Gunman kills one at Quebec victory rally

September 05, 2012 11:06 am | Updated 11:06 am IST - Montreal

One person was killed and another was injured during a victory speech by Quebec's premier-elect Pauline Marois in Montreal on Tuesday, police said.

The shooting occurred as Ms. Marois, the leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois, which seeks the independence of the predominantly French-speaking province from Canada, was delivering her victory speech following a tightly-contested provincial election.

The suspect fired at least two shots and set fire to the rear entrance, police spokesman Constable Danny Richer said.

Police arrested a 50-year-old suspect. Canadian Broadcasting Corp . reported that the man shouted, “The English are awakening!” as he was being led into a police car.

Footage of the speech showed two plainclothes bodyguards whisking away Ms. Marois after she said, “Tonight we have a new chapter in our history and I hope this will be our opportunity to find our pride as a people. As a nation we want to make the decisions about the things that are important to us. We want a country. And we will have it!” Ms. Marois, the first woman to be elected state premier, was not injured in the incident. She returned to the podium to ask people to evacuate the premises.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.