Montreal Police Probe Activists' $3,000 Food Theft

Montreal police are investigating a theft at a local grocery store after a group of activists, dressed as Santa Claus and elves, allegedly shoplifted about $3,000 worth of food on Monday evening to distribute it to people facing food insecurity.

The incident occurred at a Metro supermarket on Laurier Avenue in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough. According to a statement from the group Robins des Ruelles, or Robins of the Alleys, four individuals in Santa costumes entered the store along with around 40 masked accomplices dressed as elves. They filled baskets with groceries and left without paying, an action the group described as a direct response to soaring food prices and the profits of major chains. The statement, titled "When hunger justifies the means" and shared online by the activist organization Les Soulèvements du Fleuve, accused businesses of "holding our vital needs hostage" and profiting excessively from inflation. "We are working more and more just to be able to buy food from supermarket chains that take advantage of inflation as a pretext to make record profits," the group wrote.

Videos and photos of the costumed group marching out with carts of food, set to...