Violence broke out Mar. 12 among two rival protest groups competing for space at the same intersection at Lakeshore and Trafalgar in Oakville.
One group, who had gathered early Wednesday morning to petition for signatures calling for the return of Taco Bell to the Oakville Mall, became enraged when another group of veterans from the Afghan war began protesting the conflict in the Middle East on an adjacent street corner.
“At one point, one of the Taco Bell protestor’s threw a bucket of red paint on one of the anti-war people, and the anti-war guy just freaked out and started yelling about infidels. He then stabbed the guy and ran off screaming in terror” said Amanda, who witnessed the carnage.
Full scale violence then erupted, and several people received serious injuries, although there were no fatalities.
Police say they are not pressing charges against anyone at this time, and that further tension in the future seems unlikely between these two groups, as the Taco Bell protesters easily reached their goal of 10,000 signatures while the anti war protesters received only twelve signatures of support.
