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Minutes after Habs’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Chargers on Monday, Montreal police are defending their decision to fire tear gas at thousands of hockey fans outside the Bell Center.
This is the second time in less than two weeks that Montreal police have used tear gas on fans off the court without first ordering the crowd to disperse.
Police spokesperson Anik de Repentigny wrote in an email on Tuesday: “At the end of last night, someone threw a bottle and set off fireworks in the area near Bell Center.”
She said in an email that the police took steps to restore order a few minutes after the fourth game of the Stanley Cup final.
“It is judged that in order to disperse some stubborn groups, chemical stimulants must be used.”
But Vincent Wong, a human rights lawyer and doctoral student at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall School of Law, said that one of the biggest problems with the use of tear gas by the police is indiscriminate.
In an interview on Tuesday, he said: “Tear gas cannot distinguish between young and old, healthy and sick, able-bodied and disabled, and of course peace and violence.”
It was seen that children were affected by the poisonous gas, and the spectators leaving the Bell Center were sprayed with pepper by the police at least once.
Wong is the co-author of the 2020 tear gas use report released by the International Human Rights Project of the University of Toronto Law School. He stated that according to international law, the police have the responsibility to distinguish between the dangerous elements in the crowd and those who use tear gas. Not a threat.
Watch | Canadians’ Josh Anderson wins Game 4 of overtime to extend the series:
In the fourth game of the Stanley Cup final, Josh Anderson scored twice and led the Canadians to a 3-2 victory over the Chargers. 3:17
“If you just fire tear gas canisters into the crowd, it will directly violate and violate the positive obligations under international law,” he said.
Montreal police said that their participation in gatherings allows people to celebrate while preventing riots that might endanger public safety.
“With this in mind, SPVM recommends that if there is a riot in the crowd, the public should stay away as much as possible. This allows the police to focus on destructive factors,” de Repentigny wrote.
Ongoing problem
Montreal police have previously been criticized for using tear gas.
Last December, Montreal City Councillor Marvin Rotrand filed a motion calling for the removal of tear gas from the police arsenal. An amendment was passed, requiring the city’s Public Security Committee to review the possibility of removing tear gas from the police department’s arsenal and make recommendations on the use of tear gas by police officers.
“The convention dating back to the 1920s prohibits the use of tear gas in war, but it cannot control its use on civilians,” Rotland said in an interview on Tuesday.
He said Montreal police often use tear gas more than police in other Canadian cities.
“Tear gas is a way for lazy people to control the crowd; the police have various other options,” Rotland said. “At least, tear gas can only be used in special circumstances-crowd control in front of a hockey stadium is not one of them.”
Huang said that the police have the responsibility to ease the situation. He said that the use of tear gas and the display of force by the police would anger the crowd. “Usually it will produce something completely opposite to what they are looking for.”
Police said that after the Montreal Canadiens won the fourth game of the Stanley Cup final, they arrested 4 people and issued 36 tickets. A police spokesperson stated that the arrest was due to suspected assault or armed assault on the police.
Constant Jean-Pierre Brabant said that the police issued 21 tickets for municipal violations and 15 tickets for road safety violations. Brabant said there were no reports of injuries.
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