Residents of Old Quebec and the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district hope that they will be able to sleep in the coming days and that they will not have to endure a concert of horns day and night, like in Ottawa.
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The noise of protesters and heavy goods vehicles – which will converge on Quebec City this weekend – is at the top of their concerns.
“There are still many who are worried about noise. Hopefully it won’t be too noisy. In itself, everyone has the right to protest. It’s more the way to do it that worries us. We can’t wait to see … then the duration too, ”says the president of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district council Alexandra-Maude Grenier.
“What is difficult for some residents of the neighborhood is that there are some who lived through the Summit of the Americas. Even though the police say they’ll check it out, sometimes it just makes things worse. We do not know. We hope it will go well. It is still reassuring to date but there are some who are afraid, ”she explains.
“Even yesterday, people were telling us that they were planning to go to a restaurant but that they would avoid doing so. We find it a shame that people prevent themselves from going out to encourage traders who have just reopened, ”she adds in an interview.
Police work praised
The president of the Vieux-Québec-Cap-Blanc-Colline-Parlementaire district council, Alain Samson, says he has full confidence in the SPVQ and the Marchand administration.
“I have the impression that there will be no tolerance. The mayor is very sensitive to all this and they are taking the right steps. They are very strategic and I think they will be able to handle the situation well. The mitigation measures put in place seem appropriate. Everyone learned lessons from Ottawa,” he said.
The Citizens’ Committee of Old Quebec agrees. “I think the city administration and the police took note of what happened in Ottawa. I imagine that the authorities will act accordingly”, indicated Michel Masse, who estimated for his part, Friday morning, that it was still too early to worry.
The police will keep watch
In a press briefing on Friday, Mayor Bruno Marchand said that the noise overflows, observed Thursday evening, were short-lived. He recalled that SPVQ police officers have the power to sanction excessive noise.
“Is honking your horn for hours respectful? The answer is no. Is this tolerable? The answer is no. There are regulations that prevent this. The police can enforce them. They have all the capacity to intervene according to their judgment,” he said.
The demonstrators of the first convoy, Thursday evening, received 16 tickets in total, 11 for violations of the Highway Safety Code (CSR) and 5 for violations of municipal by-laws.
The SPVQ did not specify whether certain findings were in fact related to the City’s noise by-law or article 256 of the CSR, which prohibits anyone from using the horn of a road vehicle “except if necessary”.