Pepper spray with that?

A late night craving for burgers and fries had some Concordia students scrambling for air in a downtown McDonald’s shortly after 3 a.m. on Oct. 23.
“We heard a guy behind us saying, ‘why is everyone coughing in here?’ and the instant he said that I realized I couldn’t stop coughing myself. I looked across the table and I saw my friend coughing as well,” said Les Honywill, a political science student. “I covered my face with my coat and sprinted out of there.”
An odourless chemical spread rapidly across the fast-food chain’s St. Catherines West and MacKay Street location. Witnesses said that while staff members evacuated customers from the restaurant, they remained inside.
“I was in shock about how fast everyone’s reaction to the chemical was,” said Reed Jones, a former Concordia student. “My friends and I couldn’t figure out what had happened. No one had teary eyes, we all just coughed.”
According to witnesses, there had been a group of five young males causing a disturbance just prior to the release of the gas, leading some witnesses to believe the restaurant may have been responsible for spraying it.
“The guys that were horsing around were right in front of us, they were rowdy, but weren’t out of control. I saw them knock over some french fries, but I didn’t see them spray anything,” said Honywill, 22.
The restaurant’s manager disagreed.
“A customer sprayed this pepper-spray,” said McDonald’s branch manager, Rashid, who refused to give his last name. “I am sure that a customer sprayed it and it was nothing from the store. There is no doubt.”
According to constable Nelson Marshall of police station 20, many people are carrying pepper spray these days. The effects can be felt quickly in an enclosed space, he said.
Although the McDonald’s manager claimed to have called police, constable Marshall said he has no proof of that call, “We didn’t receive any call and have no specific file for that incident.”
Witnesses said they did not see anyone spray the chemical.
In July of 2001, pepper spray was reportedly the cause of evacuation of three downtown metro stations after passengers at McGill experienced symptoms of pepper spray inhalation.