1918 Toronto anti-Greek riot

The 1918 Toronto anti-Greek riot was a series of violent events in Toronto, Ontario, Canada targeting Greek immigrants during August 2-4, 1918. (Some sources indicate the date range August 1-5, to include the event that triggered the violence and the date of the final restoration of the peace.) It was the largest riot in the city's history and one of the largest anti-Greek riots in the world. In the newspapers of the time the events were referred to as the Toronto troubles.^{[1] [2][3]} The riots were the result of prejudice against new immigrants and the belief that Greeks did not fight in World War I^[2] and even in fact were pro-German.^[4]

The riots were triggered by the news about the expulsion of a crippled veteran from the White City Café by Greek waiters on Thursday evening, August 1. The violence started on Friday, August 2, when crowds of estimated 5,000-20,000 led by World War I army veterans destroyed every Greek business in sight in the city center, while the overwhelmed police could not prevent this. Because the of the scope of the violence city mayor had to invoke the Riot Act to call in the militia and military police.^[2] On Saturday night the police and militia was engaged in fierce battles in the downtown in an effort to quench the violence. In total estimated 50,000 on both sides took part in the battle. Over 20 restaurants were attacked, with damages estimated over $1,000,000 in modern (as of 2010) values.^[1][2]

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