A man with connections to the Front de liberation du Qu(C)bec (FLQ) has been arrested in Montreal for allegedly trying to bomb three Second Cup cafes on Oct. 5, exactly 30 years to the day the October Crisis began.

He is 53-year-old Real Mathieu. Mathieu was one of 20 prisoners named in the FLQ's Manifesto, which it released in 1970.

At the time, the FLQ demanded Mathieu and 19 others be released in exchange for the lives of Pierre Laporte, the then Quebec labour minister, and James Cross, then British trade commissioner. The FLQ had kidnapped Laporte and Cross, Laporte was later murdered.

Mathieu is charged with eight counts of intentionally causing damage to a property or a human life and possession of a restricted firearm, police said.

Mathieu recently made a public appearance in Montreal when former FLQ member Raymond Villeneuve launched his new movement, the Mouvement du Liberation Nationale du Quebec (MLNQ).

Police said that e-mail messages played a part in the arrest, however, would not elaborate.

Police said they are also looking at other incidents -- 14 in total -- in conjunction with the investigation.

BOMBS FOUND TWO WEEKS AGO

The Oct. 5 attempted bombing was eerily reminiscent of the tactics used by the FLQ in the 1970s.

Montreal police said Second Cup employees discovered a jug full of gasoline with an ignition device inside the entranceway of one location. Police said the bomb was smoking, but said an employee intervened before it exploded.

The four people inside the cafe were not injured.

Police checked two other Second Cup cafes in the area and found two more of the crudely made devices, one in a garbage bin and another in an entranceway.

I'm not nervous to work here, but I just think people are crazy to do that, said one Second Cup employee where the first firebomb was found.

It's criminal. It is not the thing to do, one customer inside Second Cup told CTV's Montreal affiliate CFCF.

Police believe Second Cup was a target because of its English name. Second Cup has refused to change the name of its stores in Quebec to a French equalivant to appease language law officers.

A Quebec court ruled earlier this year that businesses using English signs can keep them because the language law does not apply to trademarked names.

While some companies such as Kentucky Fried Chicken have voluntarily adopted a French name -- Poulet Frit Kentucky -- others refuse. Home Depot, Future Shop and Burger King, among others, have all kept their English signs in Quebec.

The Quebec language law states that French be predominant on commercial signs.

In wake of the ruling, members of the PQ government threatened to change the language law to include trademarks.

Quebec's premier, however, doubted his government can force companies to change their strips.

I don't think we can legislate to say to an organization: From now on in Quebec, you will use a name different from the one you have used throughout your existence and throughout the world, Premier Lucien Bouchard said shortly after the ruling.

At some point there are limits.... Wall-Marts exist, Toys R Us exist, and that has not provoked an outcry.