Were vandals at Burlington, Oakville theatres racially motivated? (Video)

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Published February 25, 2022 at 4:15 pm

The Halton Regional Police have arrested two men in connection with an organized movie theatre screen slashing series that included a pair of Oakville theatres. FILM.CA PHOTO

The destruction of movie screens at theatres in Oakville and Burlington on Wednesday (Feb. 23) may have occurred because South Asian Films were due to be shown there.

The vandalism, which also took place at a theatre in Waterloo, could be a trio of coordinated events

at independently-owned movie theatres, source say.

Halton Regional Police did not confirm the incidents were racially motivated.

“Police are investigating all the occurrences (Oakville, Burlington, Waterloo) as related,” Ryan Anderson, of Halton police’s media communications, wrote in an email.

Reports indicate an Oakville theatre had to stop screening foreign films after similar incidents occurred last year.

Police say two males walked into Film.Ca Cinemas location in Oakville in broad daylight at 5:38 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 23) and proceeded to slash two cinema screens with a total value of $4,500.

The incident in Oakville, reported by halton.insauga.com, was recorded on the theatre’s security footage.

Similar incidents that day, also resulting in thousands of dollars of damage, would also take place at Burlington’s Cine Starz and Waterloo’s Princess Cinemas.

Three screens were damaged at Cine Star, while one was destroyed at Princess Cinemas. Staff at the Burlington theatre said it appeared to be the same two men who appeared in the video damaging the screens at Film.Ca Cinemas in Oakville.

“Just after 5 p.m. Feb. 23 Cine Starz on Brant St. in Burlington had damage sustained to three screens,” Anderson said in the email.

Attempts to reach owners of the Burlington and Oakville cinemas by halton.insauga.com were unsuccessful.

Local resident Victoria Jones has created a GoFundMe fundraiser here to help Oakville’s Film.ca pay for the damages done to its screens.

“Thank you to the guest who took it upon themselves to create this GoFundMe,” Film.Ca Cinemas said in tweet.

 

 

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