Montreal: Police Pepper Spray Bar Patrons

I'm a little out of the loop (since I'm not near downtown Montreal a lot these days), but I am aware that students have been holding demonstrations to protest against the government tuition hikes. Police have been on high alert for awhile and things are tense, but this incident at Le Saint-Bock bar is something else:



The new report is in French but here are a few translated lines from CBC News:

"About one foot from the faces of my clients, police also threw this," said bar owner Martin Guimond, holding up an empty muzzle blast.

"They created panic, they destroyed the terrace and people scrambled inside, throwing themselves over each other. Everyone left without paying."

A waitress told him to call 911, then said, "But wait, it's the police that are doing this," Guimond recounted.

"That's when you realize there's a total breakdown of order."

Police said Sunday that a large object was thrown at officers passing by the bar, and that they are investigating the altercation.

The bar owner also says in the French interview that after some review of the camera footage it looked like one of the bar patrons had insulted a police officer which sparked the pepper spray incident (as opposed to a large thrown object). Always two sides to a story, but I'm just glad I wasn't on that terrace at the time.