Video appears to show man drag sex work activist during Hamilton march against violence

A march against violence in Hamilton was interrupted by a man now charged with assault.

A video obtained by CBC Hamilton shows a large crowd of demonstrators marching down Main Street West with banners, chanting "safe streets for all" on Thursday night.

It was part of Take Back The Night, an event meant to rally against sex­u­al vio­lence, gen­der-based vio­lence, and street harass­ment.

The video shows a man run up to the demonstrators, rip a banner advocating for sex workers out of someone's hands, and toss it in the air.

Jelena Vermilion, a local sex work activist, chases after the man and gets a hold of the banner, the video shows.

"I wasn't going to allow it to happen," Vermilion told CBC Hamilton on Friday.

WATCH: Video appears to show man drag sex work activist during march

Video appears to show man drag Hamilton sex work activist during march against violence

12 hours ago

Duration 0:46

A video appears to show a man assault a Hamilton sex work activist during a downtown march against violence on Thursday. The man has been charged with assault, police say.

Vermilion and the man appear to engage in a brief tug of war before Vermilion falls onto the road and the man drags her a short distance.

The man seemingly yells at the crowd before some members of the crowd approach him.

In the background, people still marching chant, "Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe."

Vermilion said the incident was "absolutely abhorrent."

She walked away with aching joints, bruises and yellow stains on her clothes from when the man dragged her on the road, she said. She said Friday afternoon on social media that she also had a mild concussion.

Hamilton police said in a media release Friday that multiple women said a man assaulted a march participant, prompting officers to arrest the man on Thursday evening.

The accused, 29, is charged with assault and police say the hate crime unit is reviewing the incident.

Police should've acted sooner, activist says

Despite the arrest, Vermilion said she's disappointed with the police response, saying officers saw the incident unfold and should've reacted sooner, rather than only doing so after demonstrators approached them.

"I was shocked at the lack of action," she said. "They wouldn't do anything until multiple people [spoke up]."

Vermilion, who is a transgender woman, also demonstrated Wednesday in support of LGBTQ rights during a protest near the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board headquarters.

She credited police for their presence there and said she had hoped the police response to the incident on Thursday would've been better — especially after criticism of police actions during the 2019 Pride festival, when violence broke out.

Hamilton police didn't immediately respond to questions from CBC Hamilton about Vermilion's criticism.

Mayor says more work to be done to protect women

The incident Thursday evening came just hours after Vermilion delegated to the city's emergency community services committee in favour of developing a gender-based safety audit tool for Hamilton.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath condemned the violence in a message posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

"I'm so sorry this happened and am glad to hear that an arrest was made," she said.

"Take Back the Night is all about ensuring women's safety — clearly there's much more work to be done."

Vermilion said she's trying to remain optimistic things will get better, but is still reeling from the incident.

"I'm very scared for our society ... what does it say about a society that attacks the most marginalized?" she said.

"You have to stand up, you have to speak truth, even if your voice shakes."