Three men assaulted in attacks at Festival Western de St-Tite
This year’s Festival Western de St-Tite was marred by violence with three separate accounts of assault, landing one man in a coma, and another with severe head injuries after what he believes was a vicious act of homophobia.
Mathieu Grégoire, from Trois-Rivières, posted a picture of his bloodied and bruised face on social media, saying “Here’s the face of homophobia!”
He recounted how he was attacked Friday night and repeatedly hit in the face with a beer bottle until he fell unconscious.
He woke up disoriented and was taken to a hospital where he spent the night.
“Friday night I was attacked because I am gay!” he wrote on Facebook. “Welcome to 2015.”
Though the festival, attracting an estimated 600,000 people to St-Tite (population 3,880, 40 kilometres north of Trois-Rivières) was deemed a shining success by organizers, the attack on Grégoire was just one of three serious attacks on festival goers during the 10-day event.
One of the victims, Martin Caron, 33, was involved in an altercation with someone who kicked him in the head Thursday night at about 1:30 a.m. According to local reports he fell to the ground and landed on his head. He was in a coma until Sunday when he regained consciousness, according to his girlfriend, Mylène Ruel, who also posted updates on his condition on Facebook.
According to Sûreté du Québec Sgt. Claude Denis, police were still investigating the incident and speaking to witnesses on Sunday.
A third man, Guillaume Pilon-Côté, had been attacked the previous weekend by one or more assailants who broke his nose and stole everything except his medicare card, his mother told the Journal de Montréal.
Pascal Lafrenière, the festival’s executive director, could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Referring to the attacks on Caron and Pilon, he told reporters Saturday that the attacks were unfortunate, isolated incidents. The town of St-Tite hires 250 security guards every year to work on the festival site, Lafrenière said, and the SQ deals with incidents off-site.