2 arrested after Tesla dealership in Montreal vandalized, climate group takes responsibility

Two young men were taken into custody Wednesday morning after a Tesla dealership in Montreal was vandalized with pink spray paint.

Montreal police said they received a 911 call around 10 am reporting the incident at the dealership on Ferrier Street in the Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce borough. When officers arrived, they arrested two 21-year-old men at the scene.

The suspects were later released with conditions and are scheduled to appear in court in May, reports CTV.

Last Generation Canada, a climate activist group, took responsibility for the vandalism, saying it was an act of protest against Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“The group is demanding that Canada stand up to Tesla’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, who is destroying democracies and spreading climate denial,” the organization said in a press release.

The group also called on the Carney government to create a Climate Disaster Protection Agency to assist those affected by extreme weather events.

“Last Generation Canada is also calling on the Canadian government to create a Climate Disaster Protection Agency to help Canadians whose homes, communities, lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by extreme weather caused by fossil fuels. The group wants the government to pay for the agency by levying punitive taxes against the ultra-rich, who are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis.”

The vandalism in Montreal follows a series of recent attacks on Tesla dealerships in the US and Europe. Incidents include one in South Carolina, during which a man attempted to set fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston, also setting himself on fire in the process. A trans-identified male was arrested and charged with vandalizing and soon to be open Tesla service center in Illinois.