Members of the Pakistani community in the Toronto area are shaking their heads this week after a local gathering on the nation's independence day went south, deteriorating into a messy public brawl that was all caught on camera.

Footage of the scuffle that broke out in a Mississauga parking lot near Highways 403 and 407 shows an unbelievable scene of mayhem, with dozens of people yelling, shoving, throwing punches and tossing one another to the ground while others attempt to break up the madness.

As one resident explained when sharing a minute-long clip of the incident to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday evening, "they are supposed to be celebrating Pakistan's Independence Day, not beating each other up... Growing up I attended many Pakistani community events & have never seen this crap."

Her post has now racked up more than 30,000 views in less than 24 hours.

This is chaos. What the hell is happening? https://t.co/8RJ4tbfza6

— Ian Prittie (@thereds8) August 15, 2023

In front of a shaky camera, a group of men of various ages — many of them young — can be seen engaging in a violent scrimmage that moves around cars in the busy lot, with a woman screaming in the background for someone to get off of her son as more people join in.

The pushing and general disorder continues on until police sirens are heard, the flashing lights interrupting the ongoing confrontation, which appears to have multiple people at its centre as crowds look on.

A man at one point utters a racial slur just before he is held back by friends and officers on the scene, after which point we can assume the authorities got the situation under control.

So much violence has erupted in Pakistan after former PM Imran Khan’s arrest we fear it has spilled over to the streets of #Mississauga.

— The Real #Shalimar (@shalimar_street) August 15, 2023

While it is unconfirmed what the drama was over, many presume it might have something to do with the political turmoil currently taking place in the South Asian country, which has just had its former prime minister jailed and banned from coming elections.

Others dismiss it as "boys being boys," saying young men engaging in fisticuffs isn't anything new. Still others blame residual impacts of the pandemic, which has resulted in mental health issues and short fuses across the board.

i agree it happens in every community its just sad to see when they are there to celebrate something positive

— Justice_Queen 🏗🏙🚇⚖️ (@RE_MarketWatch) August 15, 2023

Whatever the reason, members of the community are condemning those present, encouraging the young men to "just let it go," especially if the disagreement was political in nature.

"It's just so embarrassing as a Pakistani Canadian to watch this," one viewer wrote on socials last night.

"These kids in this video are not Pakistanis. We completely disown them. They are canadians of Pakistani descent. It's not the same," another chimed.

In Canada - Pakistanis are fighting with each other for Pakistan’s issues, Indians are fighting between each other for India’s issues, and Canadian government is laughing at the distracted crowd. That’s what government wants, distracted immigrants and their taxes and investments

— 🇮🇳 Inconvenient Immigrant 🇨🇦 (@immigrant_iam) August 15, 2023

While pretty out of hand, this incident isn't the worst the GTA has seen, between all of the beach fights, post-sports game riots and parking lot swordfights in recent memory.