Erin go brawl?
>> St. Patrick’s Day’s drunken hordes don’t worry anyone

by PADDY LEJTENYI

Jeff Picard remembers one particularly bad event on St. Patrick’s Day weekend several years ago. As a waiter at the Old Dublin Pub at University and Cathcart, Picard was working the tail-end shift of another night of bar bedlam as thousands of boozy would-be Irish tramped through the city’s pubs and bars, swilling stout and lager and whiskey. Things by and large had been going well all weekend, until a beefy group of goons started making trouble beyond regular joyful rowdiness.

“There were these big, tough Massachusetts-type guys, maybe football players or whatever, obviously friends,” he says. “Initially I just thought they were very drunk and rowdy and loud, and the doorman didn’t want to let them in. There was a line-up anyhow and it was dying down, but they were cutting the line, and they were turned away, for several reasons. And then one of them got really upset and started kicking the door and calling [the doorman] Sergio out, and I think someone in the line-up got shoved down. When Sergio came out to intervene, they just jumped him. He got beat up pretty badly. A couple of people in line tried to help, and then the staff poured out.
“So the staff fought them off and made their way back inside and closed the door, but then one of the guys tried to punch his way through this little glass in the door with the security wiring to reach in to get Sergio. But by smashing the glass and the wire, he was ripping up his hand, but he didn’t back off. So we called the cops, and they must have scattered before the police came, but it was a bloody mess. One of our staff had his hand cut open on someone and had to go to the hospital and get stitched up. That was a pretty ugly scene. And very disturbing, because St. Patrick’s Day is a predominantly positive experience.”

One word: plastic

According to Picard, now a managing partner at Brutopia on Crescent, this incident was exceptional. While he says that there is the odd brawl, the St. Patrick’s weekend is on the whole peaceful—crazy, wild, noisy and drunken, but with very little actual violence. Which is curious: take thousands of revellers, fill them with alcohol, cramp them into a few bars along Ste-Catherine W. and some side streets, and the conventional wisdom is that mayhem will break out. But apart from one incident reported in the press in 1971 in which riot police had to separate about 50 people from different Irish and Polish parties on Peel, the weekend generally passes without a surge in arrests or hospitalizations.

All this does not mean that security is not an issue. Picard says that St. Pat’s is an all-plastic weekend, meaning that all drinks will be served in plastic cups. He hires double security and makes sure to keep fire exits clear, and watches how much he serves to individuals he thinks are over the limit. He also says the heavy police presence keeps overly-enthusiastic adopted children of Erin somewhat more calm.
Sunday is parade day (the 178th), falling on the actual St. Patrick’s Day, and the police will be out in force. Not that the police will say how many uniformed officers will be on hand, a figure that Constable Luc Belhumeur says police never give out, but enough to “ensure the security of participants and public spaces.” A helicopter will be circling overhead as well.

Flatfoots and grunts

But there will be a lot of cops and a lot of military personnel on hand, even if they aren’t immediately visible. According to Larry Smith, the vice-president of public relations for the United Irish Societies of Montreal, which runs the annual event, “There is a lot of participation from off-duty military personnel. Around 40-some-odd members of the forces have been helping out, had attended training meetings, learned to do communications and keep in touch with the helicopter. In all the years of the parade, we’ve never had a single incident.” The head of the parade’s security, Roger Aggenissi, is a Montreal Homicide cop. And most of the 50 parade marshals, who keep the parade running smoothly, are retired policemen.

The parade will have its traditional police and military contingents, and at its head will be a tribute to the firefighters and police who were killed on September 11. The terrorist attacks don’t seem to have had that big an effect here in terms of security. “We’ve taken note of that aspect,” Smith says, “and we’re prepared.” He says he is more concerned with local disturbances than any serious terrorist threat.

As an added precaution, the parade will begin on Fort to clear the entrance to the Montreal Children’s Hospital emergency entrance. “We’re very security-conscious,” Smith says.
Hospitals aren’t getting especially prepared for the day either. “Nobody has any specific recollection of big problems on that day,” says Chantal Beauregard, spokesperson for the McGill University Health Centre. “It’s mostly happy crowds. In the past they have not created any serious problems for the adjacent hospitals.” Even access has been improved; because the parade is starting a few blocks to the east, Atwater will be open to emergency traffic up to Doctor Penfield and Pine, leading to the Montreal General and the Royal Victoria. “Besides,” Beauregard adds, “there will be so many police on duty that day that access should not be a problem.”

Budding business

Boozy as it is, St. Patrick’s Day is generally safe, which may have a lot to do with its family atmosphere. The parade itself draws a crowd spanning the age groups, from infants to the elderly. Nicola Picciani, owner of Winnie’s and Sir Winston Churchill Pub and president of the Crescent Street Association, says many people see St. Pat’s as the first sign of spring, which puts Montrealers especially in a better mood.

“It’s a long-awaited time of year,” Picciani says. “There’s a nice substantial increase in business as well, and not just for the bars and pubs, but also for the restaurants and boutiques. It’s when sales go back to summer mode.”

And then some. Brutopia’s Picard says parade day is “the busiest day of the year. It beats Grand Prix, it beats New Year’s Eve, it beats the big Labour Day weekend. In terms of the traditional, going-out-to-the-pub or your favourite local, it’s the biggest day of the year by far. We match a week’s revenue in two, three days.”

Picard, who has been in the bar and restaurant business for 20 years, knows how to deal with drunks. He knows that drunks have to be controlled, refused service if they’re wasted, escorted out if necessary, and to always let them throw the first punch. But he isn’t counting on much trouble, either from patrons or police. “The cops are a little more relaxed,” he says. “They’re more present, but you’ll see people in the streets with alcohol and they won’t be stopping every single one. They’ll watch them, they’ll make sure that things are controlled. The police are fully aware that there are a lot of people getting more rowdy than usual on the streets all afternoon.” :