(Quebec) Malaurie and Raphaelle, witnesses of the police intervention on a group of young blacks leaving the Dagobert bar this weekend in Quebec, feel “traumatized” by the brutality of the police on the spot. Videos showing the arrest have been around social networks since Saturday and are sowing indignation among the political class.
Last Saturday shortly after 3 a.m., Malaurie and Raphaelle left the Dagobert to join the designated driver who was going to take them home. They found themselves in front of a chaotic scene. Their friends were crying and screaming, their eyes bruised with what appeared to be cayenne pepper.
“We just saw the group persisting with the police. We don’t know why, but they continued to spray the group of young blacks and it really pissed everyone off, ”Raphaelle explains. The two 18-year-olds prefer that their last name not be made public, for fear of reprisals. One of the witnesses filmed part of the intervention.
“I am traumatized. I was afraid of seeing someone die, ”explains Malaurie. Among the two young people pinned to the ground, she recognizes her Pacific friend Niyokwizera, 17 years old.
According to her, he did not struggle when immobilized by three officers. The young woman wonders why the police used force. “While filming I told him let it go. The policeman told me to stop filming, that it was useless. “On video footage that has toured social networks, we can see a policeman kicking a young man while he is held down. One of them voluntarily covers his face with snow.
All it did was panic and provoke the world. No one calmed down, everyone was angry.
Malauria, present at the time of the operation
Further on, another teenager is immobilized by two officers, face down. A young woman begins to tremble and cry. A policeman tries to calm her down by telling her to “take it easy”, that there was no danger, says Malaurie. “But of course everyone was panicking. We were shaking and we were crying. ”
An independent investigation called for
The videos of this muscular arrest of young blacks on the night of November 26 to 27 “are difficult to watch,” denounced the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault. Prime Minister François Legault said he had taken cognizance of the images he described as “disturbing”.
The SPVQ announced on Saturday evening that it had opened an investigation to clarify the events. “As soon as it was made aware, the SPVQ consulted the said videos and took action to take all the necessary measures”, we can read in the press release published by the police force. Minister Guilbault emphasizes that an internal investigation is underway to clarify the circumstances surrounding the events.
But this is insufficient in the eyes of the Liberal leader who calls for the holding of an independent investigation. “We need an independent investigation because there are too many questions that are raised with the images that we see,” she added to reporters. She spoke of a “brutal” intervention when the teenagers seem to be overpowered by the police.
“These are young people who are immobilized and we continue to send snow, I found the images very shocking,” she said, adding that this also raises the issue of racial profiling.
Dominique Anglade said she was “shocked” and “upset” by the images of the arrest.
When I saw the images, I found it excessively shocking, excessively disturbing, it raises several questions.
Dominique Anglade, head of the PLQ
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The liberal leader, Dominique Anglade
The images of the police intervention are unbearable and shocking, describes the parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “Everyone in Quebec, regardless of their skin color and age, has the right to be treated with dignity and respect by the police. This is not what I see in this video. Light must be shed on these disturbing events. Accountability and transparency start now. ”
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, also asked that all the light be shed on the events.
In the evening, Saturday, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, also reacted to the video by posting a message on his Twitter account. He must hold a press briefing on Sunday afternoon in connection with the event. Saying “troubled by these images”, he promised that “light will be shed on these events”. The SPVQ has not transmitted any details about the reason for the police intervention which aroused the indignation of many people on social networks.
Diversity issue
While there is no black police officer within the SPVQ, the deputy for Viau, Frantz Benjamin, described the images as “very worrying and disturbing”. He believes that the events point to a larger problem of the lack of diversity within the police force.
“We are in 2021, I think that all Quebec institutions must reflect the population of Quebec. We are fortunate enough to say this to the National Assembly and that also applies to the police forces: the Sûreté du Québec, the police in Quebec and the SPVM as well. But the issue we face is the issue of the representation of diversity, it is also the issue of skills, training, ”he lamented.
The Liberal spokesperson for public security, Jean Rousselle, called for the installation of body cameras for the police, saying that we have “just part of the story” for the moment. “Regardless, violence does not look good. Something will have to be done to make it less. […] It is very upsetting. We will need a deep investigation, a reflection also afterwards, ”added the former police officer.
With The Canadian Press