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In the wee hours of Friday, someone set fire to a row of cars on Léa Roback St. in St-Henri.

None of the witnesses woken by the sound of shattering glass or the flickering of flames got a good description of the suspect, who was seen fleeing on foot as the inferno erupted. Police are still investigating, but this act of pyromania fits into a pattern of the guerrilla warfare being waged in St-Henri against gentrification.

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In the past few years, several of the hip new eateries, watering holes and boutiques springing up along Notre Dame St. W. and other arteries in the bustling Sud-Ouest borough have been targeted by vandalism.

It started with anti-capitalist graffiti and smashed windows. But increasingly, the presence of the public has not deterred the miscreants. A group stormed aspecialty food store and ransacked it, terrorizing a lone clerk. Patrons were in the middle of dinner when glass shards rained down on them at Ludger. A smoke bomb was lobbed inside a juice bar during the grand opening. The owner of a vintage eyewear store was pepper-sprayed.