trial begins for five suspects in northeast calgary brawl accused of taking part in massive riot
'nobody truly had any experience involving something of this magnitude,' said det. averry yanyk
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the windows and glass doors of a business at falconridge plaza were shattered and broken during a clash between two eritrean groups with conflicting views of their home country’s politics. photos were captured on monday, sept. 4, 2023.
azin ghaffari/postmedia
calgary police deployed about 200 officers and discharged 1,800 rounds of “pepper balls” to quell a riot between clashing members of the city’s eritrean community, court heard monday.
det. averry yanyk was the acting staff sergeant for the district one general investigative unit on sept. 2, 2023, when he received word about a potential dispute between two groups on opposing sides of the african nation’s political landscape.
“cps was expecting a high likelihood of violence based on similar events in toronto and edmonton,” yanyk told crown prosecutor martha o’connor.
“toronto had hosted an event on aug. 5, 2023, in which two eritrean groups clashed and engaged in violent activity that required a police response and the edmonton event occurred on aug. 19.”
yanyk said members of multiple units of the city police conducted a debriefing at 4:30 p.m., a mere half hour before one of the groups was set to hold a meeting at the falconridge community centre and 90 minutes before the other group was scheduled to convene at the genesis centre.
less than two hours after the debriefing, yanyk received information from incident command about fighting between two groups by a falconridge boulevard n.e. building.
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“there had been a giant clash between two groups with sticks and rocks at the isle of mann (building),” yanyk said.
he was informed multiple cars had been “totally destroyed” and there was “other significant property damage.”
“our police officers in the area were still trying to get control of the two groups.”
the main conflict occurred between 5:19 and 5:29 p.m., but it took hours before everything was settled, yanyk said.
“the actual riot lasted about 10 minutes,” he said.
“we still had members from both groups in the area … ’til about 9 p.m. before everybody started to disperse.”
‘the largest deployment of special munitions in calgary police service history’
five men, allegedly part of what has been labeled the “blue group” based on the colour of the shirts they were wearing, are on trial on charges including participating in a riot.
aman araya michael, musie estifanos, gebrekid hailemariam, yamin okubahanes and amanuel sium also face charges of possession of a dangerous weapon and assault with a weapon, while okubahanes faces an additional charge of mischief to property.
yanyk said the incident left about a dozen vehicles severely damaged and sent 12 people to the hospital.
“i would refer to this as an unprecedented, large-scale social disorder that resulted in violence,” he said.
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“nobody truly had any experience involving something of this magnitude.”
glass debris are seen on the ground where the windows and glass doors of a business at falconridge plaza were shattered and broken during a clash between two eritrean groups with conflicting views of their home country’s politics. photos were captured on monday, sept. 4, 2023.
azin ghaffari/postmedia
about 200 members of the cps were involved and officers had to be dispatched from all over the city.
ultimately the cps special munitions team was required to quell the clash.
“there was 1,800 pepper-ball rounds deployed” along with three oc (oleoresin capsicum) grenades and a rubber ball grenade used, yanyk said.
“this was the largest deployment of special munitions in calgary police service history.”
meanwhile, in questioning by defence counsel alain hepner the manager of a banquet room in the isle of mann building, ramandeep sabharwal, said a group wearing white shirts had stacked a pile of sticks outside the hall.
charges against eight members of the so-called “white group” were dropped by the crown last year.
the trial is set for two weeks.
the windows and glass doors of a business at falconridge plaza were shattered and broken during a clash between two eritrean groups with conflicting views of their home country’s politics. photos were captured on monday, sept. 4, 2023.
azin ghaffari/postmedia
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