For almost a decade, anyone travelling south along Montreal’s Avenue du Parc could glimpse a mural of the Palestinian flag with the words “Palestine Libre” painted along the top. However, on the morning of December 16, Montrealers awoke to find the iconic mural painted over. Replacing the Palestinian flag was a blue wall with a Star of David, the date October 7, and two sentences, “free the hostages” and “f*** Hamas” written in capital letters.
The original mural was painted in 2014 after Alternatives, a community organization whose mission is to support autonomous social movements and provide a safe gathering space, allowed activists onto the rooftop to make their statement. In this case though, Alternatives was not involved in the installation of the graffiti and how the perpetrators accessed the rooftop remains unclear. The community group has publicly denounced this “criminal act of vandalism” and hate.
Members of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) were quick to mobilize once the graffiti was discovered. At noon the next day, several organizers gathered on the rooftop overlooking Montreal with buckets of paint and a variety of brushes, ready to get to work.
In an interview with rabble.ca on scene, PYM organizer Sarah Shamy said the Montreal community that supports Palestine has rallied around the PYM Montreal chapter, offering support in light of the targeting of the Palestinian flag and community.
“We have been getting a lot of calls and messages about this,” Shamy said. “People are really rattled about this because it does feel like a huge staple of the community, of the Montreal landscape [….] We are going to cover it up, that’s great, but this was here [for years] so it is a clear attack on our community and what we stand for. We are definitely feeling a bit angry and violated by that.”
Shamy feels that the act of vandalism symbolizes the increasing “violence and hate” that the Palestinian community and its supporters have been subject to since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war. This will not, however, discourage the PYM and other organizations from protesting the ongoing siege in Gaza.
“We are going to continue to show up and organize for our community, we are going to continue to confront Zionism wherever it is—if it is on the roof of one of our own spaces, then that is what we are going to be doing. We are going to remain steadfast in that struggle until the full return to liberation,” Shamy said.
The repainting of the Palestinian flag mural took three days to complete—torrential downpours on the second day forced activists indoors and halted the operation for nearly a full day. In the late afternoon of December 20, the mural was restored to its former glory, with the addition of some English. The phrase along the top of the flag now reads: “Free Palestine Libre.”
Following the completion of the project, Shamy told rabble.ca that “it was really affirming to see” the Montreal community rally around the restoration of the mural through social media posts, private messages, and phone calls.
“The mass support that has emerged from this has been really overwhelmingly positive which was heartwarming,” Shamy said. “We know that in the face of repression, escalating hate crimes, and racism, our community will always prevail and remain strong.”
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Nick Seebruch, editor
