Beating of taxi driver Anwar Sajad 'still a fresh wound,' organizer says
By Cory Ruf, CBC News
Posted: Aug 5, 2013 5:50 PM ET
Last Updated: Aug 5, 2013 5:57 PM ET
Taxi drivers in Hamilton are set to stage a protest Tuesday afternoon, aiming to sound the alarm on the dangers cabbies face while navigating the city's streets.
The demonstration comes three weeks after the brutal beating of a Hamilton taxi driver. On July 16, a passenger allegedly assaulted Anwar Sajad, 55, outside a townhouse complex on Limeridge Road. He suffered a dislocated shoulder, a broken pelvis and a broken leg in the attack and is still in hospital.
The incident "is still a fresh wound" for Hamilton taxi drivers, said Asif Abbas, one of the organizers of Tuesday's protest and a friend of the Sajad family. Despite the initial public outrage sparked by the attack, cabbies are "still petrified," he said.
"There's a fear that we feel on the weekends," said Abbas. "We are not comfortable when certain people, especially those who are drunk, start being a little rough."
The "peaceful" rally, he said, is "mainly just to create awareness about cab driver safety."
It will begin at Dundurn Castle at 12:30 p.m. After 30 minutes or so, the participants will drive in a procession down to city hall, Abbas said.
The group plans to push for a city bylaw that would require passengers to prepay for trips that occur after dark, he said.
They also want to generally see tougher penalties for those who harass or assault drivers.
"We're demanding that the people who have done this type of thing shouldn't get away so easily."
'Everything is just upside down'
For Sajad's eldest daughter, Zunaira, the rally is about "justice." She said her family is "shocked" that the 19-year-old Hamilton man accused of beating her father was released from police custody in late July on $5,000 bail.
"Everything is just upside down," Zunaira told CBC Hamilton. "This is the most terrifying thing that has ever happened in my life."
She said her father, who has worked a cab driver for six years, remains in "extreme physical pain" and has nightmares about the attack.
"He can't sleep. We have to give him sleeping pills."
It isn't clear, Zunaira said, when her father will recover or even when he'll be able to return home from the hospital.
The assault has also thrown the entire Sajad family into disarray, she added. Her mother spends most of her waking hours at the hospital, leaving Zunaira, 22, to take care of her four younger siblings.
"It has completely changed our lives and I really don't know when things are going to get back to normal," she said. "I would not wish any other person's family to have to experience what my family is going through right now."
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