Montreal Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
The activist hacker group Anonymous has thrown its support behind Quebec students protesting tuition-fee hikes by threatening to wreak havoc during next week's Montreal Grand Prix.
The group, which earlier this month claimed responsibility for shutting down several Quebec government and police websites, said it is against Bill 78, which, among other things, cracks down on student protests
"Beginning on June 7th and running through race day on June 10th, Anonymous will take down all the F1 websites, dump the servers and databases – and wreck anything else F1-related we can find on the Internet," Anonymous said in a statement.
The hacker group managed to shut down the Formula 1 website during the Bahrain Grand Prix in April, saying they got access to personal data of ticket holders and credit card information.
"We highly suggest that you join the boycott of the F1 in Montreal and we certainly recommend that you do not purchase any tickets or merchandise online," the group said. "You have been warned."
The conflict between striking students and the Charest government has been going on for the last 15 weeks, but the two sides are holding talks to end the dispute.
The Grand Prix and Formula 1 were not immediately available for comment.