Montreal police say there will be no charges against a man who waved a Nazi flag from atop a building in Park Extension earlier this month.
It comes as tensions are rising owing to anti-fascist activists stepping up their efforts to publicly denounce what they say are the racists living in Montreal.
Signs posted on Sherbrooke St., Monkland Ave., and other major streets throughout NDG last weekend, claim that high-profile neo-Nazis are living in the neighbourhood. The posters includes their alleged home addresses.
On his Facebook page, one of the men named in the posters appears to mock the signs and all the attention he's receiving. His page devotes attention to far right and anti-immigrant views, including a video of Adolf Hitler which has since been removed.
CTV News reached out to the group that posted the posters in NDG, along with posters of other of a man spotted at the Charlottesville, Virginia white supremacist march last year.
By email, the group Spotted: Nazi said, “We hope that his being exposed will create a situation in which he feels discouraged from organizing politically.”
This past weekend, protesters marched in Rosemont to denounce a man known as ‘Zeiger,’ reputed to be a top neo-Nazi organizer allegedly recruiting in Montreal.
A week earlier, another demonstration was held to denounce a man who flew a Nazi flag from the roof of a Park Ex condo.
Park Ex resident Monir Hossain helped organize both protests.
“I believe if we don't take action, to the legal authority, it's definitely going to rise definitely. Today or tomorrow, it's going to rise and rise and rise city to city,” he said.
Hossain says they're trying to send a message to police to take neo-Nazis seriously.
“These are organized people. Don't think these people are working alone. They have an organized group working all around. Maybe it's hidden, maybe it's underground, but they have plans, so we must say that police, even if they don't arrest them, they must work with those people,” he said.
Montreal police said they are investigating, but said these are complicated cases. There won't be any criminal charges in the case of the Nazi flag, said police spokesperson Ian Lafreniere.
“Having a flag by itself, that's not criminal. But if you're using that to provoke or cause a commotion, it could be different laws that apply to that,” explained Lafreniere.
“I would say it’s provocation,” said Bernie Farber chair of the Anti-Hate Network. “In other provinces, we know there have been hate charges that have been in various cases over the years, but we just haven't seen the same in Montreal.”
While he denounces their beliefs, Farber does have concerns about the way they're being outed.
“It's really an invitation, potentially, for people who may have some other ideas to take some type of vigilante action, which is not something I favour, either on the left or on the right,” he said.
Police say whoever put up the posters could be charged for inciting violence.
“We had cases in the past where there has been some misidentification,” said Lafreniere.
Lafreniere also said police are keeping tabs on the men pictured in the posters.
