Graffiti and harassment targeting an independent bookstore hosting a talk with Francesca Albanese

Following the publication of Francesca Albanese’s book When the World Sleeps: Stories, Voices, and Wounds of Palestine, published by the Quebec-based press Mémoires d’encrier, the independent bookstore Petite Egypte had organized a meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories—on Saturday, November 15, 2025. On the morning of the event, bookstore employees discovered a sexist and defamatory graffiti message scrawled with acid on the store’s window. The event was able to take place that day, but in a tense atmosphere and with people gathered outside the store who had attempted to break in.