Montreal police are after some apparent anarchists who have vandalized a bank, a car dealership -- and police cars.

An East Montreal Mazda dealership found 43 slashed tires on its lot Tuesday morning, causing about $10,000 in damage, CTV Montreal reported Wednesday.

A group calling itself Collectif Ton Chien, or Your Dog's Group, took responsibility on an anarchist website and in communiques to various media outlets.

"They said they were inspired by -- and in solidarity with -- two groups and two actions earlier: The torching of six police cars ... and three ATM machines that were set on fire," said CTV Montreal's Herb Luft.

Those actions were said to be carried out by Collectif Ton Pere (Your Father's Group) and Collectif Ton Oncle (Your Uncle's Group), he said.

Police say the groups appear to be linked, but they have to work on proof, he said.

One possibility is it's one group with three different names. But it's possible that there are three different groups or that someone is operating as a copycat, Luft added.

"You can be sure this is not something like a joke," said Sgt. Ian Lafreniere of the Montreal Police. "As soon as we find out (who's responsible), they will be prosecuted."

The investigation is being treated as a priority, he said.

In a possibly related matter, about 200 demonstrators clashed with Montreal police on Saturday in the course of what the protesters called an anti-brutality march.

About 20 people were arrested.

Some threw ice chunks, snowballs and beer bottles at police and the media. They smashed a police vehicle's windows, those of several other vehicles and damaged some storefront windows.