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A Calgary judge has ruled four men are guilty of rioting, possession of a weapon and assault in relation to an incident police have described as “the largest violent event to happen in our city in recent memory.”
On Sept. 2, 2023, two groups of Eritreans — described in court as having fundamentally opposing views to political unrest and military events back home — fought each other in Falconridge Plaza.
Nearly three years after the event, Justice Lloyd Robertson said it wasn’t difficult to conclude it was indeed a riot, and that the four accused took part.
“The Sept. 2, 2023, gathering was both alarming and violent,” said Robertson in his decision that took over two hours to read aloud.
“The chaos and disorder which occurred at the event was without precedent in the history of public gatherings in Calgary.”
Robertson said Amanuel Kiflezgi Sium, Yamin Okubahanes, Gebrekid Hailemariam and Musie Estifanos assaulted a woman on the other side of the conflict with sticks and poles.
Okubahanes was found not guilty of an additional charge of mischief.
The judge said in one case, an officer felt like they wouldn’t survive the encounter.
Court heard that in the initial 10-minute encounter, 97 sticks and pipes, 118 rocks and similar projectiles, and 18 bottles were thrown, according to a police count.
The riot
That September afternoon, it took nearly 200 officers, tear gas grenades and nearly 2,000 rounds of PepperBalls to separate the clashing sides in the city’s northeast.
That day, two factions of the Eritrean community had separate events planned a couple of kilometres apart, and police were expecting violence “based on similar events in Toronto and Edmonton” due to building tensions over the country’s authoritarian government.
Police estimates of the number of people in the clash differ, from between roughly 150 to 300.
During the violent outbreak, police were threatened, vehicle and business windows were smashed, and 12 people were taken to hospital, according to CPS.
In the days after the clash, Calgary police established a task force to investigate. They initially laid a total of 63 charges against 28 people — 20 people from one group and eight from the other — but all charges laid against the latter group were dropped in 2024.
Reporters Without Borders has ranked Eritrea as more repressive than North Korea.
Eritrea has one of the highest numbers of refugees per capita, as people flee violence, detention without trial in military-run prisons, and forced conscription, according to the UN.