No evidence Montreal mayor authorized pro-Palestinian traffic signs

"So the Mayor is using taxpayer dollars to incite another October 7," says a July 24, 2024 X post, referencing Hamas's attack on Israel.

The post includes photos of traffic warning signs broadcasting the messages "Globalize The Intifada" and "Free Palestine Escalate Now."

Different accounts shared the same photos on X, Facebook and Threads, claiming the mayor or city had signed off on messages that could incite violence in Quebec's largest city. 

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Screenshot of an X post taken August 2, 2024

Hamas militants killed 1,197 people and took 251 hostages in its unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack, according to an AFP tally of official figures. In response to the raid, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 39,653 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, demonstrations in Montreal have led to at least one stand-off between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian camps. Nonprofit groups have reported a rise in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic threats nationwide, and online misinformation about the conflict has circulated widely.

In December, Plante joined other Canadian politicians in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. But claims that she "extended city resources" to display pro-Palestinian messages on traffic signs are baseless.

Spokesman Gonzalo Nuñez said in a July 30, 2024 email that the city of Montreal did not authorize the displays and described the incident as "vandalism." 

"The safety of these signs and their contents are the direct responsibility of the contractor, who is the city's subcontractor," Nuñez said.

"A city representative also contacted the contractor to ensure that the unauthorized messages were removed, and to restore the usual messages giving information about the worksite itself, as quickly as possible."

One of the most widely shared versions of the claim tagged Jeremy Levi (archived here), the mayor of a municipality on the Island of Montreal called Hampstead.

In a July 24 X post about the incident, Levi said Plante had allowed "Montreal's resources to be used for spreading hateful rhetoric," which some social media users pointed out could imply she had formally approved the messages.

Levi has since sent a letter to Plante's office asking for an apology, but he told AFP on August 2 that he "doesn't think she would ever sign off on doing this directly."

The Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM) told AFP on July 30 that the incident was under investigation, although it could not provide further details.

Signs broken into

Some news headlines implied the boards were hacked, but Nuñez told AFP the locks on the signs were broken and the words were manually entered.

A July 24 Instagram post from Clash MTL and Palestine Action Montreal describes how someone diverted road signs in Montreal to display messages "in solidarity with Palestine."

The post, whose caption says "anonymous submission," includes a video showing the same slogans as those in the claims circulating online.

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Screenshot of an Instagram post taken August 5, 2024

In May, traffic signs in Quebec City were similarly hijacked to display pro-Palestinian messages, but neither Nuñez nor the SPVM said the incident in Montreal was related.

AFP contacted Clash MTL for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.