“They've been here 16 times!”: Montreal police harass UFC Trainer Firas Zahabi
Firas Zahabi is a world-renowned Mixed Martial Arts trainer who operates Tristar Gym in Montreal, Quebec.
Zahabi even trained one of the most successful UFC fighters of all time, Georges St-Pierre.
Zahabi is adamant that his gym is following all the lockdown rules in his city, yet he has been continuously confronted by Montreal police — 16 times by his count. He says he is even willing to submit his students to temperature checks and operate his 13,000 square foot gym at as low as 5–10 per cent capacity in order to open his doors.
But he says that the police harassment has continued and has gotten even more aggressive recently.
“I've spoken to them every time, this time I didn't open the door,” Zahabi explains. “They put tape over the peep-hole... they started sliding things under the door... it really feels like harassment and a waste of police resources,” he concluded.
Zahabi has been hard at work trying to spread a message of health and wants to unite gyms primarily in Quebec, but also across Canada, under the phrase “Fitness is Your Right!”
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