An appreciative neighbourhood

My local bulk food store recently got firebombed, twice. They put up a sign asking “who doesn’t want us here?” So I put up a sign Friday saying “people who do want you here:” and signed my name, and left a couple of permanent markers there. Three hours later, the sign was completely full, and someone had even left some flowers.

By Monday people had put up six more bristol boards full of names, comments and good wishes. Some people wrote notes to the effect of “please go away so nearby homes aren’t threatened,” and still others blamed the nearby competition for the attacks, but for the most part people simply expressed a feeling of “we miss you, please reopen the store.”

As for who is responsible? Well, I don’t know. And unlike many people, I realize that doesn’t qualify me to decide. However, there are two believable possibilities:

• Bob, the owner of the competition. There have been reports of him threatening the former owner of this store, and of him being rude and abusive to customers. There are all sorts of reasons people (including the cops) think it’s unlikely to have been him.
• Tamil Tigers. There was quite a lot of press about Tamil people being threatened and attacked in Toronto. As the new owners of this store are Sri Lankan, it seems this would be a possibility.
• The owners, for the insurance. Cops have said that there are none of the usual patterns of behaviour normally associated with an insurance burn. Besides, why would they burn it twice?