Quebec police presence at G7 was excessive, observer report says

The police presence at June's G7 summit in La Malbaie, and at demonstrations in Quebec City, was excessive and could have had a chilling effect on people's right to protest, according to a group of independent observers.

A report released Thursday noted that police forces — including Quebec City and provincial police — were well prepared for major protests, but failed to adapt to the smaller than expected crowd sizes.

The observers noted that the ratio of police to protesters, and the deployment of the riot squad, was disproportionate to the size of the protests.

Report commissioned by Quebec government

Quebec's minister of public security, Martin Coiteux, had asked the observers to objectively examine the various security measures used by police, taking into account the overall situation as well as the evolution of events.

The group was made up of two professors from Laval University's law faculty, Louis-Philippe Lampron and Christine Vézina, as well as a former associate deputy minister for criminal and penal affairs, Mario Bilodeau.

Their report also questioned why police aimed cameras at demonstrators.

They said that being at a demonstration is not itself suspicious, and that police should not act in a way that suggests information is collected on attendees.

A total of 13 arrests were made by police officers in Quebec City during the G7 summit protests held June 7 to 9.