Montreal to pay $6M, apologize publicly to protesters arrested illegally

A QuebecSuperior Court judgehas approved a $6-million payout by the City of Montreal toprotesters whose rights were violated nearly a decade ago.

The city and the lawyers representing the protesters had agreed to the deal in November, but it had to be approved by Quebec's Superior Court. A judge approved it in a decision dated Feb. 22.

It is the end of a nearly 10-year legal process that saw 16 class-action suitsbrought against the city, stemming from different protests between June 2012 and March 2015, including marches against police brutality and a demonstration on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of student protests against tuition increases.

Protesters who participated in thedemonstrations alleged that the Montreal police response was heavy handed and the police used techniques that included "kettling" to contain protestersand arrest them. Those tacticsviolated their right to freedom of expression and their security, they said.

The City of Montreal will also have to post an apology message on its website for 90 days acknowledging that "certain actions"taken by the police and city administrators infringed on "some" of thefundamental rights of "some" of the protesters.

"For this reason, the City of Montreal publicly apologizes to all these people," the apology will read.

Liam Mayes, aparticipants in one of the class-action lawsuits, said in an interview he felt the settlement was a somewhat unsatisfactory conclusiontoa long-drawn-out legal process.

"I think any opportunity to make effective change is probably long gone," he said,"but it's nice to have some sort of recognition."

Mayesparticipated in a demonstration onApril 5, 2013, in the context of student protests againsttuition fee increases. But he recalled how demonstrators had only barely begun gathering in Place milie-Gamelinwhen police declared the protest illegal and demanded everyonedisperse.

There was nowhere to go police filled every exit.

WATCH | Police "kettle" protesters on April 5, 2013 :

RAW: Montreal protest

12 years ago

Duration 3:14

Police kettle protesters in Montreal's Place milie-Gamelin

"It was awful," he recalled."They all have their visors covering their faces. They all have their little batons and shields. We were just packed together."

Officers moved in on the protesters, banging their shields. They had removed their identification badges, Mayes said. Theyarrested everyone in the square, maybe 80 people, that day, according to Mayes.

Now, he said, he feels little satisfaction knowing he may get a $1,500 payment for his experience that day his small slice of the $6 million settlement, much of which will go towardlawyers' fees and other costs.

He would rather know that police tactics have changed and other protesters won't go through a similar experience in the futurebut, given the size of the settlement and the length of time that has passed since the protests happened, he isn't sure it will have any effect.

"They (the police) ended up 10 years later with a little slap on the wrist," he said."It's better than no slap on the wrist, but come on, right?"