Daughter says her father was ‘left for dead’ after violent protest at Eritrean festival in Toronto

The daughter of a man seriously injured in a protest during a weekend Eritrean festival says she believes the people responsible for the violence were 'rewarded' after the City of Toronto revoked their permit.

The daughter of a man seriously injured in a protest during a weekend Eritrean festival says she believes the people responsible for the violence were “rewarded” after the City of Toronto revoked their permit.

Danait Mehreteab told CTV News Toronto that her 60-year-old father was helping set up for the festival and was passing out volunteer T-shirts when a group of protesters “descended upon” Earlscourt Park, near Caledonia Road and St. Clair Avenue West on Saturday.

“The Aunties, like the mothers, they were cooking and making food. (The protesters) dumped all the food, they were shoving them to the ground, threatening to burn their clothes, they pushed down the fences, “ she said.

“That's what was happening when my dad heard, ‘that's him, get him,’ and then he said that they hit him over the head with a metal rod and continued to beat him while he was down.”

Mehreteab said her father lost consciousness and was “left for dead.” He had to get 12 staples on the top of his skull and suffered a fracture to the spine.

“We're all still so shocked and hurt by it,” she said. “It's just devastating. It's devastating to see the police didn't do anything to like, arrest them or stop them. We now have no festival. What's going to happen to my dad's long-term health impact?”

The protest started up just before 10 a.m. According to festivalgoers, a large crowd of people started gathering in the area and began chanting. But soon after, some of the nearly 200 people started to get physical.