Eighty-two protesters were detained and fined in an evening protest in the Plateau district Friday evening, as a large police presence led marchers to scatter soon after setting off from St. Louis Square at 9 p.m.

One person was arrested and one police car was damaged.

The fines order recipients to pay $640, which would amount to a total of $116,480. They were issued for violating bylaw P-6 for participating in an illegal demonstration in the short-lived march. The demonstration was declared illegal after organizers failed to share their itinerary with police.

The aim of the protest, according to the literature posted on the organizers' site, was to "mobilize against police brutality," and "express solidarity with students expelled for political reasons." Austerity and the oil industry were also cited among other causes for the march.

About 1,600 people expressed their interest in attending the march on the Facebook site set up by the organizers.

By 8:30 p.m. the crowd of about 250 people, according to one media estimate, were seen chanting slogans. 

The group started marching at around 9 p.m. About a dozen riot police flanked the marchers on each side but did not immediately attempt to stop the march even though organizers had failed to offer an itinerary as required by Montreal bylaw P-6.

By about 9:15 p.m. police were seen in large numbers chasing the demonstrators on foot and on bicycle on the Main around Prince Arthur. The marchers were quickly dispersed, as many appeared to have fled after seeing the large police presence.

Several people were pepper sprayed and sporadic minor altercations or taunting and shoving were witnessed in the demonstration which was largely concentrated on the Main between Pine and Sherbrooke.

Montreal police website hacked

In a possibly-related issue, the main website for the Montreal police was not operational late Friday evening. Montreal police confirmed to CTV Montreal that their website was attacked. Anonymous Quebec took credit for the hack.