1 arrested after social housing protesters barricade themselves inside vacant Jacques-Viger hospital

Agroup of protesters barricaded themselves inside the old, vacant Jacques-Viger hospital complex for hours before police were finally able to clear the site Monday evening.

The demonstration was staged by Front d'action populaire en ramnagement urbain (FRAPRU), a social housing group, to kick off a week of protest in Quebec.

• Affordable housing in Quebec gets $400 million injection
• Social housing protesters to occupy Montreal lot for several nights

Nearly 100 protesters barricaded themselves inside the basement of the old hospital around 3:30 p.m., following a clash with police where they deployed pepper spray on the crowd.

FRAPRUwas demanding that the currently unused and deteriorating space, locatedat the corner ofRen-LvesqueBoulevard andSt-AndrStreet,be converted into social housing.

The hospital has been closedsince 2011.

As of 6:30 p.m., police were able to force the protesters to leave peacefully. Only one arrest was made on aunrelated, outstanding warrant. Two tickets were issued for contravening municipal bylaws.