Police were called in to stand guard at hearings into the Energy East pipeline in Levis Monday evening.

Joseph Zayed, with Quebec's environmental regulation agency, was forced to temporarily suspend the hearings as protesters snuck into the audience room, unfurled a banner denouncing the pipeline and sang songs to try and silence the presenter.

Protesters denounced the hearings as superficial since the Quebec government has no power to stop the pipeline. 

"People aren't being respected and informed. But even if we were I still have concerns. I don't think that TransCanada can convince me," said Paulette Panych. 

Activists said they don't think oil should be extracted, moved, or processed at all. 

"This company wants to put 1.1 million barrels of oil in Quebec's drinking water and in Quebec's St. Lawrence River. It's a very, very huge thing," said Carole Dupuis of the Quebec Hydrocarbon Vigilance Collective.

The room was brought under control after roughly 15 minutes and Louis Bergeron, Energy East's vice-president for New Brunswick and Quebec, was able to start again.

Quebec's environmental review agency, the Bureau for public audiences on the environment (BAPE) is holding the hearings to get more information about the transcontinental pipeline from Alberta and Saskatchewan to New Brunswick.

The company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, has been asked to provide more information about the possible environmental impact of the pipeline, which would cross multiple waterways in Quebec.

Critics are concerned about the many possible effects of a leak, especially if the pipeline should be damaged near a source for drinking water, or where it crosses the St. Lawrence River.

Last Friday Quebec Superior Court rejected a request for an injunction to block the hearing. TransCanada argued in court that BAPE already has most of the information it requires to discuss the pipeline.

The pipeline will still be subject to federal hearings, since the pipeline falls under federal jurisdiction.

Quebec lawyers said the provincial hearings were necessary in order for the provincial government to make a fully-informed presentation at those hearings.

The Energy East pipeline would carry 1.1 million barrels of oil each day.

In January the 82 mayors that belong to the Montreal Metropolitan Community unanimously voted to fight the pipeline project.