Black Lives Matter spills over to Canada, after Somali immigrant dies following arrest in Ottawa

The death of a mentally ill black man following his arrest by police in Canada’s capital has sparked calls for a probe into whether race was a factor in the incident as advocacy groups voice concerns over police violence against minorities.

Witnesses told local media that the Somali immigrant, identified as Abdirahman Abdi, 37, was beaten by Ottawa police officers. A video from a bystander shows him in a bloodied shirt lying face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back and his pants pulled down before paramedics arrived.

While incidents of this type are rare in Canada, they are not unheard of and the death echoes similar events in the United States where allegations of police brutality and racial bias have sparked protests following a series of confrontations caught on video.

Some have also expressed frustration that Abdi’s death has not attracted as much attention as some high-profile incidents have in the United States.

“There’s a thirst publicly to have this conversation, and not to have it in the American context, but to have it in our context,” said Rodney Diverlus, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has launched a probe into the arrest. A family spokeswoman said that Abdi had been dead for 45 minutes before arriving at the hospital.