In Montreal, a masked gunman opened fire on a crowd killing one and wounding another. The rally was in celebration of Quebec’s separatist, Parti Quebecois,'(pictured), narrow election win in the Canadian province. It was not clear whether the gunman was trying to shoot Quebecois, who was unarmed, because she favors separation for the province from Canada. Click below to read more.
Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere identified the gunman only as a 50-year-old man and said he opened fire in the back of the hall while Marois was giving her victory speech to hundreds of supporters at the Metropolis auditorium. She had just declared her firm conviction that Quebec needs to be a sovereign country before she was pulled off the stage.
Police said they didn’t know the gunman’s motive. As the suspect was being dragged toward the police cruiser, he was heard shouting in French, “The English are waking up!”
Marois had promised to strengthen laws designed to ensure the dominance of the French language, which has worried some in the minority English-speaking community.
The attack took place just after Marois began speaking in English — a rare occurrence in a speech at a partisan PQ event. She had promised English-speaking Quebecers that their rights would be protected, following an emotionally charged campaign that saw her party focus on language and identity issues.
