Victory public relations for The Pack

Photo Daniel Mallard

Nicolas Lachance

Monday, 21 August 2017 19:06

UPDATE
Monday, 21 August 2017 19:18

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The Pack has won the war of public relations Sunday, during the protests in Quebec, because of the actions of violence posed by a small group of anti-fascists, argue observers.

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“Honestly, I have the impression that we have just spent 10 months explaining to people why The Pack is a group of far-right, why we must pay attention, and how the radicalisation that is bad. And that in half an hour a dozen Black Bloc comes to drop it from throwing bottles, ” said Maxime Fiset, consultant to the Center for the prevention of radicalization. “Honestly, I’m disappointed today because it was predictable. “

He believes that it is “a strategic win for The Pack” and that ” public opinion will remember that the extreme left is completely décrédibilisée “.

Mr. Fiset hope, however, that the movement against the extreme right and racism will manage to unify and modernize in order to convince the population.

“Today, I see that people condemn violence and remember when even that there were four times more protesters than those of The Pack. I don’t think it is all gone, ” he said. “He’s going to have the protesters-racists learn to expel their radical elements, otherwise, in the eyes of public opinion, they will be guilty by association. “

“The job at our place “

For their part, the leaders of The Pack also consider that the thugs have helped their cause. “The antifas have done the job in our place,” laughed Sylvain Brouillette, a spokesman for the group and is often associated with the extreme right.

Sylvain Brouillette

“This has delayed our program, but it has been positive for us. It was predicted that they were going to make trouble and that they were not going to respect the law “, he stressed.

Although the looks have been largely turned to the case and the confrontations with the police, the members of The Pack provide have managed to get their message out.

“We still had a lot of time to explain our message and our mandate. This was the purpose of the silent protest action “, he said.

Members who do not have the words

However, the group is strongly criticized for not letting its members speak to the media as members of The Pack.

The activist anti-globalization Jaggi Singh has also noted that ” The Pack has behaved as a paramilitary force “, claiming to be for freedom of expression while prohibiting its members from speaking to the media.

Sylvain Brouillette defends itself and indicates that the members like to leave the place to the spokesman when the time comes to represent The Pack.

“The reputation of The Pack and the declarations of The Pack have been abused to the extreme in the media, and our members are well aware of that. Our members, these are not communications professionals and most of them prefer to speak in their own name, ” said Mr. Brouillette.