G8/G20 June 2010 Protest Watch

[The Bread Guy]

From g20.torontomobilize.org:

JAIL SOLIDARITY RALLY!  Toronto Condemns Police Violence

Monday, June 28th
5:30pm
Police Headquarters, 40 College Street (at Yonge Street)

Speakers:
Naomi Klein
Ben Powless
Judy Rebick
David McNally
Abeer Majeed

Testimonies from people who've been brutalized by police

Over the past two days, police have rounded and arrested up hundreds of people. They have been denied access to lawyers, telephones, food and water, and held in deplorable conditions in makeshift steel cages.  Many have been beaten in the streets and in their homes; shot at with rubber bullets and tear gas; some have been sent to hospital with severe injuries. Hundreds are still in custody as of Sunday night.

We need to get our people out. We need to take our city back from the armed fortress that it has been turned into.

We will let the police know that we will not tolerate the arrests, beatings and attempt to intimidate the people of Toronto. Our community stands with the people whose lives have been disrupted by the G20, and by police violence. We will demand that all those arrested be released, and released now!

 

[vonGarvin]

Just thought I'd throw a "before" and "after" montage into the mix:
Evolution of an arrest:

Even Before:

Before:

And after

Now, no trumpet in the first photo, smaller fire in Police "state" car, Music Shop in background, then with trumpet (bigger fire) and then in the hands of "the man" who apparently just don't "get it, man!"

 

[Mikhail]

This disgusts me.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24706

By John Thompson Saturday, June 26, 2010

   

Toronto, Ont.-Weirdness all round and I got really furious yesterday afternoon. I was attending the repatriation of Sgt James Patrick Macneil (killed last Monday in Afghanistan) by standing at the last leg for the trip from Trenton, when a motorcade from the base brings the bodies of our fallen with their families and escorts to the Coroner of Ontario.

    Normally the police have a large presence in these, too, as they escort the processions and clear the way; also, Toronto Police Headquarters and the Coroner’s office are on the same block on Grosvenor, running between Yonge and Bay. I usually go up to Grosvenor and Bay and pay my respects as the hearse goes by.

    Yesterday, the usual collection of Trotskyites and Anarchists with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and all their new chums from out of town massed at the Allan Gardens between Gerrard and Carleton, east of Jarvis. OCAP have engaged in serious goonery before over the last 20 years and attracts those who like the ‘cutting edge’ of protest. Well, actually, the heavy stick of protest is more their style—all for ‘the People’ of course, whoever they are.

    The Coroner’s office is in my neighbourhood of the last nine years, and I attend almost all the repatriations. Waiting for the motorcade yesterday, I noticed a few unusual types with bikes and cellphones skinning by as the police prepared for the final arrival of Sgt Macneil, but didn’t think the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty would sink so low as to try to disrupt the repatriation of one of our war dead.

    They did.

    The arrival of our war dead at the Coroner’s office always begins with a 2:00 PM arrival at CFB Trenton, and the trip from the base to downtown Toronto almost invariably takes about two and half hours.

    The Anarchists and Trots lunged out of Allen Gardens up on Carleton and made a fast march towards Yonge Street, getting as far as College and Yonge with baseball bats and the occasional slingshot firing ball bearings (I overheard a police radio talking about molotov cocktails, too). In short, they got within about 150 metres of the Coroner’s Office just as the motorcade was arriving. The timing was not accidental.

    It was clear that a lot of the out-of town police were taking the opportunity to pay their respects for one of our war dead and their presence was heavier than usual; but in the 15 minutes before the arrival of Sgt Macneil’s body, things got confusing. Buses and vehicles for hundreds of police in riot gear were suddenly heading into the Grosvenor/Bay intersection. The cops were frantically juggling traffic space and trying to get vehicles in place right up to the last minute. About 200 cops in riot gear were martialled right from their buses just as the hearse and the cars carrying Sgt Macneil’s family went by. Within seconds of the coffin being carried into the Coroner’s office and the last of his escort and family following, the riot squad marched by on the way to fend off OCAP.

    Of course, the OCAP sturmtruppen then thought they’d go “liberate” police headquarters on College between Yonge and Bay (and perhaps break a few windows there and then run through the building and get onto Grosvenor). It was touch and go for a while, with maximum disruption for commuters as more police tried to route vehicle and foot traffic away from the scene. Then, OCAP figured they were too late to disrupt proceedings, and so headed off down Yonge Street to approach the fence; before calling it a day and returning to Allan Garden.

    As usual, the press haven’t noticed what was going on. Some news cameras were around, but nobody seems to have put one and two together about what OCAP was attempting to do.

    The protestors don’t do anything accidentally. I’ve been spotting scouting parties for the hardcore demonstrators for three days now, and have been hearing from friends in the police and security guard companies about the stockpiling of rocks, bats and other materials here and there in downtown Toronto for just as long. The Maude Barlow and Oxfam types can talk all they like about being peaceful, but some hard-nosed demagogues and street goons are very much front and centre.

 

[larry Strong]

Just thought I'd throw a "before" and "after" montage into the mix:

Before:

And after

What a disgusting specimen of humanity

 

[Michael OLeary]

What a disgusting specimen of humanity

I'm sure mummy is very proud of him right now, and daddy's trying to decide whether or not to pay for a lawyer, again.  :

 

[The Bread Guy]

This disgusts me.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24706

By John Thompson Saturday, June 26, 2010

 

I was hoping this wouldn't happen  :rage:

 

[TCBF]

- I am a bit late to this, but one has to admire police communications strategy:

1. Allow an abandoned high-mileage cruiser to go unguarded and get set on fire.
2. Let the fire burn as a magnet for the dumber arseholes who wish to self-identify (photos above).
3. Once the photo op has run it's natural course, roll in the firetrucks and police to sum things up.
4. Having been handed free photos to justify the billion-dollar security price tag, ensure it makes the news (hopefully pushing the cops-stuff-stolen-by hooker type stories from page 3, or whatever).

- Really, you can't buy that kind of PR.

- As for the Marxists, off to the camps with them...

 

[mariomike]

"Miller Pushes For Feds To Pay For G20 Damage: Miller is arguing the G20 was Prime Minister Stephen Harper government's conference and it's the government's responsibility to compensate for damages.":
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/80031--miller-pushes-for-feds-to-pay-for-g20-damage


"The mayor defended the police actions over the week, noting the exceptional circumstances. He said the offer to host the G20 meeting at the self-contained Exhibition Place would have made a lot more sense, but Ottawa turned that suggestion down.":
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/28/miller-g20.html

 

[Scott]

This disgusts me.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24706

By John Thompson Saturday, June 26, 2010

 

Wow. Just, wow.

I know we're beyond paracowboy's old saying, but...

 

[TCBF]

Wow. Just, wow.

I know we're beyond paracowboy's old saying, but...

- Why did "Kneel down and face the ditch." just pop into my head?

8)

 

[mariomike]

Repatriation of Sgt. MacNeil: Scene at the Coroner's Office:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J9TrS7qeT8

"OCAP Demo in Toronto stalled at Yonge and College as Repatriation motorcade approaches Coroner's office on Grenville. (1 blk nrth of demo)":
http://twitter.com/dtrafford/status/17042774904

"Toronto G20 protest organized by OCAP - Part 2 - March, Standoff, and Pursuit":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT9zBoXwuMA&feature=related

"Toronto G20 protest organized by OCAP - Part 3 - Back to Carlton":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KRKFvj7JaQ&feature=related

"R.I.P. Sgt. James Patrick MacNeil":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH_7SU2SHZo

 

[mariomike]

"Hundreds rally outside police headquarters: At least 1,000 demonstrators have assembled in front of Toronto police headquarters at 40 College St. to rally against the police response to G20 protests.":
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/829854--hundreds-rally-outside-police-headquarters?bn=1

"The fire, the accused and the cop":
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/829587--the-fire-the-accused-and-the-cop

“Why would you bring this terror to downtown?”:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/829584--g20-it-wasn-t-worth-it

 

[hold_fast]

I don't mean to stir up a storm, but I'll always stand by that there's two sides to every story and it's important to keep an open mind.

So, while I agree with the policing for the majority of the weekend, one event is starting to pop up across the media as questionable: when the riot police boxed in civilians/protesters on Queen and Spadina late on Sunday, with no information on why they were being boxed in or how they could get out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMFpDqgztnk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXNtR-a_D0

I'm guessing that it was a tense situation that the police were trying to calm and disperse people... but judging by the looks and reactions of some the police officers, there seems to be a strong lack of communication as to what exactly they're supposed to be doing. There doesn't seem to be anyone in the group who is attacking or provoking or anything of the sort. Most of the people are scared and some are crying.

This one incident is making the most rounds, where riot police storm against the protesters/randoms just wanting to get pictures who are singing O Canada. Understandable that they were somewhat provoking police and would not leave the area - they were in the area near Queen and Spadina, at the time when people were being boxed in. You can see it happening also from one of the above videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heb9BXjYcII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkwazCJG0vc

In an effort to promote discussion, I wanted to bring these up. I haven't come to any conclusions, but it looks pretty questionable.

 

[mariomike]

"OTTAWA -
Some mayors suggest events like the G8 and G20 summits should never again be held in the downtown core of a city.":
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100628/national/g8_g20_mayors

 

[vonGarvin]

Well, mayors, it looks like you're showing your yellow stripes.  Cowards. 

As for that crowd dispersed following "O Canada", please note them starting to sit in the street: message: we're not leaving.  Sitting en masse in a street without licence, is, I believe, not considered "lawful assembly".  Some events, such as Carabana or the Pride March, are well-planned in advance, with permission to have certain streets closed.  This was not.  The song ends, and the message is clear: "This is a democracy.  If you use mob-rules, we will use mob dispersion tactics". 

Meanwhile, in France, cities were lobbying to have the next G8/G20 in their city!  Nice won out.  So, you chicken-hearted mayors who are afraid of the protestors, I hate to say it, but there's no effing way I will believe that giving into a mob-rules mentality is why I serve.  Shame on you all!

 

[TCBF]

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/28/jonathan-kay-toronto-city-of-wimps/

".....  I love living in Toronto. But in times of strain, the city takes on the character of an overprivileged wimp, shrieking and sobbing at the merest civic pin-pricks. We saw this in 1999, when the mayor asked for army troops to help battle the sort of snowstorms that Edmonton and Winnipeg seem to get every other week. ..."

Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/28/jonathan-kay-toronto-city-of-wimps/#ixzz0sCYcsteT

 

[Rogo]

the message is clear: "This is a democracy.  If you use mob-rules, we will use mob dispersion tactics". 

I could not of heard a better summary anywhere else.

There is a strong correlation between not lighting cars on fire and not getting tear gassed.    :2c:

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Quebec activists say they were targeted at G20 protests
The Canadian Press
Date: Mon. Jun. 28 2010 7:32 PM ET


LINK

MONTREAL — A group of Quebec protesters say people from their province were targeted at last weekend's G20 summit and arrested simply for speaking French or having fleur-de-lys license plates.

So says the CLAC, Montreal's Anti-Capitalist Convergence group, which said Monday that only 125 of its 450 members who had taken buses to Toronto had returned.

Many of its members were detained over the weekend and remained unaccounted for.

The anti-capitalist, anti-state, anti-authority group describes the controversial Black Bloc tactics, blamed for many of the incidents in Toronto, as a legitimate form of protest.

"When we arrived by bus the police were waiting for us. They took our flags, our (signs)," said Danie Royer, a spokeswoman for the group.

"During the weekend the tension was going higher and higher. On Sunday, it was impossible to walk in the streets.

"Everyone that walked on the street that talked French or people who were driving with Quebec plates were arrested without justification."

The CLAC describes itself as an umbrella group involved in a number of different issues -- including rights for immigrants and women, in addition to its anti-capitalist agenda.

It has no problem with the so-called Black Bloc protest tactics, calling it a legitimate form of protest, which it says mainly targets "multi-national" companies and "symbols of capitalism."

The protest tactic sees people using black clothing to blend into larger crowds and, in many cases, taking advantage of that anonymity to escape arrest for vandalism.

"We respect a diversity of tactics. People are angry, particularly in the context of an event like that," said Mathieu Francoeur, another CLAC member.

"For us it's vandalism against certain institutions . . . it's symbolic and doesn't compare with violence in general in society."

But organizers for the Quebec-based group said they were surprised by the targeting of French-speaking protesters.

One member who was detained on Sunday said she and two other Quebecers driving along College Street were stopped only because they had a Quebec licence plate.

Camille, a slight redhead who refused to give her last name, said police then rifled through her possessions and found some black clothing.

She also had a lawyer's telephone number scrawled on her arm and an anarchist book in the car.

She said she was held for nearly 10 hours without being allowed to make a phone call, and was crammed into a cell with other women almost entirely from Quebec.

"They showed us a report by accident that said they arrested us because we had Quebec licence plates and a black T-shirt," said the university student.

She drove overnight to get out of Toronto after spending Sunday in detention.

"We just wanted to get the hell out of there," she said.

Toronto police declined to address the allegations. Integrated Security Unit spokeswoman Nathalie Deschenes said the force had no comment.

Quebec has a comparatively deep history of events like those that occurred over the weekend in Toronto.

The 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City was marked by the appearance of the now-infamous Black Block protesters, who smashed windows and hurled projectiles at police.

That 2001 summit ended with 463 arrests, more than $2.5 million in damage, and equally widespread complaints about police manhandling peaceful protesters.

A five-member panel appointed by then-Quebec public security minister Serge Menard concluded officers used abusive amounts of tear gas and were wrong to shoot rowdy protesters with rubber and plastic bullets.

Much like Toronto, the 2001 summit was held within a fenced-in part of the city.

The CLAC organizers deflected allegations that people affiliated with their group were in large part responsible for the damage.

The CLAC says about 1,000 members went in Toronto, but were immediately targeted as soon as their buses pulled into the city on Friday.

"Anyone who had the protester look," Francoeur said.

"There was institutionalized profiling, and we figured it might happen, but we never thought politicians would also give police carte blanche to do as they pleased."

The CLAC had spent months organizing trips to Toronto to protest the G20.

But the spokespeople said they did not produce a video that appeared on their website entitled "Mon voyage a Toronto" (My trip to Toronto); the video shows off different points of interest using skulls as landmarks.

The Montreal protest group is planning to hold a demonstration on Thursday to denounce police handling of the G20 protests.




LINK

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

If you want to know who CLAC are, you can google them. 

"When we arrived by bus the police were waiting for us. They took our flags, our (signs),"

and many other items, conveniently not mentioned.

This doesn't reflect well on the Student Body of U of T.

 

[George Wallace]

I particularly liked this tactic.  The Police corralled a large number of protestors who were not in a "delcared" place of protest, and who were blocking traffic.  At the time, the weather had taken a nasty turn and the area was being pelted by heavy rain (Part of the Subway around Union Station was flooded.).  After at least four hours the police allowed the drenched protestors, many who were volunteering to be arrested to get out of this situation, to go home..........peacefully.

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Corralled for 4 hours, crowd dispersed by G20 police
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Sun. Jun. 27 2010 11:18 PM ET



LINK

A tense and bizarre standoff between police and a crowd lingering in central Toronto following a weekend of G20 protests has ended after nearly four hours.

At a busy intersection in the city's core, a large contingent of police boxed in a group of about 200 people in heavy rain. They were not allowed to leave the area.

Dozens were arrested during the police action, which occurred only steps from where police cruisers were torched 24 hours earlier.

Just before 9:45 p.m. local time, police let the remaining crowd go free.

Talking to reporters late Sunday night, Toronto Police Staff Superintendent Jeff McGuire was pressed to explain why police had barricaded people for so long in the rain, before simply letting them go.

McGuire said, "We're not perfect in everything we do, but our interest was in the safety of the citizens of Toronto."

He added that police were trying to prevent the kind of violence caused by Black Bloc tactics the day before, and found weapons in the area.

"I don't know the specific weapons. I've been advised that some weapons were found along the route as the officers were forming around this group," he said.

Arrests linked to the G20 demonstrations have led to more than 600 arrests over the weekend.

CTV's Lisa LaFlamme said officers picked out some from the crowd and arrested them. A CTV News cameraman reporting from the scene was taken into police custody, but was released later.

Some who had been held inside the make-shift human corral, located at Queen Street and Spadina Avenue, said that they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. When rain began to pour down, many were unprepared.

Police have made at least 604 arrests this weekend, with about 253 taking place Sunday. Those numbers will likely rise.

Earlier, there was a tense standoff at a temporary detention centre where hundreds of people arrested during the protests are being held.

Outside the detention centre, which is about four kilometres east of the downtown core, police made a deal with the crowd, telling them they would release some of those arrested if the crowd moved off a busy street. The deal appeared to work and the crowd stepped back.

Initially, police had issued two five-minute warnings to the crowd to get out of the area, but the demonstrators didn't move.

Some people arrested in Saturday were eventually released from the detention centre with conditions to appear in court. Others had their charges dropped.

Earlier, a riot squad used rubber bullets and blank rifle shots to drive back about 100 demonstrators at a seemingly peaceful sit-in outside the detention centre. Police then apprehended an alleged member of an anarchist protest group.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper commented on the protests for the first time Sunday, saying the violence was unacceptable.

"We obviously deplore the actions of a few thugs but the reality is unfortunately that these summits attract this element and that has been a problem, as we know, around the world," he said.

"That said, this goes a long way to explaining why we have the kind of security costs around these summits that we do."

Security costs for the summit total nearly $1 billion.

During the early afternoon, sources told CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife that police arrested three individuals for weapons offences after Molotov cocktails were found in their vehicle.

The incidents follow a number of arrests earlier Sunday. Police detained around 100 more people in connection with Saturday's violent protests against the G20 summit.

While the streets of Toronto were calm early Sunday morning, dozens of police officers headed out to their positions across the downtown core and raided a building on the University of Toronto campus.

A spokesperson for the Integrated Security Unit said officers found a cache of "street-type weaponry" such as bricks.

"Our officers are out pro-actively looking for anybody with criminal intent," said Const. Samantha Nulle. "Today they located a large number of people, they intercepted them and they did locate a number of street weapons on them."

Those arrested over the past 24 hours face a wide array of charges, from mischief and breach of the peace to assault, drug possession and dangerous weapons.

An Ontario court building in the northwest of Toronto saw the first wave of cases on Sunday.

One by one, the accused were led into one of the five designated courtrooms to have their cases heard.

Common charges included assaulting a police officer, mischief and participating in an unlawful assembly. The Canadian Press reports that many were released on the condition they stay out of Toronto's downtown core, keep the peace and not take part in any demonstrations until a court-appointed date.

Detention centre concerns

Nathalie Desrosiers of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said monitors from her organization are among those being held at the detention centre, and she is concerned about the conditions under which they are being detained.

On Saturday, while thousands of marchers peacefully walked from the Ontario legislature along a pre-planned route, a group of self-described anarchists broke away to confront police and vandalize stores, banks and other buildings.

At least three police cars were also set fire. No serious injuries among protesters have been reported, although police did use tear gas and rubber bullets on some demonstrators.

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, whose officers are seconded to the Integrated Security Unit, said a number of officers were taken to hospital with injuries.

Fantino said officers had urine, paint and various objects thrown at them during the chaos, actions the commissioner called "disgraceful."

Saturday's protests cancelled a concert at the Air Canada Centre, put downtown hospitals into lockdown and closed the popular Eaton Centre shopping mall.






LINK with comments.

 

[TCBF]

"... but we never thought politicians would also give police carte blanche to do as they pleased."



- Suckers.