Yaletown pepper spray attack sent 20 running, abandoning chicken wings

Pepper spray attack clears a Yaletown pub in Vancouver on Friday night, sending 20 people running into the street with searedeyes and throats.

First responders were called to the Tavern pub on Hamilton St. around midnight after a scuffle turned spicy.

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Pub patrons said there seemed to be some sort of altercation leading up to the attack.

MiarcoIannacconewas inside the pub eating chicken wings at the time.

"I heard a sound, like 'shshshsh,' sound of a spray and something getting broken, and then everyone started running out."

"Everything inside there started to burn, like the face, the air, everything," saidIannaccone. "I came outside and everyone was feeling pain in theeyes, and in the throat, becausetheywere breathing the stuff."

Officials said about 20 people needed medical treatment outsideafter the attack. People who witnessed the attack said many more experienced minor effects.

"Then the police came and the ambulance and they gave us some soap for the eyes, and water for cleaning our face and people weregetting sick," saidIannaccone.

Police said the suspect fled the restaurant and took off in a vehicle. No description of the vehicle has been provided.

Firefighters used a powerful fan to ventilate the pub.

Iannaccone said he was hoping the staff would re-open the pub so he could go back inside to finish his chicken wings, which he had abandoned on thetable when he fled.

"Unfortunately, they're still there," he said.