Video of a man pouring water on sleeping homeless person sparks outrage
Canadians are furious and a restaurant has apologized after a video emerged of a person waking a sleeping homeless man by pouring water on him.
Montreal-based Mexican restaurant La Toxica restaurant has shared an apology on Instagram for its involvement in the incident and explained what happened.
According to its statement, the incident occurred on Saturday in a building in Chinatown, where several businesses are located, including La Toxica and the Montreal Gaming Centre.
In the video, a man wearing sneakers, black pants, a black jacket, and a grey shirt is lying down in front of a doorway. In some videos, the man’s face has been blurred out.
In the background, a woman walks down the stairs with a metal food container that she hands to a man in an orange hoodie. The man, while smiling, gets close to the sleeping figure and then throws water onto the sleeping person’s face.
Startled, the man wakes up and can be heard making distressed sounds.
La Toxica a Mexican restaurant in Montreal has apologized publicly for their involvement in using water to remove a homeless person sleeping in front of their business. pic.twitter.com/IOx2QEf6yL
— Varun Sriskanda (@VarunSriskanda) May 14, 2024
“Shopkeepers tried to wake him up several times and in different ways, but without success,” reads the statement. “The owner of one of the businesses in the building, the Montreal Gaming Centre, asked for water. He finally threw the water in the unconscious person’s face in an attempt to wake him up.”
La Toxica states that it deeply regrets “having contributed” to the incident and that the “gesture lacked humanity.”
“We sincerely apologize on behalf of our restaurant for not having acted differently or proposed another way of doing things,” the statement continues. “What shocks us even more is that the owner of the Montreal Gaming Centre decided to post this video on social media. It’s totally disrespectful.”
Netizens expressed their anger and criticized the people involved in the video.
I love how they literally filmed themselves doing this, probably thinking it would make people laugh. Eediat.
— AURÉLIE LA SIRÈNE 💧❤️🔥🦂⚡️🪬 (@aurelielasirene) May 13, 2024
WHAT THE.. 🤬
— Roxane Tremblay (@Roxinette013) May 13, 2024
Disgusting behaviour, just tap the man’s leg and all him to leave!
— . (@LeftyLucky_) May 13, 2024
The restaurant claims it’s working with the Société de développement Social, “a non-profit organization that helps businesses and people experiencing homelessness to live together through its Action Mediation program.”
“In the future, we want to be part of the solution, and we apologize to anyone who may have been offended by this situation,” concludes the statement.
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