Premier Francois Legault reacted to threats against Montreal mayor Valerie Plante.
Plante spoke out Thursday about threats directed against her over her opposition to the province's secularism bill.
She told reporters Thursday the online attacks, including physical violence, have intensified, and she's taking them seriously.
"I'm always open for debate, but I will not accept that,'' Plante said. "This is not the kind of society we want. This is not what we want to encourage.''
The threats are in messages posted online or sent directly to her social media accounts. "Freedom of speech is important, but we need to realize we're also talking to human beings,'' Plante said.
Legault called the attacks on Plante unacceptable and urged calmer debate.
"This debate has to be done respectfully, and we have to be careful about any kind of violence. I'm happy to say that we are in a society where we don't have much violence, we have to keep it this way", said Legault.