Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesman for hardline student association CLASSE, said he was questioned by the Sûreté du Québec on April 27.

According to Nadeau-Dubois, what first began as questioning on alleged death threats he had received soon turned into an interview about his activity with CLASSE.

Nadeau-Dubois told CBC News on Monday that the SQ asked him questions about his family, his roommate, his friends and CLASSE.

"My general feeling was that this was a warning from the SQ," he said.

Nadeau-Dubois says he spent nearly 80 minutes in an interrogation room with investigators working with the SQ's anti-terror unit.

"The exit was blocked off by a second investigator who stood against the door. I had no way of getting out. I answered all of the questions honestly but remained fairly vague," he said.

"One of the first things the investigator said at the beginning of the meeting was that we were meeting based on a request by the minister of public security, Mr. Dutil," Nadeau-Dubois said.

Quebec's minister of public security, Robert Dutil, has said that Nadeau-Dubois incited violence during past student protests.

The SQ would not comment on its interview with Nadeau-Dubois.

Many students questioned

When asked about the questioning, Dutil's spokesperson said that his cabinet did not have any part in police investigations.

Radio-Canada interviewed the investigator who allegedly questioned Nadeau-Dubois. She said she did not remember speaking with him, but said she had met with many students.

Mathias Tellier, a police expert and former SQ investigator, told Radio-Canada that there are thousands of meetings conducted by police officers every day.

But, "the order cannot come from the political sector," Tellier said. "It's a question of investigation and security."