Black activists hold protest in response to police shooting in Montreal

MONTREAL — Black activist groups say police should have no role in responding to mental health crises. They made the call on Sunday in the wake of last week’s police shooting of a Montreal man.

About 200 people attended a protest in front of the apartment where Pierre Coriolan died. Quebec’s police watchdog says they believe Coriolan, 58, was distressed and holding a screwdriver in each hand when police arrived at his apartment last Tuesday. He was shot several times in the moments that followed and later died in hospital. The group Black Lives Matters says Coriolan’s death is part of a pattern of police violence against people who are black or mentally ill.

The organizers released a list of demands that includes government funding for black-specific mental health services.