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2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests 

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2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests
G-20 Toronto June 2010 (27).jpg
Riot control emerge as a police car burns in the background during the June 26th protests
Date June 18–28, 2010
Location Downtown Toronto, Canada
Reported injuries 3 confirmed by Toronto EMS + unknown number of injuries during arrests. Final numbers yet to be announced
Reported property damage Over 40[clarification needed] as of June 28. Final numbers yet to be announced.
Charges Over 900 arrests, charges to be determined
The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests began one week ahead of the summit of the leaders of the G-20 during June 26–27 in Toronto. Protests came in the form of demonstrations, rallies, marches, as well as a violent riot that broke out on June 26 which caused extensive vandalism to several businesses in Downtown Toronto. Over 900 people were arrested in relation to the protests.

Contents

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[edit] Ottawa firebombing

A Royal Bank of Canada branch in Ottawa was firebombed just before the dawn of May 18.[1] A video of the bank exploding was uploaded by the attackers, who were determined by the media to be leftist-anarchists, on YouTube along with a statement claiming their responsibility for the attack.[2] The statement cited the group's reason for their attack on RBC was because they were sponsors of the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia which, the attackers claim, was held on "stolen indigenous land."[3] The attackers also confirmed their presence during the G8 and G-20 summits.[4][5] This caused the G8/G-20 Integrated Security Unit to increase their security measures.[6][7] Three suspects were arrested a month later and charged with arson, possession of incendiary material, use of explosives, and mischief.[8] The attacks were widely criticized by the media, politicians, and other protesting groups who felt that the attacks posed consequences.[9][10][11]

[edit] Early opposition

An individual was arrested for vandalism on May 28, after being caught spray painting anti-G-20 slogans on windows and automated teller machines in Downtown Toronto.[12] Two individuals were arrested in London, Ontario after attaching posters to public property encouraging disruption of the G-20 summit and canvassing protests.[13]

[edit] Week prior to summit

An early demonstration on Yonge Street on June 24 demanding respect of First Nations treaty rights
A small rally was conducted on June 17 in the Financial District by Oxfam Canada, urging Canada to end fossil fuel subsidization and take action on world poverty. The rally also spoofed the summit's high security cost.[14]
An anti-poverty protest occurred on June 21, causing traffic congestion.[15] The protesters, of about 100, marched from Allan Gardens on Sherbourne Street and continuing on Yonge Street, Dundas Street, and Isabella Street. Police officers on bicycles and military helicopters patrolled the protest; one arrest was made.[15] A few protesters also attempted to take over an Esso gas station claiming corporations like Esso "have caused irreparable damage all over the world."[16] Other protester concerns were the Arab-Israeli conflict, capitalism, and the G8 and G-20 summits.[15] The protest was led by a Guelph-based group called Sense of Security, an anti-poverty group that was also supported by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.[16]
The following day, about 200 people from Toronto's gay community marched through downtown attempting to raise awareness on homosexual rights.[17] Protesters chanted, "We're queer, we're fabulous, we're against the G-20."[18] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation labelled the protests as "peaceful" overall.[19]
The first sizeable G-20 protest, of about 1000 people, took place on June 24 with First Nations groups and supporters from across Canada demanding respect for treaty rights from the government.[20] Demonstrations moved from Queen's Park to the Toronto Eaton Centre along University Avenue and Queen Street West. Concerns of protesters were Canada's failure to sign the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the fact that no aboriginal chiefs were invited to the summits.[21]
A larger anti-poverty protest took place on June 25, the day the 36th G8 summit began in Huntsville, Ontario. Protesters attempted to enter the security zone, but were later forced to go back by police officers. By evening, the protesters set up a tent city at Allan Gardens and stayed overnight to resume protests the following day, the opening of the G-20 summit.[22]

[edit] During the summit

[edit] June 26

A damaged front window of a Starbucks coffee shop
As the G-20 leaders descended in Toronto after the 36th G8 summit in Huntsville, Ontario wrapped up, a large group of protesters, comprising as many as 10,000 people, conducted protests downtown during the afternoon of June 26.[23] At the protest, Jeff Atkinson, spokesperson for the Canadian Labour Congress stated: "We don't want G20 countries to cut stimulus spending until jobs recover." Greenpeace International director Kumi Naidoo reasoned that "if G-20 governments could spend billions of dollars to rescue banks in trouble, why not find money to help unemployed workers for the environment and for social causes." In a similar vein, Sid Ryan of the Ontario Federation of Labour stated in a speech that "It wasn't the workers of the world that caused the financial crisis. We don't want to see a transfer of wealth from the public sector to the private sector."[24]
About 2000 marchers broke away from the protest route down Queen Street and head down Bay Street towards the convention centre, through Toronto's central financial district. The media would describe the break-off as led by the black bloc, demonstrators covering themselves and their faces in black clothes. These same individuals are suspected of being responsible for confrontations in other international summit protests,[25] and dispersed to damage buildings and vehicles with melee weapons.[26] The interpreted intent was to distract police forces from the security zone so that other protesters could break in, but police continued to form blockades, protecting the fence.[27] Vandals smashed the windows of various office buildings and stores along Yonge Street, Queen Street West and College Street using axes, hammers, flag poles, umbrellas, and mailboxes.[28] Conflict also erupted between purported anarchists and journalists who were recording property destruction.[29] After a few hours, the black bloc groups changed into civilian clothes and dissolved into the larger crowd as security forces began to increase in presence. Police later maintained that some protest organizers were complicit in providing cover for the vandals.[30]
The first property reportedly damaged was a Nike clothes store. Toronto Police Headquarters was also damaged.[31] Media vehicles of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and CTV Television Network were damaged and four Toronto Police Service cruisers were set ablaze and smashed in various locations.[32] American businesses, such as Starbucks, appeared to be the targets,[28]. Other damaged branches of corporations were Foot Locker, Sears Canada, McDonald's Canada, Tim Hortons, Urban Outfitters, Pizza Pizza, Subway, Swiss Chalet, and the Zanzibar Tavern, (a local strip club whose owner had invited leaders over[33]).[34][35][28] An American Apparel store was damaged; the mannequins on display were taken out and used to further damage nearby stores.[28] Branches of Scotiabank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and the Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) were also damaged.
A protester on top of a Toronto Police Service cruiser in flames
Toronto Police Headquarters, Toronto Eaton Centre, Sheraton Centre, Delta Chelsea and some buildings in Yonge-Dundas Square were put in lockdown mode and three people were confirmed by the Toronto EMS to be injured during the protests.[36] Hospitals along University Avenue, which includes Mount Sinai, Toronto General, Princess Margaret, and the Hospital for Sick Children, were put into lockdown mode by police. Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus and streetcar routes were halted in Downtown, as well as subway service between Bloor-Yonge and St. George.[37] GO Transit was requested by the ISU to avoid their trains from entering Union Station and turned the Danforth and Exhibition stations as termini for westbound and eastbound trains respectively,[38] but free shuttle bus service was made available to stranded passengers from those stations. The TTC also provided free shuttle bus services.[39] The escalating violence caused Dutch violinist André Rieu to make a last-minute cancellation of his concert at the Air Canada Centre.[40]
Sound cannons were not used during riot control, but tear gas, for the first time in the history of Toronto,[41] rubber bullets and pepper spray were used against a few individual protesters.[42][43] At the end of the day, Toronto Police Service chief Bill Blair announced that 130 people had been arrested.[44] Several media personnel, including a Canadian reporter for The Guardian, a producer of CTV, and two photographers for the National Post, were also arrested.[45][46][47] Widespread condemnations of the violent protests were made by Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and Mayor David Miller.[48] Miller, in an immediate press conference, said "all Torontonians should be outraged. They’re criminals who came to Toronto deliberately to break the law. They are not welcome in this city."[41][28] About the damages caused by black bloc protesters throughout Downtown, he claimed that calling the attackers as protesters was "not fair to the people who came to [legally] protest,"[28] and that they were in fact "criminals."[28] In a statement by Dimitri Soudas, spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he proclaimed, "Free speech is a principle of our democracy, but the thugs that prompted violence earlier today represent in no way, shape or form the Canadian way of life."[49]

[edit] June 27

Approximately 480 arrests were taken to the Eastern Avenue temporary holding centre during the previous day's violent and non-violent protests, after initially confirming numbers ranging from 32 to 130. While minor charges were to be released soon, serious charges were set to appear in a courthouse in North York (Finch and Weston)[50][51] After closed services throughout the night, the following morning saw the resumption of regular Toronto Transit Commission and GO Transit service, while G-20 leaders began their formal discussions at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Lockdowns in University Avenue hospitals and the Toronto Eaton Centre were also lifted.[52] More officers from the Ontario Provincial Police were deployed, doubling the number of total officers to 20,000.[53]
Four arrests were made during the twilight of June 27 after two security guards witnessed men emerging from a manhole on Queen Street West. The manholes were later welded.[54] Additional arrests, of about 100, were made during a raid by Toronto Police Service in the morning at the University of Toronto. Those arrested were individuals in possession of black clothing and "weapons of opportunity" such as bricks and sharpened stakes.[55] During the mid-morning, protesters marched from Jimmie Simpson Park on Queen Street West to the front of the Eastern Avenue holding centre where a "jail solidarity" bike rally and sit-in consisting of about 150 people occurred during the afternoon, urging the release of people arrested during the previous day.[56] Following several arrests in the rally, protesters began a sit-in interrupted by small muzzles of pepper spray and rubber bullets fired by police.[57][58] At least 224 arrests occurred by evening.[59]
Another large group assembled at the intersection of Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue, presumably to conduct a protest, but were immediately surrounded by heavily armed police forces.[60] Numerous bystanders and media personel were also contained in the crowd. Several arrests were made, including the arrests of several members of the media and that of another CTV cameraman who was briefly held then released; police later claimed that they had found weapons at the scene, and that they suspected the presence of more black bloc protesters within the crowd.[61][62][59] The blockade caused traffic diversions and streetcar service along Spadina Avenue to be stopped again. After several hours of detainment in the midst of record-breaking heavy rain, police released the remainder of the crowd during the night.

[edit] Aftermath

The Integrated Security Unit confirmed more than 900 people were arrested over the weekend in relation to the Toronto summit protests.[63] Smaller scale non-violent protests continued to occur the following day, June 28, during the afternoon and evening. Nearly 1000 protesters marched to the Toronto City Hall and Queen's Park to protest the treatment of arrested individuals at the Eastern Avenue holding centre and demanded the release of individuals still being detained, although police released several minor arrests earlier.[64] Large numbers of Toronto Police Service officers continued to patrol the demonstrations.[65] On June 29, a group of gay activists gathered outside a community centre where Toronto Police Service chief Bill Blair was scheduled to speak to demand his resignation for the treatment of women and homophobia within the detention centre.[66] Blair didn't show up for the (Gay) Pride Parade.

[edit] Policing tactics and arrests

Police said they were allowed to arrest anyone within 5 metres of the fence who would neither leave nor identify themselves. No such law existed.
A group of lawyers requested court injunctions against Toronto Police Service from using newly purchased Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD), also known as sound cannons, during protests.[67] Sound cannons have been used in previous summit protests and have the ability to produce sound at ear-piercing decibels, potentially causing hearing impairment. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice later finalized that officers can use sound cannons, with a few restrictions.[68]
It was reported by the Toronto Star that the Executive Council of Ontario had implemented a regulation under the provincial Public Works Protection Act on June 2 that allows the ISU to perform sweeping powers of arrest within a specific boundary during the summit;[69] the rule designating the fences as a public works and, as such, allowing any police or guard to arrest any individual failing or refusing to provide identification within five metres of the security zone. The regulation was requested by Toronto Police Service chief Bill Blair and debate in the legislature was not required. Further, Orders-in-Council are announced in the Ontario Gazette, but the next issue of that publication was scheduled for after the order expired on June 28, a week after the summit ended. The new law came to light after a York University post-graduate student, who claims to have been simply "exploring" the security zone but did not provide identification when confronted by police, was arrested on June 24 under the regulation.[70] He later vowed to file a lawsuit against the law once the summit ended.[71] The Cabinet later confirmed that the new laws were not "special powers" and that those who were believed to be arrested under the Public Works and Protection Act were in fact arrested under the Criminal Code of Canada.[72] The police chief later admitted that, despite media coverage, no such law ever existed.[73]
Individuals arrested during the protests, who claimed themselves to be only bystanders not taking part in protests, condemned the treatment they received from police at the Eastern Avenue holding centre.[74] According to testimonials given to the Toronto Star and La Presse by a few arrested individuals, which included university students, journalists, street medics, teachers, tourists, photographers, and a former mayoral candidate, "[individual] rights were violated" and that "the police brutality [was present]." The detention centre was described as "cold" with "barely any food or water," "no place in the cages to even sit," and that "detention centre was tantamount to torture." Other allegations included harrasment, lack of medical care, verbal abuse, and strip searching of females by male officers.[75][76][77] At one point, an official in plain-clothes reportedly told a detainee that the federal government had declared martial law.[78] Blair defended the conditions in the prison, citing the fact that every room in the centre was under video surveillance, and that to the best of the officer's abilities, the temporary occupants were provided with their rights.[79][80] Nevertheless some of the elements of classic authoritarian detention were present, albeit in embryonic forms.[78]
Amnesty International called for an official investigation in the police tactics used during the protests. The organization alleged police of lacking civil liberties and police brutality.[81] The Canadian Civil Liberties Association decried the arrests and alleged them to be done without "reasonable grounds to believe that everyone they detained had committed a crime."[82]
The Toronto Police used television to claim inappropriate actions of protesters, including displaying items they alleged to have been seized from protesters. However, when confronted, Chief Blair admitted that some of the items were unrelated to the G20 protests.[83]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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  2. ^ Kraus, Krystalline (2010-05-20). "Anarchist group claims responsibility for Tuesday's bank firebombing". rabble.ca. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/statica/2010/05/anarchist-group-claims-responsibility-tuesdays-bank-firebombing. Retrieved 2010-06-04. 
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  33. ^ http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/18/14441556.html A different kind of G summit
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Friday, July 9, 2010

G20-related police complaints on the rise!

G20-related police complaints on the riseSubmissions doubled last week, according to provincial review 
Staff Reporter Complaints filed against police for their actions during the G20 summit are mounting — but the number is still not as high as expected after a weekend in which more than 1,000 people were arrested.



Between June 27 and July 3, the provincial Office of the Independent Police Review Director received 164 complaints, compared with an average 80 per week, said spokeswoman Rosemary Parker.



The arm’s-length agency created last year to deal with complaints against police doesn’t have “enough resources” to determine what portion of those are related to the G20, Parker said.



However, some people who may be intimidated by the process of lodging a complaint with the provincial office are turning to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. It has received more than 75 complaints from people caught up in mass arrests.



During the arrests and detentions, some were beaten and injured, some treated badly and humiliated, said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the group.



“We are finding that people may be intimidated by the process, by the amount of information they need to provide to make a complaint, and some are worried that if they file a complaint the police will get mad at them,” said Des Rosiers. The group helps individuals file a complaint or get legal advice, she said.



Most complaints lodged with CCLA came after a meeting last Tuesday at Christie Pits Park, where people were urged to take action through legal avenues.



Natalie Logan, 21, was among those attending. She said she was arrested while taking photos at The Esplanade on Saturday evening and detained for 14 hours.



Logan plans to send her complaint to both the complaints office and the civil liberties group. She delayed doing so, she said, because she wanted to ensure her account was as neutral and accurate as possible. “I want to keep this issue upfront and not let it fizzle away with time.”



Des Rosiers believes official complaints are coming in slowly because many hope there will be a public inquiry.



“A public inquiry would have allowed them to be heard without having to individually shoulder the burden of making a complaint,” she said. “Now that there is some uncertainty around if it is ever going to come, people are starting to take the individual route.”



In the mean time, she urges people to speak out: “It’s important for people to stand up and denounce police misconduct, and filing a complaint is the best way to do so. It’s a service to your community to do so.”