The activists kept arriving in waves and managed to maintain the blockade until 2pm. At that point the attrition due to arrests made the blockaders too thin on the ground and the blockade was lifted.
But the militance didn't end there -- the demo moved a few blocks south to the police station where the hundred were being held. There, a UK citizen was arrested for not having moved when he was told. Of course he was given the order in French and was heard protesting, "I didn't understand the order" as he was dragged away.
A hot point in the action came when the riot police advanced on the crowd to clear them from the street, only to find that they had sandwiched twenty camera wielding journalists between their shields and the militants. Not the best way to keep your brutality from being noticed.
All the arrested activists have been charged with unlawful assembly. Some were also charged with impeding the work of the police. Alexandre Popovic was also arrested for breach of conditions after having been ordered not to participate in illegal demonstrations -- this, despite the fact he was there only as an observer with Citizens Opposed to Police Brutality..
"In terms of the political fallout, the day was undeniably a success," said Philippe Duhamel, one of the organizers of Operation SalAMI. "The promoters of the globalization of injustice cannot say that their programme of huge profits, the destruction of social programs, and the impoverishment of ordinary people has any longer a consensus in Quebec. Today, Montreal has done its part for the globalization of resistance. We're proud of what we've done."
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