A pair of statues of Queen Victoria were defaced in downtown Montreal overnight.
Statues in Victoria Square and outside the Schulich music building at McGill University on Sherbrooke St. were both sprayed with green paint.
The perpetrators posted a video of their act online, saying it's a protest against colonialism and imperialism, ahead of St. Patrick's Day.
"The presence of these racist statues in Montreal are an insult to the self-determination and resistance struggles of oppressed peoples worldwide," the rant on Vimeo reads.
The perps suggest the statues are an insult to the legacy of Irish freedom fighters, and particularly have no place in Quebec, "where the Québécois were denigrated and marginalized by British racists acting in the name of the putrid monarchy represented by Queen Victoria."
Montreal police are investigating.
Statue de la reine Victoria vandalisée / Queen Victoria statue vandalized in Montréal from qazpqto seven on Vimeo.