A crowd of refugees attending a welcome event at the Muslim Association of Canada Centre in Vancouver was pepper sprayed by an unknown man on a bicycle.
Seventeen-year-old Nawal Addo was raised in Canada, but was outside with the group at the time of the attack.
"We were just standing outside and we all just started coughing and our eyes were burning. We were really confused about what was going on," she said.
Ammar Ramadan was inside the building at the time, but soon noticed the chaos outside.
"Next thing you know, people are running and screaming, everyone's dashing inside. A bunch of kids were crying. I was a little confused as to what was happening."
"A guy at the front actually was,
like, his eyes were completely covered, he couldn't see for a whole,
like, 20 minutes. Some kids got unconscious because of how strong it
was," said Ramadan. "A bunch of women and children, they were all just
affected by it."
As many as 30 children, women and men were treated for exposure to pepper spray by paramedics and the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service.
The "Welcome Night" was put on for newly arriving Syrian families and included local politicians. Cont.
Story from - CBC News
Image from - Wikimedia Commons
cc 2.0
No comments:
Post a Comment