Police investigate racist tirade at Alberta Denny’s

Police are investigating after a woman at a Denny’s in Alberta was caught on video shouting at other patrons to “go back to your own” country and threatening to “leap across the table” and punch them. The woman, who has since lost her job at a B.C. car dealership after being identified, has apologized. But she says the video doesn’t reflect the whole story and that she was “merely standing up for myself as I was being disrespected that night.” Monir Omerzai, who has lived in Lethbridge for more than 12 years since moving from Afghanistan, said the incident happened in April. He posted the video to Facebook on Tuesday evening after he says friends encouraged him to do so. “All the immigrants that they come here and they work hard, they basically start from scratch, and nobody should be disrespected like that for no reason,” Omerzai told CTV Lethbridge on Wednesday. “I’ve lived all over Canada, and I haven’t seen anybody like that.” On April 21, Kelly Pocha from Cranbrook, B.C., and her husband visited the Denny’s in Lethbridge. In an adjacent booth, Omerzai and three friends settled down to grab a bite to eat. Omerzai said Pocha became upset after accusing one of his friends of “glaring” at her table. In the video, which has been viewed more than 350,000 times, Pocha accuses the men of not paying taxes, demands that they speak English and tells them to “go back to where you came from.” A man at Omerzai’s table responds by saying that they are, in fact, Canadian. “You’re a human being, I’m a human being --” the man says, before being cut off. “No, you are not Canadian,” Pocha says. At one point, Pocha’s husband attempts to hold her back as she leans toward Omerzai’s table and shouts, “You want to see a Canadian woman come and brute on your f---ing ass? It’s my f---ing home. I was born and raised here. You f---ing weren’t.” Pocha later shouts, “You’re not dealing with one of your Syrian b----es right now. You’re dealing with a Canadian woman. And I’m not going to be talked down to by you.” Omerzai said police were called to the restaurant, but he says the officers said they couldn’t do anything. Omerzai said he and his friends were then asked to leave by police. “The food just arrived, it was fresh and then we looked at the restaurant owner and then they told us we have to pack our food and leave now,” he said. Omerzai said the waitress then apologized to Pocha. “Before the lady was moved, the waitress at Denny’s, she was apologizing to her -- but not us. Like, we were the ones there, we were not intoxicated, we were not anything.” Omerzai said he’s never experienced such overt racism, and that he struggled over whether or not to post the video because he didn’t want to relive the ordeal. “(We) live in a country that’s multicultural and everybody looks at everybody the same way … I was shocked, that’s why I was laughing at what she was saying to me. I couldn’t believe it, because Canada is a beautiful country,” he said. “It just makes me upset to see people come in there and start taking out things on you. It just makes you mad. I work hard and I pay taxes, too.” CTV Lethbridge went to the Denny’s location where the incident unfolded. A manager told CTV Lethbridge to contact Denny’s Canada head office. Denny’s Canada has not responded to the request for comment. Lethbridge Police said Wednesday that they are aware of the video, and that police are “looking into the matter at this time.” Police have confirmed that both groups were asked to leave the restaurant. An investigation is being carried out, and police said they will provide an update “as more facts become known.”