JEAN-FRANCOIS BERTRAND, "PROTESTERS DEMAND END TO MONARCHY," OTTAWA CITIZEN  (OCTOBER 14, 2002).

Copyright Ottawa Citizen 2002

They waited for hours to see the Queen's motorcade yesterday in Gatineau. But their message was different from the one she has heard from Canadians so far.

In front of the Museum of Civilization, about 100 people gathered at the corner of Laurier and Papineau streets to protest the Queen's presence in Quebec.

Further east on Laurier Street, about 75 supporters of the Queen also waited for hours. They did not see the motorcade, for it took a back road to get to the 7 p.m. official dinner at the museum. "I hoped to catch a glimpse. But I'm disappointed, we've been standing here since 5 o'clock," said Alana Donahue.

From her vantage point, she could not see the protesters waving the fleur-de-lis, Quebec's flag. They also had flags representing Louis-Joseph Papineau's Patriotes. Green, white and red, that flag showed at its centre the silhouette of an armed man. In the late 1960s and during the October crisis, the FLQ used the same artwork as a symbol.

The demonstrators had posters with the names of the 12 French- Canadians hung after the 1837 rebellion and Oui signs from the 1995 referendum. Some signs had references to Louis Riel, the Metis and the Acadians. Other signs called for the day when the Quebec flag would fly at the United Nations.

"Since 1760, they have been imposing monarchy upon us," said Victor Charbonneau, one of the organizers of the rally. Dressed in white rain gear and wearing a blue beret decorated with fleur-de- lis pins, he rallied the protesters with chants between media interviews.

Yann Leduc, a Hull man in his 20s, said he felt no link with the Queen or England. "She's a useless symbol of colonialism."

From Montreal and also in his 20s, Daniel Lambert is a member of a new group of sovereigntists. The 50-odd members of Jeunes Patriotes du Quebec are anti-monarchist, he explained. "We don't have to pay for her visit, she shouldn't be here," he said.

Richard Nadeau also wants to abolish the monarchy. The president of the Bloc Quebecois in Gatineau said that sovereignty is in the people. Marc Bonhomme of Gatineau was there as a member of the Union des forces progressistes, a left-wing group. "The Queen is the symbol of the British Empire, a reminder of the conscription during the two world wars," said the middle-aged man.

Closer to the interprovincial bridge, Sandra Pink did not agree with the demonstrators. "It's embarrassing, we're all Canadians. I find it disrespectful," she said, while family members nodded their approval.

An hour before the Queen arrived at the museum, with dozens of RCMP and Gatineau police officers looking on, the protesters' shouts in French became louder: 'We want a country, we don't want monarchy!' and 'No to colonialism!'

When some younger protesters started up a chorus of 'FLQ! FLQ!' Mr. Charbonneau quickly intervened to remind them it was not the right message. He led them into 'Queen, go home!' to which some objected because it was in English.

Then the protesters seamlessly switched to singing, 'Elizabeth, hey, hey, goodbye.'

Yesterday's protest was peaceful and far different from 1964's samedi de la matraque -- truncheon Saturday. That October day, during the Queen's visit to Quebec City, police violently dispersed anti-monarchist demonstrators and arrested 36.