Police trap G20 protesters at Queen and Spadina

What a bleak day in our city's history.

I agree completely!

i agree. after yesterday WHY would you be in that area? you would have to have rocks for brains. civil rights trampled? you put yourself in a volatile situation, stop being so naive.

Since when is it illegal to be walking through an area? Since when is it illegal to stand on the street? This is total bullshit. In case you don't know what a police state looks like, this was a great preview. Hopefully there will be some lawsuits so this doesn't happen again so readily.

we live in canada. we have the right to peaceful protest.

people who were walking in the area, completely separate from the protest, were arrested.

is this really what you want canada to look like?

I don't know what was going on or how this could have happened all of the sudden. It was such a quiet Sunday. I was playing kickball with mates down at Kensington Market. Left at 6:30 about when this whole thing started, but I took a different route home.(I usually take Queen street and head west). Lucky for me. Hope none of my friends got caught in the fiasco. Haven't been able to get a hold of them yet.

Do I like how things went down? No. Do I want my country to continue being like this. No.

But, when you know there is a crowd that might contain criminals police are looking for, I do my best to avoid getting into that situation.

I completely support peaceful protests but police needed to catch some criminals from yesterday and this was the only tactic they had.

Everyone knew the situation was tense after yesterday so you put yourself in that situation. Nobody forced you to walk there.

http://thestar.blogs.com/photoblog/2010/06/peaceful-beginings-violent-ending-as-g20-protests-grip-toronto.html

Take a look at some of the later photos, many of which were taken near this intersection. They look so peaceful....

Public Works Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.55. The Act allows the government to designate areas as “public works.” Once an area has been designated as a public work, police and appointed “guards” have special powers to secure the area. Police and appointed guards can:

require anyone approaching the zone to identify themselves (s. 3(a));
search, without a warrant, anyone who is approaching the zone (s. 3(b));
search, without a warrant, any cars whose driver or passenger attempts (or is suspected of having attempted) to enter the zone (s. 3(b));
use as much force as is necessary to prevent a person from entering the zone (s. 3(c));
arrest anyone who refuses to comply with their directions (s. 5(2)).

so oscar, the folks who live in the area who were walking their dog, or the two elderly tourists doing some last minute shopping are to blame?

I guess if you ever get mugged, remember it's your own fault for having money on you.

I know people who were caught in that, and I was watching it on TV...it did not go down as you suggested, and Jeff McGuire of Toronto Police just admitted at a press conference that no warning was given before the police cordoned off the intersection and detained everyone in it... His words were to the effect of.."I'm not going to apologize for those innocent bystanders who were caught in an indiscriminately cast net"

are you really quoting the secretive, illegal law that was passed without public knowledge?

Yes they are. We have known well in advance what is to happen on our streets and you can see evidence of it from the boarded up buildings. Most of the people who have been interviewed on tv even admitted to being there to photograph the protests, so they should very well be prepared to deal with any police action that would occur.

I cannot predict when someone will come along and mug me, but I can prevent it by choosing what neighborhoods I walk.

So you're saying that it's okay for protestors to break innocent shop windows, light police cruisers on fire, attack CBC media vans while the police watch them, but its not alright for police to arrest (without force) a blockade of people at the protest site so that they can sift through them for criminals?

Direct your anger at the idiotic protestors who just want to wreak havoc...you want peace, justice, law enforcement and security but you're biting the hand that feeds you. It's not like they tear-gassed you or threw you into jail overnight, I hope people grow up and stop whining about every little mosquito bite in their comfortable lives. So you got wet and were 'detained' for a few hours. Let's see how you feel when the store you own gets smashed for no reason for a "cause" completely unrelated, or YOUR car gets set on fire because it somehow proves that they're right.

The whole "why would you be down there?" idea is valid, to a point. It's why people like us are commenting about it on the internet, because we had the sense to avoid the area.

At the same time, you still can't just arrest people and detain them in this way. You just can't. Whether or not it's stupid for them to be there to begin with.

Not to mention, a lot of these people were just walking through, not part of any of it.

people live there. this isn't taking place in some unpopulated section of town.

as was already mentioned, this could have taken place in any part of the city. yes, queen street was where the black bloc were, but police were everywhere and could have at any time corralled and arrested people who were in the streets.

people live downtown, and because I live in canada I have a right to walk in my own streets. if you don't want that right, you have many countries you can choose to live instead.

2nd paragraph:

"Shortly after this pic was taken it started to poor rain."

Pour rain?

Awww... the poor rain. It had to touch those stupid protesters.

Jay, you are a douchebag. To say that because something happened there yesterday...and a totally different group...IN costume and organized gives the police the cause and evidence that the same would happen today in a group nothing to do with the anarchists is ludicrous. Also to say that tourists or workers should not have been in the area and it's their fault is completely moronic. You are a total tool. You sound like a 12 yr old.

laura, you have poor judgement for going to a restaurant in that part of town today. NOT the day for a pleasant sunday brunch.

Just like those hikers taking a stroll on the Iran-Iraq border who were bewildered as to why they got arrested, the vast majority of those detained tonight probably were either protesting or rubber necking. They should have know what was in store. They lucked out because thanks to the police there wasn't a riot. Would they have rather have been caught in a riot for 4 hours? But again maybe tey were hoping for that so they can get some cool pics up on their facebooks,

I wish they would have shot the puppies in that crowd. I'm glad that the arrested mostly the women in the crowd too, wouldn't want the detention center going under it's 70% women percentage.

nick, thousands of people live in the trinity/spadina area. less than 600 were arrested over a total of two days and spread out over different areas of demonstration. you have no argument.

@ryan l.
that pisses me off so much. out-of-town hooligans come here just to wreak havoc, and the world sees it as representative of toronto.

Because you have to have permit. It's that easy. Kind of like 1+1. I think you can figure it out.

Everybody had plenty of opportunity to leave northward.
They didn't.
They all wanted to hang the f around just to see what happened so they could maybe get a cool shot for their f'ing blog.
Here's the world's smallest violin playing just for you.

Were the Black Block so stupid that they rented rooms at U of T? Really? F'ing idiots.

The situation in the street is irrelevant. Mass arrests and detentions occurred. Our politicians suspended the constitution and the police were more than eager to be taken off the leash. If you can't see that, you are complicit in Canadian fascism.

It's not irrelevant; it's two different topics. You can't dismiss one by referencing the other. It's comparing apples and oranges.

Because protecting property is the last thing on the list for one of the riot police. That simply isn't their job. Their job was 1) Keep the g20 delegates safe and 2) keep the public safe and 3) protect property being a very, very distant third.

They did #1 extremely well Saturday. At one point the vandals were south of queen, near the fence and with little in the way of arrests or interference, the police forced protesters north and east, ending up towards college and yonge. It wasn't until they had pushed them far enough away from the fence that the police broke formation and started making arrests.

the situation on the street is 100% relevant. go move to the next best country then, if it's so horrible here. i hear north korea is nice this time of year.

It had nothing to do with justifying spending. Like Ryan L. said, their job was to protect the G20 delegates which meant keeping people away from the fence. Their job was to keep Canadian citizens alive while also keeping themselves alive. A few $25000 police cars are a small price to pay if the alternative means an officer getting killed or a civilian getting killed or critically injured. Deaths would look a lot worse to the world than vandalism and burning cars (as sad and haunting as those images are).
I imagine that a lot of people will wonder who will pay for the new police cars and for the stores that were vandalized. The federal government has said that they will not be paying for the damages but I would expect that over the next month or two there will be huge backlash from municipal and provincial government who will want to protect the store owners who did not ask for this Summit to take place in their city.

I was in it walkin on queen and all of a sudden every way was blocked none of this we had time to leave!!!!!
One min walking to a friends next min protest walking down queen behind me then next min cops everywhere circled us in and would not tell us anything for over 3 hs in the rainthen said were ALL geting arrested then 25-35 min later let us go up spadina
And yes it was freezing and wet but wrong place wrong time for me i guess
Some of the fun about livin in the city

I was in it walkin on queen and all of a sudden every way was blocked none of this we had time to leave!!!!!
One min walking to a friends next min protest walking down queen behind me then next min cops everywhere circled us in and would not tell us anything for over 3 hs in the rainthen said were ALL geting arrested then 25-35 min later let us go up spadina
And yes it was freezing and wet but wrong place wrong time for me i guess
Some of the fun about livin in the city

I was in it walkin on queen and all of a sudden every way was blocked none of this we had time to leave!!!!!
One min walking to a friends next min protest walking down queen behind me then next min cops everywhere circled us in and would not tell us anything for over 3 hs in the rainthen said were ALL geting arrested then 25-35 min later let us go up spadina
And yes it was freezing and wet but wrong place wrong time for me i guess
Some of the fun about livin in the city

I was in it walkin on queen and all of a sudden every way was blocked none of this we had time to leave!!!!!
One min walking to a friends next min protest walking down queen behind me then next min cops everywhere circled us in and would not tell us anything for over 3 hs in the rainthen said were ALL geting arrested then 25-35 min later let us go up spadina
And yes it was freezing and wet but wrong place wrong time for me i guess
Some of the fun about livin in the city

Listen idiot. As someone pointed out the area was not off limits and even streetcars were running. I was coming from the jazz fest at city hall and walking a routine route back to where i live. I observed the protest along with many other bystanders and passerby in the area and there was no violence or challenges to the police. This protest was so much smaller than anything yesterday and was dying down anyways. As mentioned if police wanted people to disperse then they should have used a megaphone and tell people to do so.

IMHO this was retaliation for incidences from Saturday and over reaction cuz there was critiscism for lack of police action yesterday. They say they were looking for Black Bloc members amongst the group. Bullshit. They could have used many undercover personnel to get into this crowd and remove any such people.

Belive me i was pro security and pro police and this incident has really shook me up. Heads will roll for this. Harper, McGuinty or someone in the police leadership.

8:45 p.m. Five observers from Canadian Civil Liberties Association arrested

Five observers from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have been arrested this weekend.

The four men and one woman are volunteers, trained to take notes to document both police and protesters’ behaviours at the demonstrations during the G20 Summit, said Nathalie Des Rosiers, the general counsel for the Association.

Des Rosiers said that the first two observers were arrested on Saturday night in front of the Novotel hotel on the Esplanade when a peaceful protest turned into a mass arrest. The other three were arrested late Sunday afternoon at the Queen St. W. and Spadina Ave. standoff.

“We are quite distressed by these arrests,” said Des Rosiers.

All were wearing their white uniform, including a white hat with CCLA on it. They also have cards identifying them as impartial onlookers, said Des Rosiers, who confirmed that the Integrated Security Unit is aware of the observers’ presence at the protests.

“We have no idea what they have been charged with,” said Des Rosiers. “And that’s the concern.”

One of the observers was released after being detained for 16 hours. “He is still in shock,” said Des Rosiers, who added that he described his experience as chaotic. He also told her that the cages at the detention centre were full of garbage.

Similar monitors were dispatched at the Vancouver Olympics to watch over the protests there – none of those observers were arrested, said Des Rosiers

To everyone that is saying that people in other countries have it much worse and that we should stop complaining or move to North Korea: Guess what? If we don't stand up for our rights and a little thing called democracy and freedom of speech, soon we might not have it so good.

Police are one of the worst things about Toronto.

Many people came to Canada to avoid the corruption of their corrupt home countries and torture of its citizen. I'm disillusioned as a Canadian. I'm not sure why Harper would condemn the actions of Iran against its protestors when it uses the same tactic of assaulting innocent people here in Canada. I'm sure the rulers of the world are proud of Canada after this weekend.

It doesn't take a detective to know the difference between regular people and an anarchist group who wears all black and cover's their faces. The black bloc was allowed to freely roam Saturday despite already knowledge of the group's existence and their tactics.

A cast net tactic should have been used Saturday against known vandals who were present and left to roam.

Someone should be held accountable for both of these day's mishaps.

Also where does the number a billion come from for security. All of these officers who have come in from other provinces were already on the pay roll and are performing their jobs just like any other day. Fancy dinners, limousines can't cost that much. Someone is 900 million dollars richer after this weekend.

I'm sure the leaders enjoyed the chaos of one day, and the trampling of civil liberties the other. The rich and powerful continue to rub it in the face of everyone and the regular person loses again. I'm sure the rulers of the world are proud of Canada today.

Peoples constitutional rights were violated....the fact that people shouldn't have been there is a horrible deffence....under this premise the police would have the right to detain and search everyone that walked into a high crime area....uh oh Jane and Finch had another shooting so let's arrest the whole block.....haha yeah we can raid every building in a 5 mile radius and make them sit in the rain for hours or cages without food or communication....IDIOTS!!!!

George Orwell is rolling in his grave.

You don't seem to understand. You're taking two items which happened in a chronological order then rationalizing the events of the first because of the existence of the second (which only exist as a response to the first).

It would be like if I punched you in the face and you retaliated by pushing me. When someone asks me why I punched you I wouldn't say "Oh, it's okay, because you pushed me back", because that would be just retarded. You cannot blame or rationalize something that happens in the past on something that happens in the future. It's a complete violation of logic.

Reasonable topics could include discussing things as they happen chronologically or each of the items as they happened independently. 1) "Did the police use too much force?" 2) "Was it okay for the protesters to break things?" 3) "Was it okay for the police to use that force given that the protesters broke things?" Those are your three options to have a discussion and not just sound like an anchor from Fox News.

Have you looked at what was discussed at the G20? That definitely wasn't on the agenda.

Things on the agenda at the G20 meeting:

-introducing taxes for banks so if there were to be financial collapse the money from that tax would be used to save the financial institution and government bailouts of taxpayer money wouldn't have to be used (pretty much the opposite of what you were claiming they were discussing)

-part of that would also include discussion on if there should be taxes for all banks in all countries and the answer was no, because countries like Canada weren't as affected by the crisis because their banks didn't make stupid investments and shouldn't be punished for something they didn't do.

-reducing debts to help make sure things like Greece's financial crisis don't happen again.

-fixing high unemployment

-reduce global poverty

-reducing subsidies for fossil fuel

And, of course, this is all listed here to point out the resounding success of the one day they spent together this time, at the cost of a billion dollars of (taxpayer) money, and how they actually came to an understanding on those issues at a cost of a billion dollars of (taxpayer) money, in order to, well, you know, uh, fix the world and all that, and that was what we got at the expense of a billion dollars of (taxpayer) money and . . . well, the suspension of our rights.

Oh wait. That didn't happen. Basically they just took a lot of pictures of each other, wove canoe seats and ate chocolate paddles, and we got our rights stomped on, a billion dollars torn from our pockets, and a major city shut down so the police could play with some toys they got with our money.

Good stuff. Good thing the reasonable, pragmatic people are here to tell us what the good guys are up to. Thanks.

Ryan, I think a fairer comparison would be if I punched you in the face and you pepper sprayed a completely different group of people who had nothing to do with me.

I think the truely distrubing part of this, is that people believe what they read in the star.

Interestingly I know Sam, and her facebook status said she was going to Queen's Park, presumably to be part of the protest. Then suddenly she was just going for dinner? This whole group's MO is "let's incite the police up until a point to try and make them act - then when they do, we'll prove how we're living in a police state." So let's get this straight - a day after people torching cop cars, smashing stores and sending dozens of police officers to hospital you're surprised when people give you a hard time as part of a "protest" group? The only thing that should be surprising is that they weren't charged.

Don't be fooled - these are activists pretending to just be innocent bystanders. They create a situation only to lament that same situation by squealing about some supposed rights violation and muttering something about democracy - get real. Kudos to the police - they have a hell of a lot more restraint than I would have.

Oh dear. . . I could kiss you. :)

If you build a fence, or a wall, and you line that wall with full riot geared goons, armed with clubs, shields and rubber bullets...that is a message, and that message is, “Know your place, nothing to see here, just go about and do some shopping and mind your own f**king business...this doesn't concern you, anyway.
Question us, and we will put you down."

I encourage you to read the provisions set forth in the Public WOrks Protection Act. I will make it easy for you to find, ok? Here's a link: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90p55_e.htm

Who should I be sticking up for instead? Those who insisted on not leaving the area, thus provoking the police?

PIGS WILL BE PIGS

It's an awful situation. However, I usually walk away when I see trouble happening. I don't like to get stuck in the thick of it. Natural protective instinct, I guess.
The police have never had to deal with the violence on such a massive scale - they did their best.
However, try protesting in a 3rd world country and then getting locked up. The jails are much worse and you might not get locked up overnight because you just might not make it to jail. They strike with their sticks to kill and then they shoot with real bullets to kill. Then, if you do by chance make it to jail, you'll probably be tortured or beaten first, a couple of times. Perhaps you'll be raped.
Jails in Canada, are more like staying at the Hilton if you compare to 3rd world jails. You could also say, that our cops are first class when you compare them to the thug cops in the 3rd world.
My conclusion about Saturday... I'm not sure what they were protesting about in the first place. and, I hardly heard anything about the discussions at the table of the G20 Summit.

Again, we tried to leave. They wouldn't let us. People were trying to avoid the area and the police herded them into the protest area to be trapped.
Before the riot police came, people were singing O Canada, there wasn't a shred of violence occurring. Then they surrounded us and started hitting their stupid little sticks and bosing us in closer and closer, it was obvious that they were trying to provoke us into violence so that they would have a reason to arrest someone. Even though we were packed in like sardines and confused, no one responded violently. Then they arrested everyone anyway.

:)

Weird, I walked right beside the fence sunday afternoon snapping cops and the fence and nothing happened.

To the person who told me I shouldn't have been out at all... what the hell? I was far away! Was I to hide in my house? Were people supposed to just run away?

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

I was down on the ground on queen street on Saturday during "the violence" The police abandoned their police cars in a crowd of less than 50 peacefull people, half an hour passed and 3 people began joking around and hitting the car, including a 12 year old boy. Half an hour after that and it was on fire and the crowd had grown to hundreds, and only after black plumes of smoke grew from the cars did the police bother showing up.

The police allowed the violence so that they could justify the billion dollar security expense and rouse up douchebags like you who buy into the image they created.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary.

We have the RIGHT to peaceful protest. We have the RIGHT to assembly.

Just because our safety is possibly in jeopardy is NOT a reason to violate human rights.

Those people had a right to be there. The streets belong to them as well. They paid and contribute to this community like you and I. But they defended their streets against a police invasion, frankly mostly made of officers that ALSO don't live in Toronto. You stayed at home and watched it unfold on TV. Your civil rights only remain intact because you stayed far away, and you didn't show any disagreement with the guys with the big guns. That's civil rights to you?? That's called fascism.

THANK YOU to those who showed the courage to go out there and take photos, videos and provide eyewitness accounts of what happened this weekend. If it weren't for you, we would be left with only state-biased media messages.

As someone who was actually present, I can tell you that I never heard any calls for dispersal or a single warning that if we did not leave we would be surrounded by hundreds of riot police and held out in the pouring rain for 4 hours.

I mean, I know watching it on television makes you pretty much an expert and everything, but maybe you should speak to some of those who actually experienced this.

This was a completely peaceful protest and we were corralled between lines of armed police like confused cattle. Soaked to the bone and numb from the cold, we weren't told what was going to happen to us or when we would be able to leave. It was terrifying, confusing, and 100% excessive. We have the right to demonstrate and I certainly feel like my rights as a citizen of this country have been violated and abused. I have lost a lot of trust and respect for the police.

But again, you DID watch it on TV, so maybe you should just disregard my comments.

People, this is not about freedom, this is about mob tactics and minimizing impact on people and property.

Black bloc tactic > infiltrate an innocent crowd > incite them > cause as much damage as you can > run away/change appearance > repeat.

Police tactic > try and spot dangerous elements in crowd > lock it down > identify and arrest criminals > eventually release the rest. (See London's May Day protest 2001 after huge damage in May Day 2000 riot.)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1307173.stm

The outcome of Sunday was much preferred over Saturday. Sorry a few of you got wet... exercise your freedom to choose to be anywhere else in Canada. My relatives have and are fighting for you to be able to do that... they are not fighting for thugs to have the right to destroy property in a city that we have all collectively paid for.

To the few on here that are angst filled and want to fight for a cause... join the peace corps and go do something positive. This weekend was embarrassing for humanity and justified the need for the occasional and temporary suspension of our rights and the $1.3Bn spend.

Going for a Starbucks now because I like good coffee with my freedom of choice.

Ok people end of discussion....Jon says it's ok for the police to temporarily suspend our rights....if anyone apposes these comments vindicating the police of all actions, you will all be arrested....that's right, any further comments against the polices actions will have you thrown in jail without trial or cause....I am being fully serious people so do not even try it!!!'

I can tell you were obviously nowhere near the protests this weekend because I have been watching the news and you are reflecting the message that the media has been peddling constantly.

How many times are they going to play clips of the same police car burning? Why is that their main focus, when the VAST majority of protestors were peaceful? Oh, I suppose because sensationalism sells and because a clip of 2 thousand unarmed civilians chanting "You are sexy, you are cute, take off your riot suit" isn't quite as jarring as cop cars burning and black shirted hooligans (the vast MINORITY) smashing windows.

And as for that, the only windows smashed were those of chain stores, whose insurance will easily cover the damage. I did not see or hear of any small businesses being attacked.

I am a professional filmmaker and a witness to all three of the protests this weekend. For the most part the demonstrations were very peaceful. Unfortunately, a very small group of hooligans on saturday decided to run amok and distract the public from the very important issues being raised by the protestors. As a result, the police response was overwhelmingly unprofessional and poorly coordinated. I was shoved and told not to film by the police. I watched hooligans destroy property while police herded peaceful demonstrators. I have shocking images of police forcibly detaining innocent people for over 4 hours without explanation. In fact there could be no adequate explanation as to why people were detained for over 4 hours while the police seemingly had no idea what to do with them. It was a mindless act. I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to most of the officers involved, who they themselves appeared bewildered as to why this was happening. The police chief must take full responsibility for this action and if he had a inch of decency and respect for the public he would step down in shame. This is Canada people not China or North Korea. These people had a right to peacefully demonstrate and express their views and that was clearly trampled yesterday. To all of the people criticizing the demonstrators, if you were stopped for speeding and the officer kept you standing outside of your car cuffed in the rain for four hours what would you do?

http://thestar.blogs.com/photoblog/

Look at those G20 photos, they're just so weird and almost unauthentic in a way.

has it occurred to any of you that the black bloc tactics deployed inevitably always results in the same strong response by police, thereby getting the result that fits their agenda perfectly? one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. get over it. the fact that no one was seriously hurt is a victory.

So much for freedom of assembly. I was shocked and angered by the sloppy job of police this weekend.

Saturday I witnessed police running from the mob and then Sunday they cracked down on peaceful protesters and people just watching.

As a Torontonian, I'm ashamed.

I agree 100%.

Completely sloppy job. If one were suspicious in nature you could almost believe they allowed the mayhem on Saturday to happen.

I was stuck in the midst of the blockade with hundreds of other onlookers, you can check out my first person report from the inside

http://news.aol.ca/ca/article/in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time-held-hostage-at-g20-protes/19533757

I was also in the security zone.

http://www.denmarblog.com/2010/06/inside-g20-detention-zone-queen-spadina.html

It sucked, but I knew what I was doing there.

As I said, I fully support protesters' constitutional right to peacefully protest, and I think there are serious questions that need to be answered about the police response this weekend. But as a local, you would have had to have been a serious moron to take a leisurely stroll down Queen and Spadina on Sunday afternoon. I mean this from a practical perspective. I have friends who live on Queen West too, and they all either stayed home or went out of town for the weekend. When I hear about Western students who thought it would be fun to tag along with the protest, or photographers who wanted to "see what it was all about", they get no sympathy from me. After seeing images all day Saturday of protesters clashing with police and getting beaten and arrested, how anyone could think they could casually observe the protests without becoming involved is completely beyond me. It takes a special kind of idiot to do their grocery shopping in the middle of the biggest showing of police force in Canadian history.

Here's what I take from this whole weekend. Exhaustion. Unrest. New and scary problems most police in Toronto and the surrounding areas may have been trained for - but never in reality experienced.

I'm not a cop, but I am a person. I can't imagine how scary it would be to have thousands of people trying to break down a line of a bunch of cops. And to have such an important job for one weekend - don't let anything happen to a world leader. Man the perimeter and hopefully no one, politician or protester, gets killed.

Because as crazy as this sounds, what do you think would happen if something did befall a world leader? Do you think Japan could let it go? What about the US? No country would forgive Canada. I'm sorry wouldn't cut it.

No one was killed or seriously injured in what was most certainly a war zone at times - and Toronto wasn't even as intense as London 2009. Everyone did the best they could under EXTREME situations.

This isn't something that is black and white.

Ha - now people were detained "barefoot for 8 hours." In two days they will have been detained for 12 hours, naked in a snow storm.

I was down there in the midst of things, and nothing happened to me because I wasn't being an asshole. These people are pretending to be to be innocent bystanders going for dinner while the reality is that they are all activists - in fact many, including the young lady interviewed here, are trained in a pseudo-academic discipline called "Social Justice and Peace Studies," at King's University College, an affiliate of UWO. And they claim to be just going for a walk? Apparently one of this program's tactics is lying to make the police look bad.

The only other I learned from this is that our protesters are WEAK! You'd think Canadian protesters would be sorta tough or something - wrong. "They kept us outside - in the RAIN!"

Lame!

There should be another peaceful protest on Canada Day. everyone bring there children and grand parents. A billion dollars wasted so balding middle aged white guys could play cops and robbers...ridiculous!

has anyone not even realized that if the cops really believed a dangerous, armed individual was at Queen&Spadina, what they actually did was put innocent people at risk by locking them in with someone who could cause those people harm?

I was defending the cops all week, until I saw what was going on at Queen&Spadina...talk about closing the barn door after the horse has gotten out...

Typical pro-police ass-kissing from yet another idiot benumbed by the mainstream media. Were you there, Jay? Or do you like to just brown-nose authority all of the time?

Fantomex: grammar buddy, GRAMMAR!

Ps wonderful, thoughtful and articulate response to what I said. I guess life is easier when you're stupid, can't spell and hate police for no reason. Enjoy your sad, angry, meaningless existence!

you are a liar candie.

Candie, OWO. I was there all three days shooting a documentary. As with most of the media, I was there to simply document what was transpiring.

Regardless of whether or not you thought people's "rights" were trampled or not, the police looked like bumbling idiots and bullies all three days. They made no attempt to target the small group of hooligans who were intent on being violent. On the contrary, from day 1, the police seemed intent on taking a very heavy handed approach with all the protesters. I personally was shoved on three different occasions, completely unprovoked. The police should have shown a lot more respect and maybe they would have garnered more support from the people. Yes, the police need to respect the people. It's a two way street.

Holding a crowd of people out in a torrential downpour was completely unprofessional. It was quite obvious they had no plan, otherwise they would have sorted through the crowd looking for specific people to arrest. It doesn't take four hours to do that, especially when you had hundreds of officers on site. In the end, it was the complete lack of coordination and direction from above that was the biggest issue. Somebody should be losing their job and his last name starts with Blair.

You either weren't there or you're lying. Every single person who was there can corroborate that we were never given any warning. The only times we were told to "move" was when we were already surrounded. Even the journalists who were stuck with us were reporting that they were given absolutely no warning.

I was there. I was in the front of the march. What did you think was going to happen when the riot squad showed up? Did you think they were going to escort you home.

The group was also welcomed to walk North on Spadina and chose not to. Instead they thought it would be better to watch a fool throw monopoly money and burn $5 dollar bills and scream "let us through". maybe next time you should spend less time chanting like a moron and more time listening to instructions.

I was there, in front, and didn't get arrested.

If you did...you're an idiot. Have you no brains? Or is it easier to blame your stupidity on the Police?

That situation is NOT Canada nor Canadian at all. It really looks more like some third-world country or some North Korea. It is so corrupt, unjust, uncivilized, barbaric and stupid. Those police members involved in this Queen/Spadina case should be found out and exploited, since this seems to be what they were aiming for. The videos of that should be sent to all immigrants or those hoping to immigrate here (tell them not to bother trying), as this is what happened.

In the wake of a number of tremedously insensitive comments, I'd just like to label the whole whack of you cowards.

Well, just the whole whack of you citizens who are more worried about those decoy cars (The police actually told the CBC they had left the cars there as 'decoys') and a couple of storefronts that are being completely bailed out by more of your tax dollars right now, than you are about your fellow citizens and their Charter rights.

Yes, the Black Blocs practice violent protest (Black Bloc is a *tactic*, not a group, you idiots! Of course they're not organized, they came out individually to engage in a TACTIC) . No, nobody is 'glossing over' that, it's just not central to what this issue is about, for Chrissake. When I write an article about Space Travel, I don't tend to discuss the monkeys more than the humans. It's not the effing point. I think you'll find that the vast majority of activists don't let those stupid kids bother them, because there's little to nothing they can do about them. When I catch one at it, I tend to tell him how stupid I think his idea of vandalism as radicalization is. I've been threatened by them more than once.

Who sanctions their behaviour? Well, clearly the police do, because they gave them a few storefronts and police cars to play with (and even helped them along by joining in, undercover, as Agents Provocateur), and then you cowards, who don't go to these things and obviously don't know SHIT about what happens at them, did just what your part of the Miami Model is; you came in here like a bunch of gutless 'useful idiots' and spewed your weak cowardly pablum all over the place.

Let me point something out to you: The anarchists, obnoxious as they are, smashed up some property. That is against the law, making them criminals who should be prosecuted to its full extent. In order not to be accused of 'glossing over,' you intellectual midgets, I will repeat it in caps: THEY ARE CRIMINALS AND SHOULD BE ARRESTED AND TRIED. Guess what? They arrested 900 people, and very, very few, if any, of the people they arrested were involved in any vandalism. The police DID NOT ARREST THEM. THEY STOOD BY AND WATCHED THEM, JOINING IN AS PROVOCATEURS, AND ABANDONED CARS AND STOREFRONTS TO THEM, and best of all, YOU BOUGHT IT.

Then, after spending a billion dollars of YOUR MONEY (when the UK had one of these in London last year and spent under 30 million), they bailed out the damaged property owners, as they had intended to all along. Not only are you moral cowards (because as long, I guess, as you aren't exercising your rights, you apparently don't need them), you're also the biggest bunch of gullible suckers I've ever seen.

So we've established that the Black Blocs, *criminals that they are*, didn't physically hurt *anyone*, but neither did they get held to account by the authorities you are actually giving a blank cheque for abuse to. Furthermore, we've established that there were about 150 of them, at the most (with probably 15 or 20 active at any time) in a crowd that may have been as large as SIXTY THOUSAND that was acting COMPLETELY PEACEFULLY.

The police, on the other hand, beat up a blind man and an old guy, punched reporters, hospitalized people, ran over somebody with a horse (hospitalizing her), violated the charter rights of thousands of Canadians, and sexually assaulted and verbally abused innocent people in a detention centre made up of DOG CAGES, all for an actual billion dollars of your own misappropriated money, DURING AN ECONOMIC CRISIS, to protect people who just further misappropriated billions of dollars of your own money, and sat calmly inside that cordon weaving canoe seats and eating chocolate paddles, taking pictures of each other with each other's wives.

I strongly suggest that you A: grow a pair of balls, and B: apply for a degree in Rocket Science, you cowards.

"in my book if you're letting those vandals and plotters walk amongst you then you share the same fate as them."

Whoa, horsey. You walk around with criminals all around you and, if you're in a crowd in a city, 'among' you all the time. You don't know who they are. That's what police have to contend with every day. IT'S THEIR JOB to make that distinction. Much as you might think so, nothing changed the other day. The police are still required to arrest people who have committed crimes or that they have a reasonable, provable suspicion may imminently commit one. They don't have the liberty, ever, to apply what you just did. I don't care about your book, that's not how this country works. The police don't go around picking up groups of people and sifting them for criminals. I can at any time refuse to identify myself to them, refuse to allow them to search me, or even touch me, and I can refuse to answer their questions all I want. In fact, if I question them, they are required to answer certain things, and I AM NOT. That's how it works, unless they either possess a warrant, or can prove, afterward, in a court of law, that I was doing something dangerous and illegal. They're my servants, and yours, and they exist to protect us, and according to words EXPLICITLY written in the Charter, they are ESPECIALLY REQUIRED to protect us when we are exercising rights ensconced there.

Does that make it harder for them to do a difficult job? Yes. It makes it hard, but that's why it has to be written in the freaking Charter! Because violating fundamental rights does actually make it easier to catch crooks--the problem is, nobody wants to live like that (Except the bunch of you, apparently).

Anyone who suppors arbitrary and illegal detention of innocent and peaceful citizens in this scenario is going to get what he or she is promoting --loss of all freedoms. You will end up with the same rights as livestock. It begins with depriving innocent people of medical care, washrooms, water, food and holding them in the pouring rain for hours. It will not stop there!

The G20 are merely puppets of the trillionnaires who actually rule covertly. They held the summit in Toronto so that they could flex some muscle. Their agenda is to wipe out the middle class and that includes millionnaires. Millionnaires are only middle class.

The fact is that these Bilderberg group rulers are working effectively to destroy anything that is protective of the individual: nationalism, family, religion, first world life. They promote anything that is destructive. Do an internet search and do not jump to the conclusion that all regimes care about those they rule.


How could our demographic shift under Trudeau have taken place if this were really a democracy. Would Canadians have chosen to stop having immigrants from Europe and instead favour those of the third world. The policy of welcoming masses of immigrants used to repressive regimes and poverty ruins nationalism and replaces our first world population with third world. If our rights and freedoms are eroded, these newcomers may not notice or care to take a stand. And, of course, we have a veritable tower of babble of languages so that people cannot understand what is going on, anyway and do not tend to participate as they might if they had mastery of our languages. I have nothing whatever against other cultures and races, but they will need to care about rights and freedoms and standard of living if we are to preserve these.

People? <i>PEOPLE</i>? The 'people' who have been saying these things are <i>sheeple</i>, <i>not</i> people. People understand things, and try to think for themselves, like you, Sonia, and you, Sigma. The 'people' who made the comments they made don't deserve to be called people at all, but are what Sigma called them. and are what I've called them.

First off, no one should be deprived of their rights of mobility. All of the idiots who claim, one should've stayed home and blah blah blah, should shut it. Second, this was a spectacle on the part of the police and the government, a show of force, I.E. a tactic, meant to intimidate the crowd with the use of "terror". On that day, the protesters came face to face with an army detail of full body armoured personnel equipped with guns, tanks, cavalry and helicopters. Do you understand the breadth of such an undertaking on the part of our police forces vis a vis average joe six pack protesters? The police knew that their actions would be broadcast and that they'd wanted to become portrayed as a tough guy in the media. And to the idiot with a grade 8 level education, who'd made mention of the fact that Canada is such a great country and that we should stop whining... These are all signs of things to come. Third, some idiot made mention of the fact that the police had acted in accordance of law unless their actions be brought into question before a court of law. Its about time that the police stop touting the law they are sworn to defend. Why aren't they being punished? They are always testing the waters by bullying and abusing the rights of uneducated or frightened members of the electorate. No one wants a conviction, no one wants to splurge thousands on a lawyer. This is wherein lies their power.

Folks, what the police did at Queen & Spadina was to detain people without a warrant and without probable cause. The McGuinty law covered only activity around the fencing down at the conference site.

It was blatantly illegal, but do you really think anything anybody says here will result in any change? The police chief & the politicians have said they don't care on the issue and they intend to stonewall.

The only thing that will get results is if people detained illegally launch lawsuits. Once you have a lawsuit in place you can start subpoenaing police records and start deposing officers. Being hauled into court is the only thing that will get the police & politicians to pay attention.

Of course, that takes money, or needs pro-bono legal help, and the truism that justice is only for the wealthy comes to the fore.

But what about it? Any law students reading this- would you help out someone who was detained illegally?

Sigma - you claim:
"The police, on the other hand, beat up a blind man and an old guy, punched reporters, hospitalized people, ran over somebody with a horse (hospitalizing her), violated the charter rights of thousands of Canadians, and sexually assaulted and verbally abused innocent people in a detention centre made up of DOG CAGES"
Do you have any names for these people - any posts by them - any uncut and complete videos of their abuse? If so please post that information.
"(The police actually told the CBC they had left the cars there as 'decoys')" - the CBC is a corporation - do you have the name of the person who received this information for the CBC?
Re the Black Clad Anarchists you say "Who sanctions their behaviour? Well, clearly the police do, because they gave them a few storefronts and police cars to play with (and even helped them along by joining in, undercover, as Agents Provocateur)
DID NOT ARREST THEM. THEY STOOD BY AND WATCHED THEM, JOINING IN AS PROVOCATEURS, AND ABANDONED CARS AND STOREFRONTS TO THEM"
Do you have any proof of this - maybe a storeowner who was given a nice bit of cash to have his front window broken. Maybe the sister of a cop who was actually dressed in black and doing violence? Anybody?
I am searching for people who were truly and purposefully hard done by through no fault or stupidity of their own.
If this is such a Police State I guess you will soon be locked up and sent to god knows where for how long? I think the cops could trace your email address pretty easily if they were so inclined? Frankly I am more worried about mini anarchists taking over our city than I am about the police taking over. I am not a big fan of the police but in this case I think they did a pretty good job. I couldn't have taken a lot of shit I watched them take. Now a lot more of my tax dollars will be spent investigating a group of people who wanted their 15 minutes of fame and another group who were to dumb to stay home and e-mail politicians which would have made a real difference. BTW do you pay taxes?
I take it all back if you can supply me with names and videos to prove me wrong.

The police had the north blocked too, who are you trying to fool, with these lies?

Telling stories about imaginary soldiers, then telling others to join the peace corps, while you sit in your moms basement on your 350 pound ass..... is cowardly at best.

great point KL! as long as there are people being murdered elsewhere we should all just shut up and enjoy what we have.

A billion spent beating up innocent tax payers is stupid. The cops made a ton of tax payer cash on overtime. Yet even as their masters lined their pockets with borrowed money I knew they would have to wake up to reality a year later when contracts and budgets came up. Lack of fiscal responsibility = layoffs. Please enjoy responsibly. Thank-you.