Montreal police were called to the Montreal offices of Vice, the online media organization, after a half-dozen men with alleged ties to the far-right group Atalante stormed into their offices Wednesday afternoon.
According to an article Vice posted on its website, the men stormed in “with the goal of intimidating its journalists.” The reporter, Simon Coutu, wrote that the men objected to a report Vice had published earlier about how the far-right group whose members are mostly based in Quebec City made recent efforts to recruit members in Montreal.
Paul Labonté, head of creative at Vice Montreal, told the Montreal Gazette he was in the office and seated next to Coutu when six or more men stormed in. He said one man pretended to be delivering flowers and was buzzed in by an employee before the other men followed. The people at Vice who witnessed what happened believe the man who was carrying the flowers is the leader of Atalante Quebec, a far-right group that opposes immigration to Canada and refers to political leaders like Québec solidaire MNA Amir Khadir as “parasites.” In his article, Coutu reported that the leader was wearing sunglasses. Labonté said the other men were wearing masks.
The group was equipped with a boom box that played the theme song to the television game show The Price is Right while some of the men tossed flyers around the office. The flyers paraphrased a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte, the 19th century French statesman and military leader. The quote on the flyers read: “Those who practice virtue in the hopes of acquiring grand renown are very close to vice.”
“For the first minute-and-a-half I thought it was a singing telegram. I was sitting right there,” Labonté said, while adding Coutu seemed to realize who the men were with “as soon as they walked in.” Labonté said Coutu is experienced in covering the often challenging subject of far-right groups that are active in Quebec.
“It was very disruptive and it was very much like: ‘we’re in your space.’ They threw around flyers and they threw clown noses,” Labonté said while adding no one was threatened during the bizarre incident. “I don’t think anyone’s offices should be breached but I think that when you’re striking a nerve you’re probably doing some good journalism.”
Montreal police spokesperson Constable Andrée-Anne Picard said that by the time officers arrived at Vice’s offices, the men had left.
“Six men entered with bouquets of flowers and papers with quotes on them. There was no mischief, nothing was broken and no one was injured. In fact, the people (at Vice) did not want to file a complaint,” she said. “It has been submitted for an investigation. But, in fact, it was one journalist who was (targeted) and he didn’t want to file a complaint.”