POLICE STRIKE IN MONTREAL

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 17

POLICE STRIKE IN MONTREAL

Looting, Shooting And Fires Occur

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) MONTREAL, October 8. Montreal police and firemen early today ended a 15-hour strike and immediately began trying to stop the looting, violence and fires that broke out in Canada’s largest city while they were off their jobs, United Press International reported.

Union officials ordered midnight shifts to go back to work. A law hastily passed by the Provincial Legislature set midnight as the deadline for the return-to«work order, imposing fines and even gaol sentences if the police and firemen did not obey.

Two people were reported killed and a dozen injured as looters swept through the central area during the strike.

One report said that a firearms store had been looted, and some police returning to work put on bullet-proof vests.

“The men have returned to work in .compliance with the law,” Mr Andre Gaulin, executive secretary to Montreal police director, Mr JeanPaul Gilbert, said 90 minutes after the union ordered its men back to their jobs. 6000 Walk Out reported that 6000 policemen and firemen walked out yesterday to back demands for more pay. They were told by their union leaders to obey emergency

Quebec Government legislation ordering them back to their posts. The moves came as Canadian Army troops stood by to move into Montreal after unruly demonstrations and a rash of bank robberies and hold-ups.

Two people, one a provincial policeman, were reported shot dead overnight and several others were wounded when a demonstration by taxidrivers got out of hand and developed into a riot Uncontrolled crowds surged through the streets, stoning hotels and cars and trying to start fires.

At least one bus was set ablaze at the heart of the riot —a bus and car depot—and others were overturned. The Quebec Provincial Legislature moved some 800

provisional police into Montreal and called in the Army to counter what they described as the “threat of anarchy” in the city. Final Steps In a final step, they then ordered city poliee and firemen to call off the strike immediately or face the consequences of fines or imprisonment At least 19 hold-ups and 10 bank robberies were reported within a few hours of the police walk-out Firemen joined them soon afterwards with a parallel grievance. At midday yesterday only about 40 of the 3700-man police force in Montreal, Canada's largest city, were still on duty. Exactly how many of the city’s 2400 firemen were on strike was not

known, but the fire department’s ranks were believed to be as depleted as those of the police. As policemen argued in a city hall about their pay claims, outbursts of violence, telephoned bomb threats, robberies and lootings were reported. The Army said that the troops were ordered to be flown from their base at Vaicartier near Quebec city, about 180 miles from Montreal, which has a population of 2,570,000. Last night’s trouble began in the Barre Street area when demonstrating taxi-drivers took the opportunity of unpoliced streets to rake up a long-festering dispute with a rival group. Shooting Occurs Shooting broke out and the two people were reported killed. The 200 taxi-drivers were joined by several hundred more youths and the crowd then surged through city streets, hurling stones at hotels and cars and looting. The taxi-drivers’ demonstration was understood to have been over the bus depot’s exclusive right to transport passengers, from Montreal Airport