RAID: Montreal’s Police War Against Citizen Journalism
Inside the unprecedented police raid on Rebel News in Montreal — and our fight for freedom of the press.
A RebelNews+ original documentary
Watch the film. Know the truth. Help us fight back.
RAID is more than a documentary. It’s a warning — and a call to action.
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They came for the truth. We were ready.
In our latest exclusive film, RAID: Montreal’s Police War Against Citizen Journalism, Rebel News recounts our harrowing clash with the Montreal police (SPVM) at the height of Quebec’s authoritarian lockdown and curfew regime.
We were in Montreal to do what the legacy media refused to — document government overreach and police abuse. But the SPVM didn’t like being exposed. So they tried to shut us down.
Here's how they treated our reporter during covid:
I've been stopped by Montreal police more than 15 times during the curfew and given thousands of dollars in fines, even though I have a media exemption. Last night @SPVM called me over and asked if I was "media juif" -- Jew media. Outrageous.https://t.co/WHFZdtRHRp pic.twitter.com/FzbywMHRxX
— Yanky (@Yanky_Pollak) March 21, 2021
The Raid
RAID is the explosive, behind-the-scenes story of how fifty armed officers stormed our temporary headquarters — an Airbnb houseboat — in an outrageous, unprecedented attack on independent journalism.
For ten tense hours, we were detained, threatened, and physically assaulted. Police tried to illegally search our rooms. When we insisted they present a warrant, they declared the entire boat a "crime scene" and held us hostage.
They arrested our colleague David Menzies and made a shocking offer: they’d release him if we let them search our rooms without a warrant. That’s not policing — that’s extortion.
No judge would grant them the illegal search warrant they sought. So, after ten hours of intimidation and abuse, they left. No charges. No apologies. But a chilling message: shut up, or else.
Why us?
Because we embarrassed them.
Our cameras caught what they wanted hidden. We told the stories they tried to silence. And when they tried to stop us, we stood our ground — and kept rolling.
We didn’t back down — and we won.
Rebel News sued the SPVM — and we won. A legal victory. A public apology. A precedent for press freedom in Canada.
But justice like this isn’t automatic — and it isn’t free.
WATCH THE TRAILER:
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