Violence erupted at a festival for Toronto’s Eritrean community on Saturday as participants clashed with demonstrators in exchanges that sent at least nine people to hospital.
Eight people have non-life-threatening injuries while one person has serious injuries after being stabbed, police said in a tweet. Police did not say how the eight people were injured.
City police ultimately deployed the riot squad to Earlscourt Park in the city’s west end, where Festival Eritrea descended into chaos almost from the start. Skirmishes first broke out at around 10 a.m. and tensions continued throughout the day.
Protesters, Eritrean themselves, said they showed up to demonstrate against the
