Atalante leader acquitted for Vice invasion

Two years ago, half a dozen members of far-right militia Atalante invaded the Montreal office of Vice, apparently to intimidate one of their writers, Simon Coutu, who had written some pieces about the group. Atalante leader Raphaël Lévesque was acquitted this week of all charges. There may be an appeal.

Not mentioned here is that such an invasion would have had an edge because of the echo of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The Atalante people didn’t assault anyone, but they knew a magazine office invasion would contain an implied threat because of that history.

The Vice Quebec office closed last year.