Oct. 8, 1969: Police strike, chaos follows

“Fires, explosions, assaults and a full-pitched gun-battle kept Montrealers huddled indoors as the reign of terror brought the city to the edge of chaos and resulted in the call for army help,” we reported Oct. 8, 1969.

The previous morning, Montreal police had started a wildcat strike, and were busy in “study sessions” while anarchy took over the streets. The Sûreté du Québec had been deployed to keep the peace with the help of smaller local police forces, but their efforts were not sufficient and the armed forces had also been summoned.

Meanwhile, emergency backto-work legislation was passed in Quebec City, forcing Montreal police to return to work at midnight that night, but not before their absence had sparked considerable mayhem.

“Hundreds of looters swept through downtown Montreal last night as the city suffered one of the worst outbreaks of lawlessness in its history. Hotels, banks, stores and restaurants around the Ste-Catherine-Peel Street axis had their windows smashed by rock-tossing youths. Thousands of spectators looked on as looters casually picked goods out of storefront windows.”

Among the targets was the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, which “had every shop window broken or damaged,” we wrote. This photo by Tedd Church shows a man with a snow shovel working on the cleanup there.

There was one fatality, an SQ officer who was shot in the back outside the Murray Hill Limousine Service garage, which had been under assault by a mob.

The events deeply shocked many Montrealers. “No civilized community should ever be placed in the position in which Montreal found itself yesterday,” we wrote in an editorial.