The 2012 Metropolis attack prompted authorities to improve security at political rallies, former student leader Léo Bureau-Blouin said at the trial of technicians who are demanding $ 600,000 from the police.
“Between 2012 and 2014, the difference is day and night. Just in the partisan events of Pauline Marois, there were metal detectors and more police presence, ”said Mr. Bureau-Blouin at the Montreal courthouse.
Very discreet since the end of his mandate as a member of the National Assembly, the former figurehead of the student movement came out of his reserve on Monday, for a short testimony in a civil trial where the work of the police on the evening of 4 September 2012 is scrutinized.
Election night was marked by an attack by Richard Henry Bain. While the new Prime Minister, Pauline Marois, was celebrating the victory of the Parti Québécois at the Metropolis in Montreal, the assassin had burst in through the back entrance of the building.
Armed to the teeth, he had come up against stage technicians. Bain fired a single shot before his gun jammed, but he was able to kill Denis Blanchette and wound Dave Courage. He then started a fire before fleeing and then being arrested.
Police “far away”
Barely an hour earlier, Léo Bureau-Blouin, who had just been elected deputy for the PQ, had entered through this same entrance.
“There was a certain frenzy, volunteers were there to welcome me and give me information,” he said on Monday.
However, his only mention of a police presence behind the Metropolis concerns “a police car, in the distance”.
This is an important detail, since the stage technicians who are claiming $600,000 allege that the police did their job poorly that evening.
“There was a glaring security flaw, the technicians experienced blatant post-traumatic shock,” said M.and Virginie Dufresne-Lemire, representing Audrey Dulong Bérubé, Guillaume Parisien, Jonathan Dubé and Gael Ghiringelli.
Heat at PLQ
The Montreal police and the Sûreté du Québec, however, deny having committed any fault that would justify compensating the four stage technicians.
Several witnesses will be heard in the coming weeks, but already, the City of Montreal has suggested that the police have put more resources into protecting the Liberals than the PQ. And this, because of the many student demonstrations that year targeting the policies of Jean Charest, who at the time was a Liberal.
“The heat was between the students and the Quebec Liberal Party,” said one of the City’s lawyers, adding that we will soon know more about “the threat identified by the Montreal police.”
The trial continues throughout the week, before Judge Philippe Bélanger.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com