A single black man, identified as Jay Phillips, fights three white men in Courtenay, B.C., in a video posted to the internet. (YouTube)

The trial of three Vancouver Island men, whose alleged attack on a lone black man was broadcast on YouTube, is expected to continue on Wednesday in Courtenay, B.C.

David White, Will Rogers, and Adam Huber have all been charged with assault for the attack on Jay Phillips, who testified at the packed trial on Tuesday.

Phillips told the court he was talking with an acquaintance on the street outside his apartment when the three accused drove by in a red pick-up truck.

The men yelled racist slurs at Phillips and threatened to kill his family unless he got out of their white town, he told the court.

Phillips said he swore back at the men and threw a water bottle at the truck. It then circled round and the three men got out and encircled him in a parking lot, he said.

That's when a witness began to record the alleged attack, which was later broadcast on YouTube, capturing worldwide attention.

Phillips told the court that as the men encircled him all he could think about was the film Mississippi Burning, which was about the racially motivated murder of three civil rights workers in the U.S. in 1964.

Phillips told the court the men lunged at him like hyenas and he fought back until they pulled him to the ground. He eventually suffered cuts and bruises that required several stitches on his face.

Defence focuses on inconsistencies

During cross-examination, the lawyers for the accused focused on inconsistencies in Phillips's testimony and two previous drug and robbery convictions.

The defence also showed the video in court, and pushed Phillips to explain why he didn't run, and why he fought back, even yelling "come on" to his attackers.

Phillips told the court he shouldn't have had to run. He also admitted that he once was addicted to heroin, but said he had been clean for a decade.

If Crown prosecutors decided to push for the men to be sentenced under hate crime legislation, that would be determined by the judge at sentencing.