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New Brunswick RCMP have confirmed that they are investigating an incident that occurred Saturday on Mountain Road in Moncton.
On July 18 at approximately 7:30 p.m., “members from the Codiac Regional RCMP attended a parking lot on Mountain Road in Moncton, following a complaint of an ongoing fight involving multiple people,” Cpl. Luc Picard said in an emailed statement to CBC News.
Police could not provide more details, citing an ongoing investigation, and said they are “working to determine whether hate was a factor in the incident.”
WATCH | RCMP say they’re working to determine ‘whether hate was factor’:
Video showing altercation in Moncton prompts community response
RCMP say they are investigating an altercation Saturday evening that has been condemned by community groups and politicians.
A video was posted to social media by the National Council of Canadian Muslims that they say depicts an attack on a Muslim woman.
Steven Zhou, a spokesperson for the council, said the video was sent to the group by the family.
“It’s a vicious depiction of what happened,” Zhou said in an interview with CBC News. He added that the woman has “several, serious injuries,” including a concussion and a bloody nose.
Zhou said the Muslim woman was at the event with family, including her father, her seven-year-old son and her husband.
“He has not been the same since this happened a few days ago,” Zhou said of the son. “And that’s one of the biggest tragedies of this incident, is that this child is psychologically scarred.”
Steven Zhou of the National Council of Canadian Muslims says the video is a ‘vicious depiction’ of the events that took place in Moncton. (James Dunne/CBC)
The video appears to have been filmed in the parking lot of the Lawton’s Drugs on Mountain Road near the intersection with Mapleton Road. It’s the same location where a large crowd gathered on Saturday for an impromptu parade of cars, some doing burnouts and doughnuts in the street.
Zhou said the woman was trying to sit down for the event with her family when the incident started, with people, “calling her names, telling her to go back to her country and that type of thing.”
It’s unknown what occurred in the moments before the video was filmed. But it appears to show a woman approaching another woman and punching her repeatedly in the head and face.
The faces of the woman and some bystanders have been blurred by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which says there was no audio on the video when the organization received it. Their account of what happened was based on discussions with the family.
Multiple incidents in recent months
Ali Ettarnichi, president of the Moncton Muslim Association, said he’s been in direct contact with the family since the incident occurred.
“The community is really saddened, and really upset, and really shaked [sic] with this incident,” Ettarnichi told CBC in an interview Thursday.
Ettarnichi said the whole Muslim community is affected “because we are not yet over what happened in our mosque a few weeks ago … and also what happened in Halifax in Costco,” he said, referring to two recent anti-Muslim incidents that made headlines.
Ettarnichi said he’s confident the police will investigate fully.
“They spoke to the police and they did the report and the police is doing the investigation,” he said. “So we are hoping that the police do the investigation totally and fairly so we can get the truth and justice happens, because this is something that we can’t tolerate.”
The video also appears to show some bystanders attempting to intervene.
Zhou says that the national council has learned much of what it knows by speaking with the woman’s husband, who was putting items in their vehicle when the incident occurred. Zhou said the family told him the incident began after the family tried to set up their lawn chairs in a location in the parking lot.
The video had more than 100,000 views as of Thursday morning.
Ali Ettarnichi, president of the Moncton Muslim Association, says the community is still reeling after another recent incident of Islamophobic graffiti on the Moncton Mosque. (Cristian Monetta/CBC News)
A spokesperson for the City of Moncton initially told CBC in an email that there isn’t enough information to provide an official statement. Communications manager Melissa Hachey said, “any form of discrimination, hate or violence has no place in our community.”
But several public figures and groups, including Premier Susan Holt, Moncton-Dieppe MP Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, Moncton Mayor Shawn Crossman, and the Islamic Society of New Brunswick have posted statements condemning the incident.
“Moncton is better than this. New Brunswick is better than this. And again, I think that it’s really important to make sure that we show love and support to the victim’s family and to her as well,” Petitpas-Taylor said in an interview, although she told CBC News she has yet to speak with the family or see the video with audio.
“There is no place for Islamophobia or any form of hate in New Brunswick. Acts like this do not reflect who we are in New Brunswick. We welcome people with open hearts and open minds, and we share this province with everyone who chooses to call it home,” said Holt.
CBC News has not independently confirmed the identities of those shown in the video or spoken with the family.
Police say they have identified the individuals believed to have been involved and are asking anyone who witnessed the incident, or who has additional information or video that has not yet been shared with police, to contact them.