They hadn’t announced where they were heading, but as anti-Donald Trump protesters marched along René-Lévesque Blvd. on Friday afternoon, a swarm of police officers were already waiting for them outside the United States Consulate General in Montreal.
In one of the uglier moments of a mostly peaceful anti-Trump protest held in Montreal, a group of roughly 150 protesters — many dressed in black, some wearing bandanas or scarves to hide their faces — came face to face with police in front of the building.
The consulate offices had warned Americans visiting Montreal this week to avoid the protest, posting a message online saying that “even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence.”
As police officers barricaded the consulate doors, protesters huddled around a Trump effigy made of pizza boxes and newspapers the night before, doused it with gasoline and lit it on fire.
They also burned an American flag, a move that was applauded and met with chants: “No more Trump, no more hate, America was never great!” and “We reject the president-elect!”
When Mendy Marcus, a Trump supporter, tried to put out the fire, police took him away before a confrontation with protesters could escalate.
“I wanted to have a conversation,” he said later. “It’s important to realize there are people with different views.”
Earlier in the protest, a Trump supporter who was blasting a megaphone to drown out the chants was tackled by two protesters, who ripped his “Trump is good” sign from his hands as they pushed him around. Police intervened to break up the scuffle and carried the Trump supporter away.
The march had been planned in solidarity with those protesting in Washington D.C. against Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States on Friday.
“Even though we’re not in the United States, it’s important that we get out to show solidarity with our allies in Washington who are also protesting,” said organizer Eamon Toohey. “We need to show the sentiment that Trump represents is not welcomed in Canada and that we will mobilize against it.”
Toohey, 19, moved to Montreal from Massachusetts a little less than two years ago to study at Concordia University.
“Speaking with family and friends back home, there’s a sense that we need to act,” he said. “We’re all feeling this right now. We need to do something. Nothing is going to improve if people don’t.”
The protest was peaceful overall. There were no arrests made and no tickets handed out, Montreal police said. Asked about some of its heated moments, organizer Aaron Lakoff said he didn’t feel any of the actions were out of line.
“I would say those are perfectly understandable expressions of the rage that people have over a hateful man who has just been elected the most powerful person in the world,” he said after the march.
Lakoff said he felt it was important to set the tone at the beginning of Trump’s mandate.
“People are going to resist the hateful policies he represents,” he said. “We wanted to be out on the streets because we knew there were thousands on the streets in the U.S. trying to promote the same values as us — solidarity, tolerance, open borders and love.”
An evening demonstration ended with vandalism at a downtown police station. Protesters took aim at a window of Station 20 on Ste-Catherine St. W., near Bishop St. A line of Montreal police officers wearing yellow vests stood in front of the station as other officers dispersed the crowd.
Another protest is scheduled for Saturday in Montreal, as is a larger rally in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington, an event aimed at denouncing misogyny and supporting equal rights.
Anti-Trump protesters gather at Place des Arts in Montreal Jan. 20, 2017, as Donald Trump is inaugurated as president of the United States.
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