A little after 7 a.m. Wednesday, the streets around the Palais des Congrès in downtown Montreal were almost deserted. On the Place d’Armes, in the rain and in the dark, a handful of demonstrators, most of them hooded and dressed in black, with flags of the same color, listened to a vindictive speech against COP15.
The small size of the group, around 50, was further highlighted by the heavy police surveillance nearby, on bicycles, on horseback and in cars. A device that activists described in a press release as “completely disproportionate and aggressive”. Throughout the demonstration, which lasted until the noon hour, only a few verbal skirmishes occurred and the demonstrators were content to physically manhandle orange cones.
Equipped with black flags and a large red banner that read “Let’s block COP15” and signed by The environmentalist and anti-capitalist coalition against COP15, the demonstrators were reluctant to speak to media representatives, who were on site In large numbers.
Céleste Trianon, 19, kindly explained to the To have to that “promises are broken daily by world leaders”. “We need more action,” she believes. They say they are doing things, but they are not doing enough”.
The UN conference on biodiversity, which welcomes thousands of delegates from around the world until December 19 at the Palais des Congrès, does not attract only praise. Thousands of students are on strike this week, including more than 20,000 on Friday, to protest against the holding of the event.
Chanting slogans in English and French, the demonstrators first went to the Cégep du Vieux-Montréal and then in front of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) to add activists to their procession. At the height of the demonstration, they were nearly 200.
Esther and Félix, two undergraduate students in geography at the University of Montreal (UdeM), are on strike for three days for the occasion. They joined the protest around 10:30 a.m.
“There is a paradox,” says the young man. Many experts are invited to COP15 to share their knowledge, but nothing is held back when it comes time to sign agreements and understandings. It’s always leveled down, the bare minimum”.
“It’s an event used by big companies,” criticizes the young woman.
The small number of demonstrators does not discourage them. “There will be more on Friday,” thinks Félix, in reference to the “wide demonstration” which is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Carré Saint-Louis.
The activists circulated around the Palais des Congrès, under the questioning gaze of delegates from India, South Africa and Brazil. Riot squads from the Sûreté du Québec and the SPVM were also on hand to direct the movement of the demonstration and protect buildings. The activists also went further north, on Sherbrooke Street, and walked along Sainte-Catherine Street and René-Lévesque Boulevard.
The intensity increased somewhat around noon, when helmeted police marched on either side of the contingent for almost an hour, very close to the protesters. They finally dispersed in relative calm around 12:30 p.m., near the Place-des-Arts metro station.