Vandals target art gallery with Qanon messaging
Owners concerned, investigation opens into conspiracy group-related graffiti
Vandals spray-painted Qanon-themed graffiti across the windows of a Montreal art gallery this week, prompting an investigation by the SPVM'S hate crimes unit.
Tuesday evening, just after 9, a man and a woman wearing black clothes and carrying cans of spray paint approached the BBAM! Gallery on Atwater Ave. in St-henri. Surveillance footage shows the couple tagging the gallery, painting “pedogate” and slinking away when cars passed.
The pair then moved north, toward the downtown core, where similar vandalism appeared on a daycare centre. The Montreal police hate crimes unit is investigating both incidents, a spokesperson said.
“It's awful,” said Alison E. Rogers, who co-owns and operates BBAM! with her husband, Ralph Alfonso. “It comes from hate and ignorance.”
“We're still trying to process it,” Alfonso said.
They discovered the graffiti Wednesday morning, cleaned it and called the police, who, upon realizing the significance of the vandalism, became worried.
“Initially, the officer who is assigned to the case didn't seem to know too much about the imagery,” Rogers said Friday.
“But then when he came back yesterday to get the footage, he had done research and he was more concerned, because there's that Qanon aspect and there's a very dangerous element.”
Pedogate is a reference to a baseless conspiracy theory affiliated with the Qanon movement. Qanon followers interpret messages posted online by a supposed anonymous U.S. military insider who tells them Donald Trump will spark a revolution against the “deep state cabal.” They call this event the “storm” — a day when high-level pedophiles embedded in the U.S. power structure will be arrested.
The “storm” was supposed to be on Jan. 20 and police investigators believe the vandalism is linked to that date, an officer told Rogers on Friday.
But the links to the world of online conspiracy theories still leave Rogers and Alfonso confused, shaken and wondering “why us?”
BBAM! frequently hosts LGBTQ artists, and the gallery's latest exhibition is called You're Gayer Than a Picnic Basket, which addresses the artist's experience of being the target of hate.
“And then,” Rogers said, “we get attacked by hate. Ironic.”
She and Alfonso are thankful for the community support they've received, but they worry the incident could spark others.
“You do go online,” Rogers said, “and you start to read, and sometimes it's out there and then they believe you are a part of this Pizzagate ring (another baseless conspiracy theory about child trafficking) or whatever it is, and people, they believe it. Who knows what they're saying on their message boards?”
Some Qanon followers have had their faith shaken by the inauguration of President Joe Biden — an event their doctrine maintained was impossible.
But Quebec conspiracy theorist Alexis Cossette-trudel posted a video online late Thursday urging his followers to be patient, insisting the “storm” would still arrive. His rant convinced some. “It makes so much sense,” one commenter wrote. “Phew, I panicked a little yesterday but I understand what happens next and I'm still in.”
But others wanted no further part in the delusion. “He's standing up for his interests,” one commenter wrote, “he never believed a single word he said, he took us into an imaginary world and it's time we came back down to earth, to reality.”
Qanon has inspired violence previously. Its supporters were among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, and, in a 2016 prelude to Qanon, internet myths inspired a man to fire a gun inside a Washington pizzeria he believed was a front for child trafficking.
(The officer) was more concerned, because there's that Qanon aspect and there's a very dangerous element.