Removal of posters in Waterloo treated by police as hate-motivated incident

Waterloo Regional Police are treating an incident in Waterloo as “hate-motivated.”

Police said a video of the incident, which occurred Nov. 17, turned up on Nov. 24. On the day of the incident, at approximately 8:30 a.m., officers responded to the report of a disturbance on University Avenue West.

Police said a person was placing posters along the street when a man followed and started taking the posters down with a knife. The person confronted the man and a verbal altercation occurred.

Police said they currently don’t have details about what was on the posters. Although the man had a knife in his possession, police said there was no evidence provided that the knife was used in the threatening manner. No criminal charges were determined based on the evidence provided.

The person did want the man spoken to regarding his aggressive behaviour. He was issued a warning by police and the knife that was initially seized was returned.

Responding officers did have body-worn cameras and referred the incident to its equity, diversity, and inclusion unit as a hate-motivated incident.