice displeasure with Mayor Coderre
An estimated 3,000 off-duty police officers tried their best to disrupt Montreal’s 375th celebrations Wednesday night by protesting through the city and into Old Montreal.
Condemning Mayor Denis Coderre and the fact that the Montreal police force has been without a collective bargaining agreement for the last three years, officers marched down St-Denis St., stopping in front of city hall before heading to the Old Port.
Wearing red baseball caps and camouflage pants while honking horns and blowing whistles, they were often met with loud boos as they passed by busy terrasses.
A union member with a speakerphone repeatedly called out Coderre along the way for “being out celebrating” while the city’s police force marched through its streets in protest.
Montreal police union president Yves Francoeur was given a hero’s welcome in front of city hall around 9 p.m.
“We can’t go on like this anymore,” Francoeur told the crowd. “We’re sick of it.”
Francoeur denounced a recent bill tabled that would force police out of the camouflage pants they have been wearing as a pressure tactic since negotiations stalled.
“The Montreal police force is falling apart, we’re being asked to do more with less (...) and have repeatedly been called clowns. Mr. Mayor, you can’t do all of that and expect us to be happy. It doesn’t work that way.
“You and (Public Security Minister Martin) Coiteux asked us to find a different way of showing our displeasure? Well, this tonight is the first way.”
From city hall, the marchers headed toward the Jacques Cartier Bridge, where Coderre inaugurated the structure’s new lighting system at 9:45 p.m.
There were ample on-duty officers overseeing the demonstration. Officers from the Sûreté du Québec and Montreal police also had extra patrol boats near the Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Security in the Old Port was tight throughout the day as the prime minister and dozens of other dignitaries visited city hall.
Thousands attended the bridge lighting.
The police union and mayor have been feuding since 2014, when Coderre supported legislation that would scale back public funding of pensions for police, firefighters and other municipal workers.
At the height of their dispute, in the fall of 2014, some police appeared to stand down as a protesters ransacked city hall during a council meeting. The protesters, who were mostly firefighters, were marching against the pension reform that Coderre has championed.
Because police officers aren’t allowed to go on strike, they’ve waged a political campaign against Coderre: refusing to wear their full uniforms, organizing protests and leaking embarrassing anecdotes about the mayor to reporters.
Coderre, in turn, has supported provincial legislation that would render some of these tactics illegal.
The union upped the ante on Wednesday, launching a billboard campaign that derides Coderre.
The four billboards depict Coderre in a party hat, with the caption: “A mayor who has despised police officers for the past three years, that’s worth celebrating.”
The billboards are located downtown, along Highway 10 and near the Jacques Cartier Bridge.