‘Chaotic scene’ at protest in Woolwich
It was a “chaotic scene,” said Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell.
Updating the media Monday about a “violent disruption” on the weekend in Woolwich Township between groups in the Eritrean community, Crowell said a confrontation between about 200 attendees of an Achievements of Women event and 100 local and out-of-region protesters mirrored similar conflicts across Canada and elsewhere.
Protesters, Crowell said, went to three different locations on Saturday before finding the event.
He said police were told at approximately 3:50 p.m. upwards of 500 protesters would be at the event, which they believed was on Dearborn Place in Kitchener. Police arrived to see protesters wearing light blue shirts, carrying flags and wooden sticks. When the protesters realized it was the wrong venue, Crowell said they dispersed.
The group then went to Cambridge Centre mall, also the wrong location, before heading to the Kitchener-Waterloo Croatian Club on Shantz Station Road.
Information provided to police indicated that the situation would likely result in violence, Crowell said.
When police arrived, they were met with people carrying wooden sticks, metal rods and large rocks and tried to separate the groups, Crowell said.
Members of the protesters blocked the roadway and wouldn’t allow police to intervene, Crowell said, adding rocks were thrown, hitting people and damaging police cars. While officers were struck, none required medical attention.
“We are continuing to, to investigate and evaluate injuries and damage that occurred,” Crowell said.
“That location in the region is fairly dark. So given the immediate surroundings outside of the well-lit portions of that location, there may have been people that were hurt, that we’re unaware of.”
Police, with the help of OPP, closed the road in an attempt to stop protesters from arriving, but some joined the fray on foot through the surrounding fields.
Police were eventually able to clear people out and reopened roads around 11 p.m.
A 29-year-old Toronto male was arrested and charged with assault with a weapon and Crowell said he expects additional charges to be laid as the investigation continues.