Masked vandals who damaged Hamilton businesses were well-organized, 'liked-minded people': police

Vandalism on Hamilton street ‘not spontaneous act’ Police in Hamilton say a $100,000 vandalism spree committed by a group of people was "not a spontaneous act."

Police in Hamilton say they’re sifting through video surveillance and “mining social media” in hopes of identifying a group of masked people who stormed a popular Hamilton neighbourhood on Sunday night, causing up to $100,000 in damage.

Police were initially alerted to the group at around 10 p.m. after receiving multiple calls from concerned citizens about “mischief” near Durand Park on Park Street South.

A portion of the group continued their march down Aberdeen Avenue before turning on to Locke Street. It was there that the mob of 20 to 30 people – all dress in black, wearing masks and carrying a banner that read “we are the ungovernables” – started hurling rocks at windows and vehicles and setting off fireworks.

Insp. Paul Hamilton told reporters on Monday that the responding officers approached the group but, realizing its size, quickly retreated and called for backup.

“Two officers against 30 people isn’t going to work out very well for us,” Hamilton said. “They utilized their training, backed off to a safe distances and called for backup, which is what they’re supposed to do.”

Hamilton, who says he was the duty officer in charge that night, said he had to request assistance from multiple divisions. He said more than 30 officers from the city’s three patrol divisions were deployed to the area within 15 minutes of receiving the call for back-up.

Members of the force’s ACTION team, emergency response team and canine unit were also called in to assist.

“At the point I’m notified, I’m asking certain questions: ‘Is anyone being injured?’ The information I’m getting is ‘No, they’re throwing rocks and setting off fireworks.’ So I immediately instruct nobody is to engage them until we get the proper resources in place,” he said.

The entire group was ultimately able to evade arrest but officers were able to obtain license plates on some of the vehicles some of the suspects used to leave the area.

No officers or civilians were injured during the ordeal.

“This group utilized a lot of tactics that are commonly seen in other big demonstrations like G20. They were wearing multiple layers of clothing, obviously they concealed their faces,” he said. “So they turn down one street, take off some clothing and now they look like just an average person in the community. (Then) they go down the next block and they take some more clothing off, so it’s very hard to identify them or go after them when they all scatter like that.”

While police are just beginning to combing through “a ton of information” and don’t currently have a name for the mob, Hamilton said it’s clear to investigators that they were a well-organized group of “liked-minded people.”

“We know this is not a spontaneous act committed by these people. This was very well planned, very well executed. Therefore, there are people who know something,” he said. “Maybe they overheard something or were involved in the planning and maybe didn’t participate, or even some of the participants. We know not everybody threw rocks at window that night, so maybe there’s somebody in that group who doesn’t agree with the philosophy of this group and what took place.”

Hamilton acknowledged that there was an anarchist book fair being held at Westdale Secondary School over the weekend. He said investigators have been in touch with those involved in organizing the book fair but they have not positively connected the vandalism with the event.

He did say police are actively “investigating the possibility that there are people from outside the community” involved.

“We’re mining social media. As I’ve said before, we have officers from our intelligence unit that deal with these types of groups,” he said. “We’re going to be looking at all those aspects.”

On Sunday night, police reported that approximately 10 businesses and vehicle owners had reported damage. The total cost of the damage was estimated at $100,000 at that time.

The owner of Donut Monster, a bakery on Locke Street, said the vandals smashed eight of his store’s windows.

“I’ve never heard of this group. I don’t know what they are or who they are but whatever message they have it’s really not being conveyed by smashing windows,” Ruben Vanderlwaak said.

Hamilton said the community has been “cooperative” with the investigation and that police have received “a ton of calls” with information related to it.

“If there’s anyone else out there who has information, we want to hear from you,” he said. “We have to do this together.”