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On a picket line outside a small-town medical clinic, striking workers have allegedly been run over. The union has laid down makeshift nail belts and pickets are allegedly jumping on cars. Both sides of the labour dispute are accusing each other of harassment and name-calling. And the exasperated local police service, after three months and 48 reports of trouble on the picket line, released a bulletin saying the whole thing was becoming a drain on resources.

The situation in Owen Sound, about 200 kilometres northwest of Toronto, appears to be careening toward a breaking point, unless a new round of bargaining on Tuesday ends in a deal.

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Pitted against each other are nurses and doctors.

The Owen Sound Family Health Organization says pickets are harassing its patients on their way inside for appointments, jumping on cars, laying down spiked pieces of wood meant to pierce car tires.

Karen Smith Turner, executive director of the clinic, said one 88-year-old man had to walk to his appointment, after heart surgery the previous week, because he and his family couldn’t get close enough with a vehicle. “He was really shaken… The stories just go on.”