MONTREAL -- Quebec police issued over $135,000 worth of fines to 75 people who illegally gathered Friday night about an hour north of Montreal.
Police say 75 people, almost entirely from the Greater Montreal area, were cited for illegally gathering, and around 20 people picked up citations for violating municipal by-laws including obstructing police officers.
The Surete du Quebec (SQ) reports that shortly before midnight on Friday, officers out of the Matawinie MRC department were called in response to an illegal gathering on Moulin St. in Sainte-Beatrix, a picturesque town in the Lanaudiere region.
"It was the municipality's fire department that responded to an alarm on-site and noticed the size of the gathering," said SQ media spokesperson Audrey-Anne Bilodeau in a news release. "Once our police officers were on the scene, some of the offenders fled on foot, others barricaded themselves and hid inside."
Ten people who took off when police arrived picked up fines for violating the curfew.
The release says officers from Joliette and St-Michel-des-Saints assisted and obtained a warrant to enter the premise.
Police say that most offenders were between 20 and 30 years old.
