"Mass Departure Surprises Army"

OKA, Que. - After 11 weeks of standoff, the Mohawk crisis ended as it began - violently and in mass confusion.

Mohawks left their Kahnesatake encampment Wednesday night, but they didn't surrender to soldiers. In a final protest they tried to snub the army and walk down the road toward Oka.

Initially caught off guard, the military rebounded and wild street brawls ensued as soldiers tried to contain defiant Mohawk Warriors, women and children.

The natives - who had been holed up since Sept. 1 in a treatment centre at Kahnesatake, 30 kilometres west of Montreal - began leaving their compound just before 7 p.m.

The scene became chaotic when some of the group, led by Warrior adviser Loran Thompson and a woman with a child, crossed over the razor wire at the edge of the army perimeter and headed toward Oka.

Soldiers poured into the area and tried to push them back.

Piercing screams of women filled the air. One woman carrying a feather ran up to the razor wire and was bounced back by a soldier who blocked her with his gun. She shouted obscenities at him before being dragged off by another soldier.

Another woman trying to cross the wire and holding a child by a hand was shoved back. The two fell to the ground and were dragged to their feet by soldiers. They were pushed again, fell once more, and the woman, still clutching the child's hand, screamed.

Joe Deom, a Mohawk negotiator just arriving on the scene, shook his head in disbelief, and muttered "It's a double cross."

The Mohawks had planned to surrender to army custody. Soldiers rounded up most of the natives and put them on buses for a military base in Farmham, southeast of Montreal.

At least 50 Mohawks were in army custody at Farnham late Wednesday night. Maj. Alain Tremblay said it was possible a few remained in the woods surrounding the treatment centre. A search was to be conducted today.