Victoria police are seeking witnesses to a stabbing in Centennial Square that left a man in hospital.
It happened around 6 p.m. Saturday in the pubic square, which is adjacent to Victoria City Hall.
According to police, a wounded man approached officers and said he’d been stabbed following a verbal confrontation with another man in the square.
A second man then allegedly chased the victim. The victim was taken to hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Police are looking for a Caucasian man with dreadlocks who was wearing a green shirt and a knife on his belt. The suspect also had a husky-type dog.
The second man is described as 25-30 years old, had long hair and was wearing aviator sunglasses.
Crime and violence around Centennial Square has become a hot-button issue in Victoria in recent months, and was a key motivation for the city to clear a homeless encampment from the property last week.
Councillors recently voted to allow the campers to return, but the city’s mayor says she’ll try and block that effort.
A recent undercover police operation broke up a suspected drug ring operating out of tents in the square, and resulted in the arrests of a dozen people. During the operation, one of the undercover officers was robbed.