{"id":648298,"date":"2026-05-05T00:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/648298\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T00:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:55:13","slug":"montreal-police-launch-investigation-into-mock-beheading-of-labour-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/648298\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal police launch investigation into mock beheading of labour minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Montreal police have launched an investigation into a mock beheading of Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet that took place during a May Day demonstration over the weekend.<\/p>\n

A video circulating widely on social media showed demonstrators using what appears to be a guillotine to decapitate a papier m\u00e2ch\u00e9 effigy of Boulet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an email to The Canadian Press, Montreal police confirmed they had opened a probe into the incident, but declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n

Chantal Rouleau, Quebec’s minister responsible for social solidarity and community action, told The Canadian Press on Monday that while holding protests in Quebec is permitted, ”this particular act is despicable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who did this really didn\u2019t think about the impact it would have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Quebec political leaders also condemned the May 2 incident in statements posted on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m convinced that it\u2019s possible to make progress constructively, without violence or threats,” Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette wrote.<\/p>\n

Also on social media, Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he was \u201cas disgusted as he was shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quebec Liberal Party leader Charles Milliard wrote that \u201cthis type of action has no place in our society.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"APeople gather during a May Day rally in Montreal on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n

The group behind the mock decapitation is called Alliance Ouvri\u00e8re \u2014 workers’ alliance in English \u2014 and described itself online as the “most militant activists” within the labour movement.<\/p>\n

In an email to The Canadian Press, the group said it put on a symbolic performance at the International Workers’ Day event, explaining it was aimed at expressing anger toward political and economic elites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also pointed to labour grievances involving Minister Jean Boulet, saying that in January 2025, he \u201callowed Amazon to lay off over 4,500 workers without intervention.\u201d <\/p>\n

The group called this an example of \u201cthe real violence of elites\u201d that leaves \u201cbroken lives and shattered families.\u201d The group added that, in this context, it is \u201cnormal to see people revolt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group stated that it believed \u201cthe vast majority of those present understood and supported\u201d its message, and that it is time for \u201cpeople to hold those in power accountable before the situation worsens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe working class is done apologizing,\u201d Alliance Ouvri\u00e8re concluded in its statement. <\/p>\n

According to Fr\u00e9chette, the unions ”have a responsibility to condemn the acts that occur during a demonstration, which they did promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quebec’s major unions, which organized the May Day march, issued a joint statement saying they were not involved in the performance and apologized for the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-648298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}