Montreal police move in to dismantle part of homeless encampment east of downtown [Video]

Montreal police are carrying out an operation to dismantle sections of a homeless encampment on Notre-Dame Street East near the city’s downtown core.

Last month, Quebec’s Transport Ministry (MTQ) issued eviction notices to the people who had been living in tents near Morgan Park in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough. The Quebec government owns that stretch of land. 

Initially, the people living there were given until Nov. 21 to leave.

The province has cited fire hazards and unsanitary conditions as the reasons to dismantle the encampment.

That deadline was then extended to today. 

In an interview with CBC, Montreal police chief Fady Dagher said the operation has been going smoothly so far.

“There’s some resistance, but there’s no violence,” Dagher told CBC Montreal Daybreak host Sean Henry. 

“When a person is staying exactly where they are for so many months and so many weeks and you ask them to move … for sure, they’re not going to be happy.”