Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Rubber bullets were fired at the crowd at G20.

Rubber bullets were fired at the crowd outside the Eastern Ave. set up during the G20 Summit, a Toronto Police spokesman said Tuesday — one day after releasing erroneous information.




Mark Pugash corrected a statement he made Monday to the Toronto Sun saying no rubber bullets were fired outside the temporary prisoner processing centre, saying he had received the wrong information.



The person who provided the mistaken information called him Tuesday and said that rubber bullets were fired outside the centre, Pugash said.



He originally said rubber bullets were only used during a heated protest at Queen’s Park.



The correction comes as a B.C. woman who claims she was injured by rubber bullets on Eastern Ave. intends to file suit against Toronto Police.



Natalie Gray, 20, of Maple Ridge, alleges she was hit twice by rubber bullets.



Her lawyer Clayton Ruby told the Sun that one of wounds became infected, but has since improved.



No legal documents have yet been filed.



Gray told the Sun outside the 1000 Finch Ave. W. court on the Monday after the summit she had been hit in the chest and arm by rubber bullets.



She was one of hundreds of people arrested during the summit.



“Canadians rightly get upset when civilians get shot,” Ruby said Monday. “It’s an abuse of police power of the worst sort.”



The Toronto Community Mobilization Network said last week some women are considering launching a class-action suit over allegations of sexual assault, including alleged strip searches and sexually charged comments by



officers at the detention centre.



None of the allegations have been proven in court.



Meanwhile, there will be two reviews into police procedure and activities during the summit.



One will be launched by the Toronto Police Services Board and the other by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which received about 275 complaints.