Please note that these images are Copyrighted and may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without the written permission of Benjamin Wong.These shots have also been manipulated in an artistic manner, and are not meant to be used for journalistic purposes. These shots were taken to express my personal experience of the protest.
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Sunday was a gorgeous day; blue skies, warm sun, singing birds - until things got ugly between a group of protesters and the police. While downtown, I received a phone call from a friend who wanted to warn me about a dangerous police riot happening in the downtown Montreal area. If you guys want to check out a 16 min video that Anna took, feel free to download it from here. (1.7 gb)
Being a young thrillseeker, I immediately attempted to track down where this rapid moving group of protesters were located so that I could capture them in action. Running towards trouble, obviously the right thing to do.
First step though was to cover up my camera bag that was marked in big bold letters: “POLICE“. Usually useful to deter trouble, I think that in this particular protest, these 6 letters could cause more problems than it would solve. Wrapping my McGill Sweater around the bag solved that issue.
Second step was to find trouble. Thank god, trouble came to me as I finally located a group of some 15 police officers that were walking around in a pack clearly dressed for trouble:
I tried hanging around them for a while, but quickly noticed that waiting around with them wasn’t going to lead me to any hotspots - they were on standby. *sigh*
I got off at the McGill Metro with no clue where the protest had reached, and started walking in the general direction of Place des Arts when Anna Li calls me up on the phone and begins speaking in mild hysteria: “OhmyGod. They’re here. They just, ohmygod, they’re all over the place! I was just sitting and eating with Jessie, the police just came out of nowhere and started chasing us…”
I walk as quickly as I can toward the general direction of the Museum of Contempory Arts.
From far, Place des Arts hadn’t changed. If anything, it almost looked like a normal bustling day, minus the sirens, burning garbage cans and masked figures walking back and forth.
As I get closer though, I begin to see a group of protesters tearing down a construction site while cheering loudly. I did not come prepared for this event and didn’t equip myself with a zoom lens so the only way to capture anything interesting was to get down close and personal. After making sure that Anna was ok, I squeeze through the crowd to get closer to what seems like a barricade - and just in time.
Obviously common sense is to follow the people running, and run AWAY … but I stood my ground for the sake of art. Fortunately, my ninja skills serve we well in this case as I merge with the background, unlike a couple other photographers that got completely plastered by the rush:
After breaking through the first barricade, the protesters begin to regroup up on an elevated surface close by, clearly going strategically (or not(?), since they were more of a mob than an organized protest by this time) for the higher ground. Once again, a new line formed between the police and the protesters.
Using the height to their advantage, the protesters began throwing anything they could lay their hands on down at the defending (or attacking? I’m not too sure which is what now) police. Ice, snow, and banana peels (see photo below) began flying towards the police who were now grouped into small huddles of 4; two shield men, and two…hiding men. At first, it seemed that they were really overkilling it with the whole shield and helmet thing but as pieces of wood and rocks soon followed I soon realized that I was the one that was underdressed. I got out of the way.
Meanwhile, a bit farther down the street, a second group of protesters began to build up a second barricade using material graciously provided by the city of Montreal:
Obviously I wasn’t the only one that noticed these guys because when I turned my back, I discovered an army of photographers behind me taking note of the same situation. Seriously, the number of photos from this event - Massive.
The second barricade didn’t really work out as spectacularly, since the police charged in before the barricade was completed while flanking the protesters that had taken the high ground. I think by this time there were probably more bystanders than protesters in the center of the street.
It was sometime around this point that I met the most defining character (in my humble opinion ) of the day. One young fellow, and I’m not sure if he was brave, stupid or plain stubborn, standing his ground alone against the police. Actually, I’m not sure if “standing his ground” is really the correct term since he was slowly stepping backwards to not actually block their way, but he did so in the most provocative manner possible. What differentiated him from the rest was that he didn’t scream and curse drunkenly like the others (or maybe I just didn’t hear it?). All he did was gesture and speak to them asking them “why are you doing this”
He did eventually gave up though… Honestly, not really hard to understand when you’re this badly outnumbered:
At some point during which he had his back turned, I have a blurry shot (subject to interpretation) of him being whacked on the head by one of the mounted policemen for no apparent reason. I could upload it if people start asking about it…
Meanwhile, the wall of police officers and horses continued their steady advance, and I soon found myself being hearded away from the Museum down St-Catherines with the other protesters.
Using my ninja skills, I escape the and make my way back towards the museum to find Anna (seperated during the police rush). I pose for the once glorious barricade:
After finding Anna again, we decide to head down and see what’s happening on the other side of the now empty Place-des Arts. Guess what we see? More police!
Unfortunately for me, things were pretty calm on this side of the street which allowed me to take the following shot. Let me say, the cops were not very thrilled…
Anyways, by now it’s about 5:30 PM and things had started to die down. On our way back to the metro, I obviously manage to run headlong into some more trouble:
Thinking that there was going to be something spectacular that was going to happen, I quickly position myself to capture the next grand event. Much to my dismay, I find out that this time it was just the general population reacting in panic from a group of police who decided to go for a little jogging exercise.
As they run off, I notice a young fellow cleaning off his dammaged car right next to me and get instantly reminded that this whole thing wasn’t one awesome video game but real life with real people that got hurt. A sobering thought.
I wasn’t the only one that found it interesting…
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Going through my shots, I notice that they are pretty one-sided and seem to focus a lot more on the cops than the protestors – Sorry, the cops were just dressed way cooler. If you guys want to see a fantastic video I found on the demonstration that focuses more on how this whole thing started, please check out: http://rogeriobarbosa.com/video/manif/Site/Film.html
I hope I wasn’t too biased in my photographs. Although I did focus a lot on how the police handled the matter, the protest was not a calm and peaceful one. I find it ironic that a protest against violence would be in itself violent – and not because the police made it so, but because the protestors were looking for trouble. Clearly those protesting against police brutality are those that often deal with the police in less-than-favorable circumstances.
Although, I agree that the police approach towards containing the situation was somewhat on the more violent side, it was efficient and clean and probably resulted in less damages than would have occurred if the riot had been resolved in a slower calmer manner.
I have read a certain number of articles where journalists and/or photographers were complaining about being completely rammed by police officers but to be honest, what were they doing there in the first place? The venue was dangerous and if they weren’t ready to assume the risks, all they had to do was leave.
What I do find interesting though, that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere, is that the duty of a police officer is to Protect and Serve. People are supposed to look up to them for protection and not flee from them in fear. I’m not sure about the rest of you who were there, but I can tell you that I was more worried of being hurt by police officers than the protestors wearing masks. I agree that intimidation is a fantastic tactic, but I’m not sure that it projects the right image to people anymore.
My thoughts. Hope you enjoyed the shots.
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Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer
