Assault during march against violence classified as a hate crime, police say

An assault against a sex work activist has been classified as a hate crime by Hamilton police.

The incident took place at the Take Back the Night march on Sept. 21, an event to protest sexual violence, gender-based violence and street harassment.

Police say a 29-year-old man attempted to rip a banner out of someone's hands and throw it.

Jelena Vermilion, a local sex work activist, chases after the man and gets a hold of the banner, a video obtained by CBC Hamiltonshows.

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. Police eventually arrested the man and charged him with assault.

WATCH: Video appears to show man dragsex work activist during march

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

1 year ago

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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.

The hate crime unit reviewed the case and determined it was a hate crime, police said on Friday.

According to Canada's criminal code, a hate crime is designed to frighten, injure, harm, intimidate or harass the victim because of a bias against their actual or perceived sexual orientation, race, religion orethnic background.

Ifthe accused is found guilty, the hate crime classification will be considered an aggravating factor during sentencing, the code says.

Vermilionpreviouslysaid the incidentleft her withachingjoints,bruises and a concussion.

On Friday she posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying she was targeted because she is a trans woman and a sex worker.