“It was the week before Christmas when Santa stole groceries from a store in Montreal and walked out the door.
Thieves dressed as Santa Claus and elves stole a cart full of groceries from a Montreal supermarket on Monday night in what an activist group later claimed was a Robinhood-inspired heist aimed at providing food to the needy.
Montreal police spokesperson Johanie Charland told CNN that a group of people stole “what appeared to be food” from the store around 9:40 p.m. Monday night.
“The investigation is still ongoing,” Charland said, adding that police were reviewing camera footage and interviewing witnesses.
Charland said police could not comment on the activists’ alleged motives.
A compilation video posted on Instagram by activist group Les Soulèvements du Fleuve shows several people wearing Santa suits (with large white beards) and elf hats ransacking the shelves of a Montreal Metro grocery store.
The food was then “redistributed” to people in need by “alley robins”, the group claims. This is clearly a nod to Robin Hood, the legendary figure who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
The group said in a separate post that some of the items were left under trees in the Montreal area and some were distributed to local refrigerators. Les Soulèvements du Fleuve posted a photo of gift bags placed under a tree, but not footage of the “redistribution.”
“A small number of companies are holding our vital needs hostage,” Les Soulèvements du Fleuve said in a post. “They continue to suffocate the population and try to siphon as much money as possible just because they can. To us, this is theft and they are thieves.”
According to a report from CNN’s Canadian broadcast partner CBC, the Canadian government’s latest inflation indicators show that domestic food prices rose nearly 5% year-over-year, even as inflation in other categories has slowed.
Genevieve Gregoire, a spokeswoman for the Metro grocery store chain, said in a statement to CNN that retail crime, regardless of the motive, is “unacceptable.”
“Many factors are influencing food inflation, including disruptions to global supply chains, fluctuations in commodity prices, changing international trade terms and retail crime,” Gregoire said. “In-store prices directly reflect supply chain costs.”
Gregoire added that the chain has “donated millions of dollars to charities, including $1.15 million to food banks, and provided $81.6 million worth of food.”
CNN has reached out to Les Soulèvements du Fleuve for comment.
