Quebec mayor tells right wing group to leave
Quebec City’s mayor says rightwing protesters are not welcome in Quebec City but he believes an anti-immigration group won the popularity contest during duelling demonstrations over the weekend.
Mayor Regis Labeaume thanked members of the right-wing group, La Meute, for collaborating with police while some counter-protesters turned violent.
He nonetheless told La Meute to protest elsewhere.
“Their world doesn’t interest us,” he told reporters a day after anti-immigration protesters marched through Quebec City’s streets, denouncing what they say is a too-charitable refugee and immigration policy by the federal and Quebec governments.
“They say they are non-violent. Let them tell us who they are, what they want, and take away all ambiguity from their message. Why do they have to look like a private militia?”
It was counter-protesters, however, who received the most attention from authorities Sunday, with Quebec City police spokesman David Poitras saying they assaulted officers and caused vandalism.
Labeaume called the violent protesters “cretins.”
Police arrested only one person Sunday before releasing him without charge, but Poitras said other arrests are in the offing.
“We have images and photos and police testimony. There is an investigation ongoing. It was an illegal protest and there is a strong possibility people will be arrested and charged.”
La Meute was supposed to march through the streets on Sunday afternoon but its members were confined to an underground garage for hours after the counter-protesters blocked their exit.
Hours later, after authorities dispersed the counter-protesters, members of La Meute marched through the streets with a police escort.
The group states it wants to protect Quebec’s “values, rights, liberties, security” and is against “radical Islam.”
At least one of its members travelled to Charlottesville, Va., to attend a white supremacist rally that turned deadly on Aug. 12.
A spokesman for La Meute has said that person’s membership in the group is suspended due to his participation.