Full service has resumed on Montreal’s Metro after thousands of commuters were left stranded due to an emergency shutdown of the orange, green and yellow lines.
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An incident degenerated between two men at 8:10 a.m. at the Champ-de-Mars Metro station on the orange line.
“One of them used pepper spray on the Metro platform,” said Caroline Chèvrefils, a spokesperson with Montreal police.
Officers arrived on the scene and located the victim, a man in his 50s.
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He was taken to hospital.
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Chèvrefils said the suspect, a man in his 40s, fled the scene before police arrived.
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About 15 others were “likely affected” by the pepper spray.
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Two of them were evaluated by Urgences-Santé; a woman in her 40s was transported to hospital.
There have been no arrests.
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Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante took the opportunity to promote her pink line project.
“Of course, we can work on prevention and we can make sure emergency plans work…but we have to think of now.”
She insisted that the idea behind the pink like was to relieve pressure on the Berri-UQAM Metro station, where the orange, green and yellow lines meet.
“What do we do when 250,000 can’t move in the morning because there’s an incident? There are other solutions, buses are one way, but it doesn’t fill the needs. You can’t compare Metro lines with buses, so yes at this point we need a new Metro line,” she said.
“If there are any other plan that can assure that the heart of the Metro is secure and usable when there’s an incident, then fair enough, but I do think the pink like is a good measure, a good project.”