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Between 100 and 200 young people aged between 15 and 18 started a fight which interrupted the second day of the Moroccan festival organized in Laval yesterday at around 5.30 pm. The police tried to disperse the clashes, said the Canadian news agency QMI.
«The police attempted to intervene, but the youth threw stones at them. They hid and even surrounded the police at one point», said Lieutenant Geneviere Villemure of the Laval Police Department.
The festivities had nevertheless begun normally around 2 pm. After the clashes the festival had to be canceled for the rest of the evening, even after order was reestablished. Police officers present there «evacuated people on site, including several families», the police spokesman said. A member of the security forces and a civilian were injured during the clashes. A 15-year-old teenager was arrested during the evening.
The festival's president, Fatima Maarouf, contacted by the QMI agency and said that it was young Algerians who fought with Moroccans.
«They confront each other when they meet. They are at all festivals. They did the same thing at Jarry Park in Montreal a few weeks ago [at anotherevent of the Moroccan community]. They were 200 at Jarry Park,» says the festival's president.
Fatima Maarouf informs that she does not know if the festival of Laval will continue on Sunday, following the events of this Saturday.
