‘Ungovernable’ flyer a ‘joke between friends’

It was meant to be a gag between two friends. But the flyer containing a threatening message that he left on his buddy’s car in the Durand neighbourhood eventually blew up on social media Thursday evening.

“It was a joke. I put it on my friend’s vehicle,” said the prankster, who declined to have his name in print out of concern for his employment.

His bogus flyer said, “Be aware, your vehicle is a target” and used the term “ungovernable,” an allusion to the masked mob that — really — went on a vandalism spree on Locke Street South on Saturday night.

The gag went on: “We demand that you stop your unthinking support of the capitalist hegemony. You are part of the problem. Failure to comply will have consequences.”

But somehow, that sole flyer left on his buddy’s car wound up on a woman’s car in Kirkendall, south of Locke Street.

That woman shared an image on social media, and it wasn’t long before the sole flyer falsely escalated into a case of dozens blanketing parked cars on Locke Street South. “I’m going to call everybody, ‘It’s a hoax,’” she later told The Spectator. “And thank God it’s a hoax.”

The woman, whose daughter alerted her to the flyer on her car early Thursday evening, didn’t want to be identified either, still concerned for her safety after Saturday night’s rampage.

“I think it goes to how deeply that affected everybody,” she said about how quickly the image of the bogus flyer was shared on social media, raising alarm.

“It’s an extremely unfortunate choice of humour,” she added.