May Day rally takes aim at corruption in Quebec

MONTREAL – Anti-capitalist protesters in Quebec were hoping to tie this year’s May Day demonstration to the theme of corruption Wednesday.

A couple of hundred protesters tried to gather outside a private club where politicians and construction executives have been known to meet.

Details of private rendez-vous at the exclusive Club 357C in Old Montreal have emerged from the province’s Charbonneau inquiry.

The probe has heard that construction companies created a cartel that drove up the price of public contracts and split the extra profits with the Mafia, corrupt bureaucrats and political parties.

But demonstrators were prevented from taking their message to the site of the club.

Police blocked off the protest, kettled a number of the demonstrators, and detained some of them. Officers said they were responding after projectiles had been tossed from the crowd.

Police have shown little tolerance for protests in Montreal lately and moved to head off events like those seen repeatedly in the city last year.

That response has drawn criticism from civil libertarians and from demonstrators who argue that their right to free expression is being taken away.

The anti-capitalist demonstrators are equally unlikely to be delighted with one of the provincial government’s intended solutions to the corruption crisis: freer capitalism.

The government has said it hopes for more competition in the construction industry, through changes in a possible Canada-Europe free trade deal.

It says it expects any agreement to allow greater access to public-works contracts for foreign companies and make it harder for a small circle of domestic firms to control the market.

The mood was far from somber in the crowd, however.

A brass band, which was among the group of about 100 kettled by police, played on and kept the protesters entertained while they waited to be led away one at a time and loaded into waiting buses. It was unclear how many might receive fines for municipal bylaw violations.

The scene unfolded as people sitting at sidewalk cafes took photos with their phone cameras. The noisy scene did not prevent them from enjoying their outdoor meals.