Montreal police defend arrest of woman who posted Instagram image online

Police say they have more information than a single photograph, after a Montreal woman was arrested and now faces a charge of charge of criminal harassment after she posted an image of graffiti on Instagram.

Jennifer Pawluck was arrested after she posed a graffiti image of Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere, a prominent spokesperson for the Montreal police, on her Instagram feed. She didn’t draw the graffiti, which showed a bullet hole in Lafreniere’s head, but only took a picture of it in an east-end Montreal neighbourhood, reports The Canadian Press.

In a French interview with Huffington Post Quebec, Pawluck said that many of her friends don’t like the police and she thought the post would be funny to put on Instagram. However, she said she doesn’t know Lafreniere personally.

The arrest has garnered international attention and supporters promise they will picket the courthouse when Pawluck next appears in court on April 17. Pawluck doesn’t have a prior criminal record.

However, a report from CTV Montreal suggests that Montreal police had other information before Pawluck’s arrest, and that it was not solely based on her decision to share the image on social media.

Pawluck admits that she has taken part in several Montreal student protests, some of which have turned violent. She was arrested in mass arrests during these protest three times and has posted pictures and video denouncing police action, including one post that read “one cop, one bullet, social justice,” reports CTV’s Genevieve Beauchemin.