WATCH: Classrooms at the Université du Québec à Montréal campus after protesters and police faced off on the campus Wednesday night. Mike Armstrong reports.
MONTREAL – The J.-A.-De Sève Pavilion at the Université du Québec à Montreal (UQAM) is closed Thursday to allow officials to clean up following an overnight sit-in that turned violent.
About 250 masked protesters barricaded themselves inside the school Wednesday night.
Just around midnight, the Montreal police riot squad were called in to break up the protest at the request of UQAM administrators.
To access the campus, police were forced to break a large window.
WATCH: Chaos as police break up sit-in at UQAM
The protestors then ransacked the building as they poured onto the streets, vandalizing a number of police cars using hammers.
Tear gas and pepper spray were used to break up the crowd.
The sit-in came on the heels of a tense stand-off earlier in the day at the University.
At the behest of UQAM officials, police confronted a group of masked students who were disrupting classes, resulting in 21 arrests.
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