An uprising against law 78, a law that requires protesters submit their protest plans 8 hours in advance to the authorities. A law that is considered by many to be draconian (French only) and over reaching (including the Quebec Bar Association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers).

A couple of things were painfully obvious here:

• the police were not in control of this situation
• a small group of troublemakers were responsible for most of the violence
• the crowd (wrongly in my view) allowed these troublemakers to take control of the situation
• although this was clearly a very difficult and dangerous situation for them, the police behaved very unprofessionally. They were overly aggressive and were taunting and mocking the protesters, further instigating violence.

This is sowing disrespect for authority and the law. The people hired to protect us are becoming the enemy, which is toxic to the fabric of a healthy society.

I hold Jean Charest and his government responsible for letting things get out of hand like this. They should show leadership and crisis management and actually do what’s necessary to resolve the issue before there are serious injuries and deaths.