Police used pepper spray to disperse protesters in Montreal following an affordable housing demonstration Monday.

A coalition of housing committees demonstrated across Quebec, calling on both the provincial and federal governments to commit to creating more affordable housing.

Protests were held in Montreal, the Monteregie, Abitibi and Bas-St-Laurent regions.

Protesters took the event a step further by occupying abandoned buildings they believe should be designated for social housing.

In Montreal, protesters ended their march at the former Jacques-Viger Hospital on Rene-Levesque Blvd. and St-Hubert St., and abandoned public building.

More than 50 people occupied the building. A spokesperson for the affordable housing group FRAPRU said they chose the old hospital because it is an example of an unused building purchased by taxpayers that could be used for social housing.

"It's been empty for a long, long time," said Francois Saillant. "But very quickly the police arrived and without any warning they went inside the building and a part of them tried to go inside by the main entrance, where the squatters had assembled in the building. And there was a lot of violence there."

According to a spokesperson for the Montreal police, officers who were trying to block access to the building had to use pepper spray to disperse the crowd. 

At least 50 people took refuge in the building for several hours and eventually exited the building at around 7:30 p.m. 

Police say there were no arrests or charges related to the protest. One arrest was made related to a previous offence and two tickets were given out for bylaw infractions. 

Saillant said he had never seen a protest change so swifty in decades of working with the group.

"I have been with FRAPRU for 38 years and I have never seen that in a demonstration with this kind of people," said Saillant.

According to FRAPRU, children were removed from the scene by police as the event began to unfold.

Affordable housing group FRAPRU organized the protest, saying Ottawa and Quebec both failed to invest enough in social housing in their last budgets.

The federal government has promised a country-wide housing strategy by next fall.