Gentrification

A balade for de-gentrification took to the streets of Saint-Henri on the evening of May 28, 2016. About 30 people, all in black bloc, strolled down rue Notre-Dame and looted the yuppie boutique grocery store “Le 3734”. As most of the crowd held down the street outside the store, a few people went inside and filled duffel bags with fresh and dry sausages, cheese, maple syrup, and other items. Meanwhile, the storefront was redecorated with graffiti reading ‘Fuck Empire’ and wheatpasted posters that communicated some of the intentions behind the action. After throwing smoke bombs ahead of and behind the crowd on Notre-Dame, people dispersed via the train tracks before police could arrive, and no arrests have been made. In the days that followed, we re-distributed the food to people in the neighborhood who wouldn’t regularly have had access to it. The poster left behind read as follows: ...

In CamOver, you play a group of humans confronted with an invasion of cameras in a gentrified neighborhood. The struggle against the cameras is important, but your own survival is essential! To win you must form teams with friends in your neighborhoods and destroy as many cameras as possible. The game takes place throughout the summer. At the end, the neighborhood with the most points wins the game. ...

After having participated in what was called as a demo against the police in Hochelaga on Thursday April 14th, we had the urge to share some reflections outside of our living rooms (towards yours perhaps?). First off, we were fucking excited to see a flyer circulate that was calling for a neighborhood demo in Hochelag’. We want to be able to participate in moments of struggle in the neighborhood and not only downtown and/or in demos called on Facebook. ...

Last night, we destroyed the windows of Antidote, Mâle Bouffe, Electric Children (which was also sprayed with paint), and attacked the businesses of the Place Valois. This morning, flyers were thrown in the metro stations Préfontaine, Joliette and Pie-IX and at the Place Valois explaining the attacks of the night before. Flyer: During the night of February 25, 2016, some businesses in Hochelaga were attacked. We smashed the windows and threw paint everywhere. ...

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In the early morning of Tuesday, December 22, we used chunks of porcelain to break a window of the yuppie clothing boutique at the corner of Notre-Dame and Delinelle in the Montreal neighborhood of St-Henri. We then used a re-purposed fire extinguisher to spray the interior of the store with vomit-colored paint, wrecking the merchandise inside. Businesses like this one make the neighborhood more appealing to rich people, driving up rents and the cost of living, forcing people out of their homes, and drawing heightened social control to the places we live. ...

No peace for the defenders of commodity-society! In the early hours of Wednesday Dec 2, we punctured the tires of a patrol car belonging to the private security company Garda on the corner of St-Jacques and Irene in the Montreal neighborhood of St-Henri. Garda provides prison, security and deportation services, profiting intensely from many aspects of this burning dumpster of an existence under capitalism. So, you know, fuck ’em. We claim this action within the context of the international call for a black December by imprisoned Greek anarchists. Through this communique, we wish to express our sincerest criminal complicity with all fugitive and incarcerated anarchist comrades around the world. ...

It was on June 2, ten days before the opening of his restaurant on rue Ontario, that the owner noticed that a large rock had been thrown through a window of his business. ...

In a brazen attempt to vandalize several businesses at around midnight on Saturday, a group of individuals wearing ski masks broke the windows of four businesses located on Notre-Dame Street in St-Henri. Dressed all in black, the vandals damaged storefronts as seen in a security video obtained by Global News. The damage to Jesse Bowden’s shop, Campanelli, was just shy of $8000 in glass alone. ...

The local employment centre of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve was vandalized, over the night of Thursday to Friday, in Montreal, when white and red paint was thrown on the buildings façade and the windows were broken. A passerby called 911 around 5:40 am to communicate the dammages to the building on rue De Rouen. Upon arriving at the location, police also noticed the interior had been ransacked, affirms the spokesperson of the SPVM, Jean-Pierre Brabant. ...

Business owners of Saint-Henri are tired of being victims of vandalism on the part of those who blame their luxurious shops for the gentrification of the neighborhood. They are now considering hiring a night guard. “If you sell anything other than hot dogs at 25 cents in Saint-Henri, you are not always welcome,” says business owner Corey Shapiro. Every day, people spit on the windows of his hair salon and its luxury eyewear, both located on rue Notre Dame. ...

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