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RAW: Montreal Police RAID Rebel News Airbnb,10-hour standoff ensues
By: Ezra Levant
I've never seen anything like it. Fifty police tried to raid the Airbnb houseboat hotel where Rebel News reporters were staying this weekend in Montreal. It was so shocking that bystanders actually asked us if we were recording a Hollywood movie. Because otherwise it just made no sense.
Fifty cops?
You bet. And when we refused to let them rifle through our reporters' rooms without a search warrant, they declared us a crime scene, and wouldn't let us enter or leave the houseboat. For the next 10 hours police tried to find a judge who would give them permission to raid our rooms and search our belongings.
Thankfully, no judge would allow it. But the police used every minute of those ten hours to brutalize us, including physically assaulting our team — including young women.
See for yourself. Warning: I get very, very angry here.
Rebel News is covering the curfew protests in Montreal, Quebec
April 11, 2021
On Sunday, Quebec’s new and not-so-improved curfew kicked in. You may recall that curfew in La Belle Province used to be 8 p.m. Then, a few weeks ago, it was extended to 9:30 p.m. And now it’s back to 8 p.m.
Why? Who knows? And how dare you ask for a valid answer!
So it was that several hundred (mostly young) people showed up to take part in a freedom demonstration near the port lands of Montreal and at some parks. Chants of “Liberté! Liberté!” filled the air.
Alas, it wasn’t long before the heavily-armed riot squad of the Montreal Police Service showed up to quell the festivities, because unlike yesteryear, Montreal — which is usually home to the Just For Laughs comedy festival — is now a No Fun Zone. And the riot squad made certain to disperse the demonstrators.
Another black mark on the evening was a small faction of demonstrators — who may have been rank and file members of the Black Bloc — smashing the windows of small businesses. Fires also erupted in the streets. That was an absolute disgrace; small businesses are among the biggest victims of the crackpot COVID crackdowns — why further penalize mom-and-pop shops barely hanging on?
But the vast majority of protesters were indeed peaceful. And all they want to do is live their lives freely. Too bad their political masters have other ideas…
Riot breakout during curfew protests in Montreal, Quebec. Reporting for @RebelNewsOnline more to come at https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH pic.twitter.com/UiyJ9V6AkD
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 12, 2021
Multiple businesses were vandalized after curfew protest turned into a riot. Full story coming soon @RebelNewsOnline https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH pic.twitter.com/MZpnvmEGBx
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 12, 2021
Rebel News reporters arrested in Montreal, AirBnB raided by police
April 10, 2021
50 heavily armed police just raided the hotel where our Rebel News reporters were staying in Montreal.
I told them they couldn’t come in without a search warrant. So instead they manhandled me. They handcuffed Keean Bexte. And They just put David Menzies in the back of a police car.
Police have sealed off the AirBnb we were staying in with police tape — they say it’s a “crime scene”.
Of course it’s not. In fact, when we asked them what the “crime” was, all they could come up with was that our staying in the hotel was an illegal “gathering," contrary to Quebec’s lockdown laws.
That’s obviously not true. It is a registered, legal hotel rental on Airbnb. In fact, we had fewer guests than the facility is built for.
This is the same Montreal police who have harassed and assaulted our reporters for weeks. This is their revenge. Because we report on their misconduct.
I’m very upset by this. And I remember that, several times, Montreal police have pulled our reporters over and called us “Jew Media” or asked if we’re “Jews”. I can’t help but think that’s a bizarre anti-semitic motivation. That sure isn’t professional policing.
David is still in the back of the police car. Our lawyer is on the scene. I’m mad as hell.
I need your help. We have to defend David. And we have to sue the police. Enough is enough. I’m sick of them assaulting our people.
If you can help me, please do. This is going to be expensive to sue the second-largest police force in Canada.
🚨Montreal police have raided our Airbnb and are arresting and handcuffing our journalists. As I told the cops, we will be getting to know each other very well as we sue them. https://t.co/roDg8jvAa1 pic.twitter.com/HB7I9mLlIk
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) April 10, 2021
Montreal police tried to force their way into our Airbnb houseboat. I told them to get a warrant. They responded by declaring the boat a crime scene, taping it off, and refusing to let me back in to get my medicine. Dozens of cops. https://t.co/roDg8jvAa1 pic.twitter.com/1wlKSMML4g
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) April 10, 2021
The @SPVM are letting us off the property one by one and searching our belongings. @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/8rQFef7k41
— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) April 10, 2021
#Montreal police have backed down! We have reclaimed our ⛵
— Alex Yelizarov (@alxyeee) April 11, 2021
Full report coming soon: https://t.co/sBwC22Iauk
@RebelNewsOnline #Montreal pic.twitter.com/HUNIWFjk80
🚨HUGE VICTORY🚨
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) April 10, 2021
Montreal’s police could not get a judge to approve their search warrant! They blinked!
David Menzies is being released from his illegal arrest!
The police have run away from the “crime scene!
I’m back in!
Viva le Quebec libre!https://t.co/roDg8jvAa1 pic.twitter.com/WSvXZplsGG
Police threaten protesters with JAIL at Quebec City anti-lockdown protest
On Easter Monday at the Quebec City lockdown rally, police periodically ambushed protesters to ensure mask compliance.
Some were warned, some were detained. Police even gave me a fine, and when they realized I was not afraid of tickets, they threatened to take me to the police station until the end of the protest. All for not wearing a mask.
Restaurants were hopeful to get some business, but their hopes were destroyed when the province ordered them to shut down within 24 hours, causing them to have to sell off their inventory below market price.
While the government is destroying the economy, it has no issue with deploying hundreds of policemen to ensure mask compliance. It’s a failed policy — once the protesters passed through the police ambush, they would put their masks down.
So who is kidding the kidders?
Rebel News is on the ground in Quebec City
Just like on Saturday’s lockdown protest, Quebec City police continued enforcing the mask mandate for demonstrations today as well. Listen what they did to this man who went to jail for not wearing a mask outdoors and got his 18th ticket today. https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH pic.twitter.com/NNmA3mqfTg
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 6, 2021
Police in Quebec City at the lockdown rally orders me to wear a mask, even though I’m across the street from the demonstration. I refused and got my 6th $1550 ticket today. I was told that if they see me without a mask again, they would take me to jail. https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH pic.twitter.com/O1a5cqVbSP
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 5, 2021
Quebec’s youth was at the front of today’s lockdown protest in Quebec City. Despite detentions and $1550 fines from the Police for not wearing a mask, the spirit was high. More to come https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH @RebelNewsOnline #lockdown2021 #Quebec #protest pic.twitter.com/54bZDSxZL0
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 5, 2021
Police in Quebec City grabs protesters who are not wearing a mask to issue them $1550 tickets. I have witnessed at least 7 people being taken away by the police. Reporting for @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/UBmXrHGeJg
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 3, 2021
Despite arrests and fines, lockdown protesters keep spreading joy through the streets of Quebec City. Reporting for @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/eXu0v5qtpa
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 3, 2021
Stay tuned for the full report.
To support our lockdown coverage please help us cover the costs of our modest accommodations and legal fees by making a donation on this page.
Thank you!
MONTREAL PROTEST: Reporters, locals swept up by lockdown enforcement
March 31, 2021
Lincoln Jay
This past weekend, after covering several continuous weeks of Montreal’s lockdown and curfew enforcement, we went back again! Mocha, head of video Efron and I ventured up from Toronto to once again cover what the mainstream media purposely ignores. You won’t believe what happened this week! We thought last week, when our entire team was ticketed multiple times, was bad… This week was unbelievable. “The collective forces of the nation are perverted,” Mocha said last week, and that is ever so evident in this report.
The anti-lockdown protest began in downtown Montreal at 1 p.m. local time. Within minutes of dropping off my colleagues Mocha and Efron while I looked for parking, they were targeted immediately by Montreal’s finest, the SPVM. The police detained and ticketed them both $1,550 for “not wearing a mask during a demonstration.” It was crazy. But don’t take my word for it, here’s the short clip we showcased over the weekend:
Montreal Police grabs @monsanto2000 and myself while reporting for not wearing a mask. Hands us contaminated ones, threatens us with more fines if we won’t wear them. Please go to https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH and fund our legal fees to fight these tickets and to see our coverage. pic.twitter.com/C07lQbGvyb
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) March 27, 2021
After that, we continued reporting despite the $3,000 setback. However, thanks to viewers like yourselves, we’ll be able to crowdfund a legal defence to fight back against these unjust tickets.
Demonstrators at the protest recognized Mocha and I and thanked us for giving them much needed coverage. The local media in Montreal don’t care to report what’s happening in their own city. Even other locals on the street were showing support for the protesters as they marched through downtown.
Despites some protestors and myself being detained and fined $1550, locals are showing their support for the Montreal Lockdown reports.
— Efron Monsanto (@monsanto2000) March 27, 2021
Full reports coming soon at https://t.co/UwvLBuqGcr pic.twitter.com/s8RMpsn1xA
Then the unbelievable happened. An hour passed, and despite a positive vibe from the entirely peaceful demonstrators, the Montreal police pounced. They deployed several dozen armed riot police and arrested a lone protester. Efron followed the arrest and continued filming calmly behind the police line.
As we know from the past, Montreal police HATE IT when you film them committing unjust arrests. After a few seconds, riot police collapsed on Efron and without any reason given, immediately detained and grabbed him behind the police line. They attempted to prevent Mocha and myself from following our own colleague’s arrest, and threatened to arrest us for doing so. I maneuvered around the crowd and recorded a different angle of Efron that shows him being handcuffed while the police wrote up another unjust fine, failure for “not wearing a mask for demonstrating.”
Minutes after, the police said, “They told us you’re Rebel News, and you’re part of the protest,” and detained and grabbed me away to be ticketed for the same bogus reasons. Mocha, the lone videographer left, recorded this all while asking the police why they were arresting journalists, before immediately getting detained and ticketed as well.
Something’s deeply wrong with Montreal’s @SPVM police. They arrest, handcuff & ticket our reporters, asking if we’re “Jews” or “Jew media”. They gave us $10,000+ in fines even though reporters are legally exempt from lockdowns. Please help us fight back at https://t.co/roDg8jvAa1 pic.twitter.com/GPqTQAGr2f
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) March 28, 2021
Hard to believe, throughout all the chaos and mayhem of our civil liberties being violated, we missed one of the most egregious aspects of this story. While I was recording my colleagues being arrested, Montreal police actually asked each other “c’est un juif?” which translates to “is that a Jew?” They even recognized our Montreal-based reporter, Yanky Pollak, who they have harassed and targeted with over $10,000 in fines for his reporting throughout the curfew, despite his legitimate exemption. There are deep-seated problems in the Montreal police force.
Thanks again for all your support in sharing our coverage, and donating to cover our travel expenses and legal fees to bring you the other side of the story
Rebel News is on the ground in Montreal this weekend
Some of our reporters and videographers have already received more fines for trying to bring you the other side of the story.
This is the side of the story you won't hear in the mainstream media.
If you support our independent journalism, please help us cover our costs by chipping in a few dollars here.
Montreal police continues to detain and fine lockdown protesters and members of the media for not wearing a mask outdoors. If you received any fines go to https://t.co/2Lff8lnntR. Reporting for @RebelNewsOnline https://t.co/nR2Ow1VfjH pic.twitter.com/jWrCWRr7vx
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) March 27, 2021
Currently in Montreal, Quebec at their anti-lockdown protest.
— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) March 20, 2021
Here’s a sneak peek of one of the scenes from today. Heavy police presence all day.
Full report coming soon@RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/MrZvL40oHU
INVESTIGATION: Montreal police curfew enforcement on Hasidic Jewish community
Yanky Pollack
March 26, 2021
For the past few months, I have been out filming the enforcement of curfew in Montreal, Quebec, specifically the Plateau and Outremont area where I grew up. These reports show you what the lockdown really looks like, unlike what you see in the mainstream media.
This past weekend, a Rebel News crew came to Montreal to report on the Worldwide Freedom Rally anti-lockdown protest, and to document the curfew situation in the city. I also got a chance to show our crew around an area that has been heavily targeted by the police during curfew hours, patrolling the streets in search of potential violators and, in our case, non-violators as well.
We were in the area doing interviews and filming the street when we saw police putting a young man into a police car. We started rolling our cameras and the cops called for backup, to stop the "threat" of the media doing their job. The four of us from our Rebel team ended up getting fined $1,550 each for breaking curfew, for a total of $6,200.
We're going to fight these tickets and we're going to continue reporting on what is going on with these lockdown rules, but we need your help.
If you can chip in a few dollars to help us cover the costs of travel and the legal fees we would appreciate it.
Montreal police randomly pick protesters out of crowds, issue charges at Worldwide Freedom Rally
Lincoln Jay
March 19, 2021
This past weekend, my colleague Mocha and I visited the freedom rally in Montreal, Quebec. We had become aware of some shocking footage obtained at the previous weekend’s protest, and we knew we had to make the trip down from Toronto to see what exactly was happening on the ground.
It became evident quite quickly that it was going to be worth our journey. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the protest, the Montreal police began to detain peaceful protesters. Police were brought to the protest packed in vans and then dispersed in groups of four, picking people randomly from the crowd and detaining them.
Interview from earlier today at the anti-lockdown protest in Montreal, Quebec.
— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) March 21, 2021
More to come. @RebelNewsOnlinehttps://t.co/orRKf9nYRl pic.twitter.com/3NWm0LtbfR
Despite the amount of police force on scene, people upheld a positive attitude and continued to protest.
Our videographer @BezirganMocha was assaulted and ticketed by the @SPVM while covering a freedom rally in Montreal.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 20, 2021
Help us fund this coverage at https://t.co/qZEknwgqNN pic.twitter.com/zTEe5TEF3F
To support our lockdown reporting please consider chipping in a few dollars to help us cover the costs.
RAW FOOTAGE: Rebel team gets $6,000 worth of tickets in Montreal
The protest against Quebec's lockdown on March 13 caught us off-guard here at Rebel News.
We've covered a ton of these protests in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Sure, we've covered the curfew in Quebec, but that large demonstration that saw heavily armed riot police use tear gas on demonstrators was a surprise to us.
With that in mind, we sent a team from Toronto to Montreal to cover this weekend's protest. Montreal police, however, had other plans.
Despite their past assurance that media was essential, and thus exempt from curfew restrictions, our team in Quebec this weekend managed to receive $6,000 in charges from Montreal police.
While we're working on our full report of everything we captured over the weekend in Quebec, we can provide this raw footage of police issuing our team tickets.
If you can chip in a few dollars to help us continue to bring you the other side of the story with what’s happening in regard to these lockdown measures, we would appreciate it.
If you have been following Rebel News’ coverage of the lockdowns over the past year, you’ll have seen that we haven’t missed a beat when it comes to showing our viewers what is really happening on the ground in Canada.
We have consistently covered the lockdown protests at Queen's Park and Yonge-Dundas Square for the past 11 months.
We were on scene for the shutdown of Adamson Barbecue and brought you exclusive footage of owner Adam Skelly’s arrest.
We recorded the footage of catching sneaky Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown breaking his own lockdown rules by hosting hockey games for his friends while children were unable to play.
These are the kind of stories we want to continue capturing for you. Real, raw footage of what is really going on with no narrative to push.
You may have seen what happened this past weekend in Montreal, Quebec at one of the anti-lockdown protests happening in the city. There was a heavy police presence on scene trying to dismiss protesters which included riot police and the mounted unit.
We feel it is crucial that we are on scene this weekend to show you exactly what is happening on the streets of Montreal.
We have been doing a fair bit of travelling the past month including three trips to Calgary and one trip to Edmonton, Alberta.
Unlike the mainstream media, we do not receive a cent of government funding. Travel, car rental, gas and accommodation expenses are all crowdfunded from the generous donations from our viewers.
That’s why we are launching LockdownReports.com where we are kindly asking for donations to help us continue bringing you the truth and the other side of the story with what’s happening in regard to these lockdown measures.
We will use this to help fund our future reports so that if there’s a story in Canada or anywhere else in the word, we will be there to cover it.
Canadians can donate through e-transfer by emailing [email protected] please use the password RebelNews if necessary.
Quick PayPal donations can be made here: https://www.paypal.me/RebelNews
And you can donate by cheque by making it out to Rebel News and mailing the cheque to:
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