Onlookers watch in confusion as Montreal police arrest themselves Sunday afternoon. Arrests continued into the night.
About 50 Montreal police officers arrested themselves late Sunday night after they failed to respect a municipal bylaw that required them to provide themselves with their itinerary in advance.
“It was brutal,” said one arrested officer, who didn’t want to be named for fear of recriminations against himself. “We kept ourselves out there for hours in the rain, without the ability to go to the bathroom or eat.”
The 50 officers told themselves at first that their protest would be allowed to proceed despite being declared illegal under city bylaw P-6. But before the march could get going, things got pushy and the police quickly found themselves inside their own kettle.
“I thought, oh crap, we’re going to arrest ourselves,” said the officer, who showed off a bruise he said he got when he hit himself in the chest with a baton.
According to witnesses, the police kettled themselves for about three hours as they proceeded with self-arrests. It was longer than usual for such a small group because of the difficulty filling out paperwork and searching oneself while handcuffed, the officer said.
Police gave themselves a ticket of $637 for violation of the bylaw and illegal assembly, an amount multiple officers said was “absolutely outrageous.”
“It’s clear we’re sending a message to ourselves here,” said another officer, Constable Laframboise, who is also a union vice-president. “What happened to freedom of expression and assembly?”
A Montreal police spokesperson said the force acted properly, and was only restraining itself for its own safety and for the safety of the public.
I’m laughing so hard, I’m tearing up! This one is the April 1st winner!
Agreed!
LOL! Had me super confused at first… ahahahahaha good one
The government virtually forced the police into the arrests. They were told that if they didn’t arrest themselves then the students would be called in and they would have to deal with the vengefulness.
C’est digne de The Onion ! Rigolo !
Hehehehehe… A day late but made me chuckle for about 10 minutes. I was very, very confused at first! :)
shit. i though this one was real….i knew the lisee one was fake but this had me going for a second.
It would be nice to think that the police actions are caused by stupidity. Mocking them is comforting. I too laughed.
But what we see a moral vacuum, in which police refuse to respect citizens’ fundamental democratic rights.
They obey unjust and illegitimate orders. Where does it end?
This one never gets old.