According to a lot of responses to the original twitter post and this reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/gum6xy/montrealers_think_the_police_gets_one_one_knee_as/), it's standard police protocol to kneel while swapping to a gas mask. It does make sense, considering that they have to take off the full helmets to attach the mask and hat before putting the helmet back on.

It's easy to see how this could get confused with kneeling in solidarity, especially at a distance and in a crowd not looking for it. For those out there protesting, keep an eye for masks so that this doesn't happen again.

Trickery, guile, treachery – words that should not ever match someone that's meant to protect and serve us. Fuck, this whole mess just keeps getting worse.