Canada McDonald’s prompting 900 police calls over fights – including one with a RACOON – to close

The infamous McDonald’s in Ottawa, Canada, which has seen more than 900 fights in recent years, is closing after nearly 40 years of service.

Peter Crosthwaite, owner of the building on Rideau Street, told me CCTV that the franchise owner decided not to renew the lease, as the restaurant was due to close in April.

The McDonald’s, which a former manager called “the worst,” is best known for a viral video of a major brawl inside its doors in 2013 in which customers punched each other while a man took a raccoon out of his coat.

Continued fighting and unruly guests caused more than 800 calls to police in 2018 alone, causing the McDonald’s to drop its 24-hour schedule, but the Ottawa Police Department reported they still received more than 150 calls last year.

The Ottawa Police Department urged the restaurant to end its 24-hour service schedule after making more than 800 police calls in 2018 alone. The restaurant is located at 99 Rideau

The video that made infamous the McDonald’s on Rideau Street, which opened in 1985, begins with a group of men arguing inside the restaurant, surrounded by other patrons.

The men exchange vicious blows with each other, and as more join the fight, a man could be seen pulling out a raccoon, as if brandishing the animal like a weapon before stepping back from the chaos.

The man could be seen holding the raccoon as he pushed two others who were fighting next to him.

As the fighters left the restaurant, many onlookers could be seen celebrating the fight they witnessed.

The brawl was not an isolated incident, however, as a 2018 video shows a group of three men beating each other with ‘Wet Floor’ signs during a fight at 1am.

Dubbed ‘Legendary Rideau McDonalds’, the video shows the men violently hurling the plates at each other as customers yell at them to stop with some cheering them on.

The men also trade punches and kicks, before one of them picks up a plate again and hits another on the head before walking away.

During a fight in 2018, a group of men hit each other with ‘Wet Floor’ signs

That fight was the more than 800th of that year that finally led then-Ottawa Chief of Police Charles Bordeleau to send a letter to Canada’s McDonald’s leadership about the “ongoing criminal activity and social disorder.”

In addition to the fighting, the restaurants were also plagued by an onslaught of disorderly customers, with many of the interactions being filmed.

A 2016 incident shows a man swearing at staff yelling at him to get out. He then takes off his shirt and warns the employees not to touch him.

Another video from that year shows a woman who appears disoriented yelling at staff for her bag as they try to keep her away and lead her outside the restaurant.

The incidents and pleas from the police eventually led to the 24-hour restaurant reducing its hours from 6am to 10pm, and although fights were less frequent, they were still a constant presence.

In addition to constant fights, the restaurant is also plagued by unruly patrons, including one who took his shirt off and started swearing at staff in 2016

Despite the squabbles and unruly customers, Crosthwaite suggested that McDonald’s decision not to renew their lease with him was a result of declining revenues, not because of the regular chaos, but because of the changing city infrastructure.

“The city tore up Rideau Street and put the subway in it. Then they ripped it up again to improve it, put curbs in it,” Crosthwaite told CTW.

“Liberty is meeting and we had COVID. All these things are upheavals that can’t make it easy for a steady, reliable operation.”

McDonald’s Canada did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.

Another recorded incident from 2016 showed a woman screaming for her bag when a group of staffers tried to keep her away and lead her to the door