Photo credit to PC/Paul Chiasson
I’m devastated.
Il doit être dit, cet homme est un fou, et il n’est en aucune manière représentative de la communauté anglo-québécoise. Nous sommes de tout coeur un peuple de paix. Nous l’avons vu etla choc et la terreur se fit sentir dans les profondeurs de toutes nos ames. C’était écÅ“urant. C’est horrible, mais c’est l’acte d’un fou, et non un peuple.
Nous sommes tous fiers Québécois, et je lève mon chapeau à Mme Marois pour calmer une foule joviale et montrant un réel leadership dans le visage d’une hostilité fou.
At about Midnight, September 5th 2012, a deranged man in a bathrobe entered the back of Metropolis and opened fire inside the venue, hitting two people, wounding them critically. He then tried to set fire to the building, site of the Parti Québecois victory party. Madame Pauline Marois, premier-elect of the Province of Québec, was in the middle of her victory speech when intercepted and whisked off stage by Sureté-du-Québec bodyguards. She was not injured though it appears as though the insane gunman got perilously close to her. I watched it happen live and it made my heart skip a beat.
The man apparently screamed in French that the Anglophones will rise, or revolt.
Police cannot confirm the type of number of weapons used. So far only one arrest and one suspect. Fire’s been put out, Metropolis safely evacuated, Marois uninjured as of 12:44am September 5th 2012
Photo credit to Olivier Pontbriand, La Press – A photograph of the apprehended gunman
CJAD now saying one dead. Unconfirmed. Video of the gunman has been released. Confirmed at 12:58am September 5th 2012 on CBC as they sign off to the National. They better be back in twenty-two.
Switching back to RDI. I think CTV has a live feed too.
The gun looks a lot like an AK-47. I doubt its an airgun as some had stated earlier. It’s unclear how many victims. Conflicting reports about how many brought to hospital as of 1:06am
RDI just reported (1:20am) that the first victim was a replacement bus-driver for the media caravan. A last minute replacement bus driver.
Word has come out the victim is in fact an audio technician, and the bus driver is in critical condition (1:34am)
RDI video footage confirms the man was yelling “les Anglais se réveillent”, “this is payback” and “you wanna make trouble?” as he was being led to the police cruiser.
At 1:36am unconfirmed report comes in from La Press indicating a van filled with weapons has been found near Metropolis.
1:45am РUrgences Sant̩ confirms, one dead at the scene, one in critical condition and one being treated for shock.
My reaction, written already on Kevin’s blog:
I thought about blogging about it too. The words I was so angry when I read the news this morning. It is just apalling. It had already been a filthy campaign.
I am as you know a “separatist” as you call us. I am happy that the PQ won, that Marois ia now our prime minister. She earned it, even though she did a poor campaign (and she is inept at communication, which is strange for someone who has been in politics for so long). And I am happier that the Liberals got the boot, even though it was a very mdoest victory of my side. Regardless of political opinions, they were too corrupted, too much in bed with scumbags in suits Quebec has (and it has many). And I do think the results of the elections reflect perfectly the opinion of the people: a desire to change government, a disgust about Charest, yet wary of the undiscipline of the Parti Québécois and the populism of the CAQ. It is a small victory, but a victory nonetheless, the result of a precious democratic process, that bullets should not violate. Thankfully, we have a prime minister who is alive and well.
This is the reason we need a strict gun-control. I’m pretty sure that there are nuts in our society at the same ratio as that of the US.
The assissin had an english accent and the gun look like the kamichlacove machine gun.
This is not the Quebec, or the Montreal, that I love.
Devastated is right. Lord knows, I’m no fan of the PQ, but this is beyond devastating. And stranded 3000 miles and too many time zones away, so far from home, I feel utterly impotent and enraged. And alone.
This is, suddenly, a night nobody should celebrate. And of course it goes without saying that most of Quebec — French, English, rich, poor, federalist or nationalist — are as horrified and repulsed by this this as I am.