Montreal police are looking for the men who scrawled racist graffiti on the front window of an art gallery.
At 1:09 a.m. Saturday, three men walking along Ontario St. East stopped in front of the Mushagalusa Art Gallery and wrote racist epithets on the window.
The men did not realize they were plainly visible to a security camera inside 533 Ontario St. East.
The gallery's owner tried to wash off the graffiti on Saturday but was unsuccessful.
“It was just shocking, I couldn't imagine that would happen,” said owner Guy Mushagalusa Chigoho, who said he posted the video online to send a clear message.
“To let them know we can't just let them do stupid things like that with no reaction,” he said.
The video shows three white men who appear to be in their twenties or thirties.
One man is overweight, with short black hair and a black beard. He was smoking and wearing a navy blue T-shirt and shorts, and carrying a backpack over one shoulder.
The second man also had black hair, was smoking, and was wearing a beige or grey sweater with slightly darker pants.
The third man had dark hair and a stubbly beard. He was wearing dark pants and a blue long-sleeved shirt, and was carrying a red, green and white abstract art painting under his arm.
Anyone with information about the vandals is asked to call Montreal police at 514-280-0121 or to call the gallery at 514-303-1112.
Anyone with information about the vandals is asked to call Montreal police at 514-280-0121 or to call the gallery at 514-303-1112.
The gallery owner said another window at the gallery, which features African art, was smashed on April 29.
Dieudonné appearing this week
The art gallery will be hosting a controversial comedian this week and throughout May.
Dieudonné has sold out ten shows in a 200-seat room at the art gallery, and is also staging performances in Trois Rivieres.
Last year the comic was charged and convicted of defending terrorism for a Facebook post where he sympathized with the gunman who killed four people at a kosher supermarket it Paris.
Dieudonné had previously been banned from performing in France because of his anti-Semitic performances.
“This man has been made known for his incitement to violence against Jews. He's been refused entry into a number of countries, he's awaiting a prison sentence in Belgium if he sets foot there,” said Eta Yudin at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Dieudonné has repeatedly been convicted and fined for hate speech and racism.
On Tuesday he will be sentenced, once again, for hate speech and racial abuse based on his show "The filthy animal."
Upon finding him guilty, the judge in Paris said Dieudonné "M'Bala M'Bala has only one goal: stigmatizing Jews."
Yudin said Dieudonné should not be allowed into Canada.
“I think that we have clear guidelines and criteria of who can come into this country like any country,” said Yudin.
Canada Border Agents will make that decision when Dieudonné arrives Tuesday.
Meantime, Mushagalusa Chigoho said he doesn’t believe the graffiti is connected to the upcoming event, adding that he is simply offering a venue and doesn't necessarily agree with anything Dieudonné says.
“It's a space of free speech,” he said.
Mushagalusa Chigoho has added security for Dieudonné’s shows, but says they will go on.
“I don't want to feel like I am a victim or that I'm being intimidated. No, no, no. no, no,” he said.
