A Tesla dealership in Montreal is spray-painted by Last Generation Canada activists on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Dave Sidaway The Gazette

A Montreal Tesla dealership was targeted Wednesday by environmental activists who defaced its facade with pink paint to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whom they accuse of “destroying democracies and spreading climate denial.”

Montreal police said two 21-year-old suspects were arrested at the scene of the incident on Ferrier St. near Décarie Blvd. after a 911 call was received at about 10 a.m.

In an email sent to news organizations, the activists identified themselves as Marcel Paré and Valérie Lachapelle. The two members of the Last Generation Canada environmental movement said they applied the washable pink paint to the dealership because “it’s clear — billionaires and fossil fuel companies are waging war on humanity.”

A Tesla car dealership is vandalized with pink paint in Montreal on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Dave Sidaway The Gazette

“The climate crisis is decimating people’s lives across the world and in Canada. Governments and fossil fuel companies have known about the devastating and deadly consequences of burning fossil fuels for decades. Despite this, Canada has continued to bankroll the industry,” they wrote.

“Canadians remain unprotected in the face of climate disaster and threats posed by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The social contract is broken — it’s time for Canadians to disrupt business as usual to ensure our protection and make the rich pay for what they’ve done.”

The activists say they are calling for the creation of a “climate disaster protection agency, funded by these billionaires who put us in this situation in the first place, to protect ordinary people who do not have the funds to hire private firefighters, or build flood-resistant houses for them and their families.”

Montreal police spokesperson Véronique Dubuc said apart from the paint, no other damage appeared to have been done to the dealership and the pair could face charges of mischief.

This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect age for one of the suspects, based on information provided by police. Both are age 21.