G8/G20 June 2010 Protest Watch

[The Bread Guy]

This from the National Post:

The Integrated Security Unit has confirmed that the RCMP will be deploying water canons during the G8 summit in Huntsville, Ont., and the G20 summit in Toronto.

“It will assist public order units with crowd and riot control,” said ISU spokeswoman Jillian Van Acker. “Research has shown that the water projection system causes less injury than other use of force options and it reduces the physical contact between police and members of the public.”

The water cannons, which the RCMP refers to as “water projection systems,” will be mounted on trucks that can be driven to the edge of large groups of demonstrators ....

More from the Canadian Press here.

Meanwhile, Twitter traffic's picking up, with posts like these:
The police brutality in TO begins. T-minus two days to #torontog20 #g20report #g20 #resistg20

And what do some Tweeters mean by "brutality" or "harassment"?  Highlights mine...
Just saw police harass activists. Steal flag poles #g20report

 

[Danjanou]

I spent my lunch hour wandering about downtown. Lots of Cops up by Police HQ on College  and by the Delta Hotel. No protesters at all unless the kiddies lining up by HMV on Yonge for some concert tickets count. 8) Too damn hot and humid out there to shout and move about much anyway.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Hope this doesn't affect you, bud!  ;D

The following downtown Toronto LCBO stores will be closed Friday, June 25 through Sunday, June 27 during the G20 Summit:

    * Queens Quay, 2 Cooper Street
    * First Canadian Place
    * Union Station
    * St. Lawrence Market, 87 Front Street West
    * Loblaws Plaza, 10 Lower Jarvis Street at Queens Quay
    * 415 King Street East at Spadina Avenue
    * 337 Spadina Avenue, north of Dundas at Baldwin Street

This action is being taken to minimize risks to customers and staff and reduce traffic congestion in the downtown core. We apologize for any inconvenience.

All other Toronto LCBO stores are scheduled to open during the Summit weekend, including the following locations which are nearest the stores that are closing:

    * Atrium on Bay, 595 Bay Street at Dundas Street West
    * Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West at Bay Street
    * Hudson’s Bay Centre, 20 Bloor Street East at Yonge Street
    * 545 Yonge Street at Wellesley Street East
    * Liberty Village, 85 Hanna Avenue
    * 512 Parliament Street at Gerrard Street

For more information, customers can also call the LCBO Contact Centre at 416 365-5900, or click here for other store locations.

 

[57Chevy]

Looks like some rain on its way.........I hope it flippin pours buckets, and water cannons to boot. ;D

Weather forcasts for Toronto: http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/canada/toronto/ext

 

[Michael OLeary]

OK, now it's getting serious, the denial of essential services to the citizenry:

LCBO to close seven stores near G20 security area

Seven downtown Toronto LCBO stores will be dry during the G20 summit.

While some Torontonians may have a good reason to drink during the anticipated summit strife, the LCBO announced the seven stores closest to the security zone will be shuttered from Friday to Sunday.

“We expect travel to be rather difficult for both customers and staff,” LCBO spokesman Chris Layton said Monday.

While Layton said the LCBO isn’t “anticipating any problems” but will close the stores as a “precautionary measure.”

Staff at the seven closed stores will be redeployed to other locations.

“We anticipate business will be fairly brisk at the other stores,” Layton said.

The seven stores closed from Friday to Sunday are:

• Queens Quay, 2 Cooper St.
• First Canadian Place
• Union Station
• St. Lawrence Market, 87 Front St. W.
• Loblaws Plaza, 10 Lower Jarvis St. at Queens Quay
• 415 King St. W. at Spadina Ave.
• 337 Spadina Ave., at Baldwin St.

 

[GINge!]

Heard that the OPP confiscated a large number of balloons filled with liquid feces. That's just nasty.

 

[The Bread Guy]

OK, now it's getting serious, the denial of essential services to the citizenry:

LCBO to close seven stores near G20 security area

Beatcha to it in #322 

On another note, it doesn't get clearer than this from the Integrated Security Unit on the use of agent provocateurs - this via Facebook:

None of the ISU partners use so-called “agents provocateurs” – personnel intended to infiltrate and provoke action on the part of protestors or other organizations. In fact, the role of the police is to de-escalate tensions and preserve the peace.

 

[57Chevy]

G8/G20 summits have low terrorism risk: CSIS

"I think [there is] surprisingly little on the terrorism front," Richard Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told the CBC's Peter Mansbridge in an exclusive interview. "We don't think there is anyone who is really interested in doing any harm from that perspective."

"Anarchist groups" and "multi-issue extremists" are a different matter, however, Fadden suggested.

"Nothing attracts the world media like the G8 and G20, so anyone who is interested in getting their issues in front of the public, I think, are interested in being in Toronto," Fadden said at his Ottawa office. He predicted turnouts of "a substantial amount of people."

While the RCMP is the lead agency in securing the summits, CSIS has spent the last 12 to 18 months gathering intelligence it hopes could help the RCMP with "any breaches of the law that might occur," he said.

The G8 summit begins Friday in Huntsville. The G20 runs Saturday and Sunday in downtown Toronto.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=24646999

              (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)

 

[The Bread Guy]

Yesterday's anarchist statement today on yesterday's protests:

.... While we work to create the communities we want to live in, we must remember that if we do not stop it, capitalism will sooner or later destroy all that we build. Therefore we must resist, and fight back as if our lives depend on it. When we resist, we stand alongside people all over the world who refuse to allow their communities to be gutted for the profit of the rich. It is the just, co-operative systems that we can create in our daily lives that inspire us to fight against economic injustice in the streets ....

First gathering:

Hundreds of noisy G20 demonstrators shut down traffic in downtown Toronto on Monday protesting the heavy police presence in the city.

With the gathering of world leaders just days away, anti-poverty activists and others rallied at Allan Gardens.

Chanting slogans such as "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "Justice now!" the demonstrators — some masked, others wearing T-shirts with slogans or carrying banners — marched through the streets.

They blocked intersections, briefly occupied an Esso gas station then walked past the Eaton Centre .... One protester was arrested. The demonstrators plan to stage another march during Tuesday afternoon's rush hour ....

Today's theme?

Calling all: queers, homos, transfolk, gender benders and blenders, fierce femmes, leather daddies and mamas, poets, voguers, artists, brazen butches, freaks, riot grrrls and bois, MCs, porn stars, singers, dancers and ruckus causers! Organizers of tomorrow’s day of action for queer rights have released a call to action against the G8/G20 Summits in Toronto. June 22, 2010 Day of Action: “Bring your bedazzled balaclavas and colourful masks if you want, along with something hot pink (extra armbands will be available), signs, banners, noisemakers, instruments!” Meet: 4:30 pm @ Queen Street and Yonge Street …. I sure damn hope that the Roving Kiss-In Action will still go down; I’ve noticed it’s been taken off the Toronto Community Mobilization Network’s calendar …. Please Note: Do not attempt to kiss a police officer. While everyone might be enchanted by how great the event is, touching a cop anywhere on their body with anywhere on your body could lead to an assault charge ….

More here.

 

[observor 69]

Today's TO Star on why those protesters at the G20 aren't all "terrorists" but rather citizens concerned about valid issues.
Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the Toronto Star:


G20 protests have a point
June 22, 2010


Activists pranced naked on Parliament Hill to call attention to poverty the last time Canada hosted the Group of Eight summit in 2002. They plastered “Capitalism Kills” stickers on walls and handed out peanuts to protest the G8’s miserly foreign aid.

And a few scuffled with police and paint-bombed banks.

How much “grief” can Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his guests expect from their street critics this time around? That’s anyone’s guess. They certainly deserve some. The G8’s own self-congratulatory “accountability report” concedes they are $10 billion short on past pledges to help Africa. In Europe, stimulus is now giving way to austerity, even though the recovery is fragile at best. And financial institutions are still under-regulated in many countries.

Indeed, the leaders would do even less, absent popular pressure to do more. That, ultimately, is what the People’s Summit and other events in Toronto are all about: reminding the “corporatist” G8/G20 that they are out of step on issues that people care about.

The activists are a large family. They include Amnesty International, the Canadian Labour Congress, the David Suzuki Foundation, Make Poverty History, Oxfam and the Canadian Health Coalition, to cite some of the more than 100 groups associated with the People’s Summit workshops at Ryerson University last weekend. Millions of Canadians support their causes, including trade unionists, environmentalists, faith groups and rights lobbyists.

That is something the 10,000 police who have been deployed should keep in mind. The protest rallies, forums and marches planned for this week speak to a large constituency.

It’s all about forging grassroots alliances to step up pressure on the politicians on many fronts: to preserve jobs and social programs; to avoid balancing budgets on the backs of workers; to curb global poverty, disease, rights abuses, greenhouse gases; and to address the corrosive rich/poor gap.

It is also about holding Ottawa to account on domestic poverty, social programs, indigenous rights and the oil sands.

Diverse as these issues are, they encompass the great challenges of our times. Our leaders should rise to them. The activists have every right to try to nudge them along. Peacefully, of course.

There’s a paradox here. Many activists view the $1 billion summits as a waste. They mistrust the summit leaders and regard globalization as the enemy. Indeed, “Resisting the G20” was the theme of one Ryerson workshop. But it will take more global leadership and more summitry, not less, to forge the political consensus to move forward.

Even so, the People’s Summit movement, amplified by social media, challenges official complacency. That alone makes it a welcome part of this week’s scene. The summit leaders can do better.

 

[GAP]

Shots fired into air from car in G20 traffic zone: Report
More than a dozen off-duty RCMP officers witness shots being fired
Article Link

At least four shots were reportedly fired into the air early Tuesday inside the G20 traffic zone in downtown Toronto.

CP24 reports that at about 3:30 a.m., more than a dozen off-duty RCMP officers witnessed the shots being fired by the occupants in a black car.

The car sped away from the scene (at King and John) but police were able to get a partial licence plate number and are now looking for the vehicle.

CP24 reports at least two shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Anti-G20 demonstrators, meanwhile, say they will be back in downtown Toronto Tuesday trying to be heard.

Hundreds of protesters shut down traffic in parts of the city Monday – marching through the streets while officers on bicycles moved alongside, blocking side streets as they passed by.
end

 

[observor 69]

TO Star:

Shots fired near G20 security zone

Staff Reporters
Police are searching for a black BMW that fled from Toronto’s Entertainment District early Tuesday after shots were fired near the G20 security zone.

At least three shots were fired from a vehicle near John St. and King St. W around 3:15 a.m. investigators say, despite an increased police presence in the area.

While the shots were fired close to the yellow G20 security zone, where more than 5,000 police officers are set to patrol downtown Toronto, police say they have no reason to believe this incident is related to the upcoming summit.
Investigators say three shell casings from a small caliber gun were found in the area but could not confirm reports that police vehicles pursued the vehicle to the city’s west end where it disappeared, or that more than a dozen off-duty RCMP officers witnessed the shooting.

Nobody was injured and the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/826739--shots-fired-near-g20-security-zone

 

[mariomike]

Water Cannon Water Projection Systems (WPS):
http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/21/14467041.html

Police WPS versus Firefighters in Belgium:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=644_1172713530

"Explosives charge in G20-related probe: TORONTO - A Toronto man has been arrested in connection with G20 summit security, and charges include possession of explosives.":
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100623/national/g20_arrest

 

[The Bread Guy]

A bit of levity from one of the satirical Twitter feeds, @G20security:

    So tiring to keep pointing out how important all the security is. Thank god for stock PR phrases like ‘Somalia-like haven of chaos’ #g20

    Teargas is NOT life-threatening. If #G20 allowed instant replay half these protesters would get red-carded for diving.

and my personal fave:

    We asked @anarchists to pre-register w riot squads, just as delegates do w/ security. But response to dialogue is less than we hoped #G20

 

[The Bread Guy]

Gee, I'm surprised - emphasis mine:

In a moment of startling candour yesterday, organizers of this week’s G8 and G20 protests refused to condemn the use of violence during demonstrations, saying participants will “resist in ways that make sense for them.”

Syed Hussan, a spokesman for the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, told reporters gathered at the group’s Queen Street West headquarters that summit security personnel can expect “different people taking different actions in the ways that they see fit.”

When asked if the group, a collection of grassroots organizations and activists, condemns violent protest at the two summits, Mr. Hussan replied: “No.”

The refusal to discourage extreme tactics — which security experts fear could include the torching of banks and vehicles in the downtown core — comes a day after Toronto police discovered a cache of “homemade weapons” hidden in some bushes near Allan Gardens, the picturesque park near Yonge and College Streets where protesters are expected to hunker down and establish a tent city.

Sergeant Tim Burrows would not describe the exact nature of the devices discovered by police, but said they could be wielded or thrown “in an offensive manner.” He added that officers on general patrol in an undisclosed area also discovered broken concrete and bricks that could be used as projectiles. They were found in a back alley where there was no evidence of construction, he said ....

They want to run protests and sent a message, they want to keep a grip on people protesters might be uncomfortable around, but they will NOT deal with violence.

 

[vonGarvin]

They want to run protests and sent a message, they want to keep a grip on people protesters might be uncomfortable around, but they will NOT deal with violence.

Not quite true.  They only deal with violence towards women, homosexuals, aboriginals, minorities, third world nations, etc.  But not to whitey, eg, "The Man".

 

[The Bread Guy]

Not quite true.  They only deal with violence towards women, homosexuals, aboriginals, minorities, third world nations, etc.  But not to whitey, eg, "The Man".

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[vonGarvin]

Thanks for the clarification.

Glad to be of help ;D

 

[The Bread Guy]

Meanwhile, an interesting arrest (Toronto PS rls attached):

On Tuesday, June 22, 2010, at approximately 2 p.m., as a result of an ongoing investigation, Toronto Police Service officers executed a search warrant at 58 Elderwood Drive, in the Bathurst and Lawrence area of Toronto.

Byron Sonne, 37, of Toronto, has been arrested and charged with:
1) Intimidation of Justice System Participant by Threat
2) Intimidation of Justice System Participant by Watch and Beset
3) Mischief interfere with property
4) Attempt mischief
5) Possess explosive for unlawful purpose
6) Weapons dangerous.

(....)

A bit more from CBC.ca and the National Post.

Jesse Hirsch, a "Broadcaster, Speaker, Researcher and Strategist" who we hear from time to time on CBC Radio talking about IT issues, shares these tidbits via his Twitter feed - first Tweet links to CBC.ca story above:

HackLabTO & Surveillance Club member Byron Sonne has been arrested http://bit.ly/bbBhiA He had planned to monitor police & share via twitter

Byron also indicated he was trying to trigger alerts by buying innocuous items. Seems he successfully got their attention.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Byron also indicated he was trying to trigger alerts by buying innocuous items. Seems he successfully got their attention.

Like walking through an airport muttering the word "bomb", whether or not there is one you're still an idiot and you deserve exactly what response you receive.