Vandals break windows, spray paint inside east-end Montreal businesses
Incident in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve could be anti-gentrification protest, police say
Montreal police are investigating after windows were broken and paint was sprayed all over five businesses in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuveovernight.
Police say around 1:40 a.m., a number of people called 911 about the vandalism.
The targeted businesses, including furniture stores and a hairdresser,are on Sainte-Catherine Street betweend'OrlansandJeanne-d'Arc avenues.
By the time officers arrived at the scene, the suspects had left, said police spokesman Const.Benot Boisselle.
Boissellesaid police aren't yet sure of the motive, but he saysthe hypothesis thatanti-gentrificationgroups are behind the damage is still a possibility.
Witnesses told police the suspects were wearing masks. Police are on the scene, looking for fingerprints and other evidence.
Similar attack earlier this year
Martin Lafrance owns furniture store Montral Moderneand has onlybeen in that location for three months.
He says he now hasto repaint, strip the floor and will end up throwing away half of the pieces in the shop. He estimates it will cost thousands of dollars.
"I'm a small shop owner.I work six days a week, I work alone, I take a small income from that. It's all I have," he said.
"They are all vintage pieces that I put a lot of work into all these pieces, each of them."
Marc Gosselin, an artist who works at Showroom Montreal, another store that was targeted, saida month ago anti-gentrification posters were pasted on the windows of area businesses.
He believes whoever vandalized the store was trying to scare the owners and people who work there. He pointed to a similar wave of vandalism in the same area earlier this year.
"They associate us with gentrification. They are against everything that is nice inHochelaga-Maisonneuve. We've been lucky up until now," he said.
"It's horrible what they did to the store. I can't understand how you can attack a small business."
with files from Lauren McCallum
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