The Canadian National Exhibition is re-evaluating its popular Youth Day, after a melee broke out inside the fairgrounds in Toronto on Tuesday night, forcing an early shutdown. They thought there was a power failure.
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But, she said, organizers could not hesitate to close with patrons’ safety at risk. The brawls, which involved dozens of people, sparked panic among the massive crowds that flocked to the Ex for Youth Day, which offers discounted tickets to those under 17.
“People started running towards us screaming something about a gun or shooting and nobody really knew what was going on”, Hart said.
The annual event was also forced to close an hour early last year, though Ludy said that was because organizers wanted the large crowd – which was bigger and better behaved than this year’s crowd – to be able to take public transit home. “We got 911 calls from people who were there”, said Const. Victor Kwong, adding that due to the serious nature of the calls police and CNE officials chose to shut down early at 11 p.m.in 2015. A 16-year-old girl is charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer and obstructing a police officer, a 16-year-old boy is charged with assaulting a police officer and failing to comply with recognizance, and a 17-year-old boy is charged with possession. Different groups of youth started jostling each other and then running away in what appeared to be a coordinated manner, Ludy said.
Ms. Ludy said the trouble began with some “large groups of youths” on the midway. Do you find it’s more crowded than usual? People who attended are asking for their money back.
“Just scared the hell out of everybody”.
Around 9:30 p.m., all the lights and rides were indeed suddenly shut off.
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Ryan Daly said he arrived at the Ex with his fiancée and two children around 8 p.m. The other two have been released.
