[ad_1]
A violent clash in Falconridge between Eritrean groups with conflicting views about their home country’s politics was dangerous and has taken a toll on the community, according to the city councillor who represents the area.
“There has to be consequences,” Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal told Postmedia.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Eritrea’s government has been led by President Isaias Afwerki, 77, since the country gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. His 30-year rule has been marred by multiple human-rights abuses, including the forced and indefinite military conscription of young people and the arbitrary detention of journalists and political dissidents, among various other issues, according to Amnesty International.
Calgary police say charges are pending related to the incident, which also caused significant property damage to nearby businesses at Falconridge Plaza.
Dhaliwal said he’s spoken to a number of affected residents and business owners, noting the incident has left many of his constituents shaken. Business owners are now facing repair costs on top of already tough economic times.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
“Many businesses are finding it hard to keep the lights on, and when they get hit by this unnecessary, unwanted display of disrespect and disregard for human rights, it’s not acceptable,” said the councillor. “It’s not acceptable to me, and I hope it’s not acceptable to other Calgarians.”
The most disturbing part, said Dhaliwal, is the apparent premeditated nature of the conflict. He said following the precedents set in other Canadian cities, the brawl was a foregone conclusion for this event.
“There’s spontaneous reaction, and then there’s well-co-ordinated, predetermined outcome. This is the latter,” he said.
One business owner in the complex, who didn’t want to be named due to fear of retribution from one or both of the groups, said he, his staff and a handful of patrons were terrified as the altercation unfolded Saturday. They locked the doors and sheltered in place throughout the ordeal, but rocks shattered the store’s windows, and cars belonging to employees had their windshields smashed.
“Everybody was scared . . . (We thought) maybe they would come in and hit everybody, or maybe they would rob the store. Anything can happen,” he said.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
“They don’t care about anybody. They’re just throwing sticks, hitting each other and throwing rocks, metal pieces — it’s crazy.”
The business owner said police were in the area throughout the day, speaking with people as they began to show up for the festival through the afternoon. Things quickly got out of hand after 5 p.m., he said, noting the individuals involved didn’t appear to be deterred by the police presence.
“In 20 years, I’ve never seen (this) in Calgary,” he said. “They don’t care if police catch them or if something happened — they’re doing it right in front of the police.”
‘Dangerous’ clash unprecedented in Calgary: criminologist
Mount Royal University criminologist Doug King said there’s not a notable event like this in Calgary’s history, with the most comparable incidents locally being smaller disputes at events surrounding the LGBTQ+ community.
“It’s very dangerous. Not just dangerous to the people who were attending the rally but dangerous to the general public who might happen to be wandering in the area and get caught up in that — it’s disturbing,” he said.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
While King said police likely knew of the risk the event posed, he doesn’t think it’s something that could’ve been proactively stopped.
“You can’t go in and take police action to stop people from attending a rally before the rally begins,” he said. “You can talk to them, you can counsel them. You can warn them that police action would follow if it got out of hand and violence occurred. But you can’t do much with 150 people who are intent on rallying and congregating in a place. I don’t think it could have been prevented.”
Dhaliwal said his biggest question for police is what they knew beforehand and how they moved to mitigate the situation.
“One question that I want to ask is what upfront intelligence CPS has had about these two groups,” he said. “If they want to have a gathering, a peaceful gathering, go about it. But if they want to have this violent stampede, then it’s not acceptable.”
— With files from The Associated Press
[ad_2]
Source link