By Thien Huynh
Things got hairy at the International Women’s Day fair held last Saturday at Ryerson.
The women were ready to rumble as a series of disturbances kept security on their toes all afternoon during the 21st annual International Women’s Day celebration.
“We never ever had anything like that happen before,” said security manager Terry Ladouceur.
The fair, which took over the cafeteria in Jorgenson Hall with more than 200 tables representing a broad range of ethnic and interest groups, was first marred by a man who marched around on the first floor pointing and repeatedly shouting, “is women’s rights universal?”
At one point the man grabbed a startled woman by the shoulders and berated, “are you a woman?”
He was quickly escorted out of the Hub by Ryerson security after chants of “get out! Get out!” echoed through both floors.
The combatants in the next bout were the Islamic and Iranian groups. Tables set up by the two groups were swarmed by the crowd. Security was called in yet again to save the day, escorting the Iranian group out once estrogen levels returned to normal.
The third and final bout happened at the Canadian Armed Forces display, which was destroyed by the crowd, Ladouceur said. After that the crowds dispersed and the fair was officially called off.
Earlier in the day about 1,000 women attended a kick-off rally at the University of Toronto and then marched to Ryerson.
Leave a Reply