Hamilton Police continue to investigate after a large gathering of car enthusiasts met in an Ancaster movie theatre parking lot on Saturday evening. 

On September 19, 2020, Hamilton Police received information that a "Mega Meet 2.0" was planned at an Ancaster cinema parking lot. This group has been creating traffic chaos throughout the GTA with anywhere from 50 - 300 street racing -style cars attending. Participants often take over city streets in order to engage in drifting and street racing. The group has previously hampered police response by using vehicles to block intersections and highway ramps. There have also been incidents of groups swarming responding officers on foot and blocking cruisers with vehicles. 

At approximately 6:00 p.m. Hamilton Police officers responded to the movie theatre parking lot on Golf Links Road to find a large group already assembled. Over the next hour, the group grew to fill the parking lot as well as several adjacent lots. Responding officers worked to maintain public safety while waiting for back up from Project ERASE, which included members from Peel Regional Police, York Regional Police and the OPP.  Project ERASE is a multi-jurisdictional effort across police services to target street racing and other high-risk driving behaviours. 

Once enough officers were on scene, they were able to move the participants out of the lots in a safe and orderly manner and the parking lots were cleared of all vehicles without incident. This took place around 9:30 p.m. There were no reported incidents of street racing or roadway takeovers. 

At the time of the event, the goal was to disperse the crowd quickly and safely to mitigate the risk of street racing and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Given the size of the crowd, the overall risk to public safety outweighed the ability to ticket specific individuals 

Hamilton Police continue to investigate the events from Saturday night. Investigators from Division 3 CID have been assigned to follow-up and identify the organizers of this event and lay applicable charges. Organizers and participants are reminded that this behaviour is unacceptable and Public Health direction must be followed. 

Anyone with information that may assist investigators is encouraged to call 905-546-3886 and speak with the on-duty Staff Sergeant. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-522-8477.