Two members of the Azerbaijani Canadian community were attacked and injured in an altercation in North York.

Axar.az reports that on the night of August 1, two members of the Azerbaijani Canadian community were attacked by a group of individuals belonging to the Armenian community of Toronto.

The altercation took place in the parking lot where the victims were beaten and one of them was run over by a car causing severe injuries. The attackers were armed with knives, baseball bats, and pneumatic weapons, which was fired a few times at the victims who sustained injuries. The victims’ car sustained heavy damage from the hitting by a hard object and impacts caused by the attackers’ vehicle.

The Toronto Police were called to the crime scene and are investigating the incident.

The Network of Azerbaijani Canadians strongly condemns the attack and calls the members of the community to stay calm and vigilante in the face of the apparent hate crime, and not respond to provocations with violence. It is important to report any future incidents to the police.

This attack against Azerbaijani community members comes at the time of tension and military skirmishes between Armenia and Azerbaijan that happened on July 12-14, 2020. Fuelling these tensions with attacks against ethnic communities living abroad is wrong and should be denounced unequivocally.