Civil liberties march denounces police overreach at Toronto G20
TORONTO NEWS / Crowd asserts right to peaceful assembly, free speech
Marcus McCann / Toronto / Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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About 2,000 people gathered in front of the police station on College St to protest police overreach during the G20. Among them were Naomi Klein, Judy Rebick and scores of people who were detained over the weekend, most eventually released without charge.

After a round of speeches yelled through a megaphone (a more sophisticated sound system appeared to be on the fritz), protesters marched down College to University, then down Queen St and through the Toronto Jazz Festival to City Hall. From there, the march retraced its steps, ending at Queen's Park.

There was an early report that police had detained someone in College Park, sparking fears of a repeat of the weekend: random searches, demands for ID and detainment without charge.


2,000 people gathered on College St between Yonge and Bay.



Toronto police ditched riot gear in favour of bike helmets.



Klein urged police to let the remaining detainees go.



Crowds shouted, among other things, "Peaceful protest!" at the police line.



Rebick said she's been peacefully protesting for 40 years.



"The best revenge is at the polls. Vote."



The march snaked past the Canadian Opera Company on Queen.



"Peace fail."



The march ended at Queen's Park, at least as strong as it had started. Cyclists were encouraged to head over to the Eastern Ave Detention Centre, where up to 200 people were still being held.


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Reader Comments


 
polce injustice
"An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -MLK
Mark, toronto ontario
06/29/10 2:47 PM EST
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Urr, I mean POLICE
I think I need glasses!
Mark, toronto ontario
06/29/10 2:51 PM EST
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More of ... Queers Against Everything
Many thanks to the security forces who kept us safe from the G20 terrorists over the weekend. And to all LGBT, sensible and otherwise -- have a great Pride.
TuBu, toronto ontario
06/29/10 9:56 PM EST
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potest
You did not protest against those ones burning cars and breaking windows. I guess in your world they have right to do that right. Let's demolished city and called on Charter to protect us, as we have right to demolish city, how dare to take that right away from us. Just to clarify, which section of Charter gives you right to burn cars and demolish city???? if you find one get back to me
B, Vanier ontario
06/29/10 9:59 PM EST
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Charter of Rights is a Charter of Rights
The fact that a small number of the many thousands of folks protesting broke laws (damaged property) does not give the police the right to take the rights of many thousands. If you spent the weekend watching tv I am sure you could be convinced that the city was under siege by rogue 'anarchists' all weekend. In fact that was over very quickly but the city remained under siege by out of contol police. As was evident if you were actully anywhere near the Riot police. I was downtown, not as an anarchist or even as a protestor, and witnessed violence of unbelievable scale from heavily armed cops inflicted on peaceful protestors wearing jeans and t-shirts. And believe me the police were no friends to the LGBTQ community this weekend - reports of homophobic and sexualized violence is wide spread among those released (most without charges - because they hadn't done any thing wrong) from the temporary prision. Police randomly beat and arrested journalists, civil libirties observers, peaceful protestors, and people passing by... The only people they did seem to arrest were the folks smashing the windows and burning cars. As a side note, I certainly don't agree with the damaging of property that happened, but that should lead to the arrest and charging as is usual in the criminal justice system - not by the removing of constitutionally protected rights for either those folks or the rest of people who happened to live, work, shop, or voice their opinion in downtown Toronto this weekend. Documentation of this is already coming out of many reliable sources such as the CCLA ( http://ccla.org/2010/06/29/ccla-releases-a-preliminary-report-of-observations-during-the-g20-summit/)
Tired of this, Toronto Ontario
06/30/10 12:04 AM EST
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Pride 2010
If you feel strongly about LGBT civil rights, watch OURsceneTV's exclusive Pride 2010 coverage! http://www.ourscenetv.com/pride2010
OSTV, NYC New York
06/30/10 12:52 PM EST
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