A woman was arrested at a mall in Mississauga Saturday after a dispute over a parking spot escalated into an alleged assault, with a racial slur caught on film.
The dispute happened at Mississauga’s Square One Shopping Centre on Saturday, sometime between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Mohsin Sheikh was looking for a place to park when he came across a woman standing in a spot, apparently reserving the place for a friend, he told CP24 Sunday.
In a video of the incident that Sheikh took on his cellphone, he asks the woman to move so that he can park. The video shows the woman swearing and refusing to move before uttering a racial slur about Pakistani people.
The woman’s sister then approaches her before turning toward Sheikh and demanding to know why he has a camera. She moves toward the vehicle as the video comes to an end.
Sheikh alleges that the second woman then punched him.
In a phone call to CP24, the woman who approaches Sheikh in the video said that her mother was waiting to park a vehicle that was not in view in the video. She said her family is from Afghanistan and doesn’t like to be videotaped, which is why she approached Sheikh. However she denies that she assaulted him.
The woman said she and her sister have received death threats and are sorry for the comments in the video.
Speaking with CP24 Sunday, Sheikh said the incident has left his confidence in Canadian pluralism shaken.
“I’m surprised because I was arguing the other day with my friends that I have never been a victim of racism in Canada and that I love Canada. Justin Trudeau is doing such a great job,” Sheikh said.
He added that “as soon as that happened, I’m like ‘oh man I lost. It actually happened and there are people like that.’”
Peel Regional Police confirmed Sunday that a 25-year-old woman was arrested for assault in connection with the incident.
Police said they noted a complaint about a derogatory comment in their report.
