(Quebec) The Quebec police are issuing a warning: their forces will be deployed during the National Patriots’ Day long weekend to avoid excesses in gatherings like those which took place last weekend.
According to the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ), several interventions had to take place last weekend due to gatherings in parks, during which young people indulged in “the consumption of alcoholic beverages and drugs, behavior disturbing public order as well as criminal offenses.”
In a statement sent Thursday morning, the police force warned that it will not allow such situations to recur, while it will deploy personnel to prevent “any excess in connection with these gatherings”.
“Our interventions, if necessary, will be carried out with a level of zero tolerance for any situation that could harm public order and the security of our citizens,” warned communications sergeant David Poitras, who also recalled the risks associated with these events.
“In addition to intervening for behavior disturbing public order, our police officers also have to intervene with heavily intoxicated young people who sometimes have to be hospitalized. The sometimes chaotic and disorganized aspect of this type of gathering could endanger the safety of any young person who attends them,” he mentioned.
A first large-scale gathering took place last Friday in the Patro de Charlesbourg sector. According to Quebec police, “several hundred young people” were gathered, consuming alcohol, throwing fireworks and fighting.
Believing that the crowd was “hostile” at a certain point, the police used pepper spray. A 15-year-old boy, who allegedly blocked the path of a patrol car, was also arrested, then released to his parents.
The next day, the police had to go to the Courville sector, in Beauport. According to the police report, the event this time brought together “more than a hundred young people”.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested in connection with events that occurred on Friday evening, while around fifteen offense reports were issued.
The police invite any citizen who obtains information on the holding of a similar gathering to contact them confidentially at 418 641-AGIR.