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"Catch & Release"
by Nathan Adler
7/16/2010 12:11:00 PM
Jail experience harrowing
by Skylar Radojkovic, Owen Sound Sun Times
7/13/2010
Bad News at Bancroft Avenue
by Dylan C. Robertson
7/13/2010
Arrested And Jailed In Toronto – A G20 Protestor’s Firsthand Account
by Sarah Pruyn
7/7/2010
Of my illegal detention (with 899 others) and the G20 protests
by Ben Powless, Organizer, Defenders of the Land
7/5/2010
Independent Journalist, Daniel Adam MacIsaac
by Ali Mustafa
7/5/2010
Ashamed
by Tracey Cox
7/3/2010
"The story of my unjust arrest" - Lacy MacAuley
by Lacy MacAuley
7/1/2010 10:32:00 PM
Without provocation, they attacked our peaceful protest”
by Adrian Naylor
7/1/2010
One woman held by police 'didn't even know what the G20 was'
by Alison Hendersen
7/1/2010
“They were going to release us until this one cop came and saw that we had the legal number written on our arms. She then said that we were elegible for arrest.”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“several police officers lining the west side of the street had removed their names and badge numbers”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“they were detaining me until I told them where I was staying in Toronto”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“They demanded identification and searches of bags and persons, without cause, and under the threat of physical violence, detention and legal action”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“I was beat roughly 20 times with batons”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“blood poured out of his head, down his face and on to my friends jacket, dripping on my pants”
by Bethany Horne
7/1/2010
Queen & John Eyewitness Report
by Emily B.
7/1/2010
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by James
7/1/2010
“I cannot stress this enough: it was a completely peaceful protest. People were being arrested in a brutal, violent, and seemingly random way.”
by Johanna Lewis
7/1/2010
“I was there as a monitor for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. . . like many others, I was never given an opportunity to remove myself from the intersection”
by Julia Croome
7/1/2010
“It is important to note the horrid conditions in the jail. The cells, which were over-glorified dog cages, were often over-crowded.”
by Maximilian Pacheco
7/1/2010
“I have been having nightmares”
by Natasha Borris
7/1/2010
“At no time during the detention was anyone in my cage allowed to speak with a lawyer”
by Philip Boyle
7/1/2010
“police said they had the right to conduct these searches”
by Robert Bertuzzi
7/1/2010
what happened last night at queen and spadina g20
by Rodrigo Bravo
7/1/2010
Violence on Toronto streets for G20
by Ryan Bolton
7/1/2010
“Five officers grabbed me, hit me repeatedly with batons and fists, threw me to the concrete, crushed knees into my cheek bone, back and thighs, dragged me on the pavement and put handcuffs on me”.
by Seamus Wolfe
7/1/2010
“I couldn’t sleep last night. I took the day off work, I’m so upset”
by Sherry B. Good
7/1/2010
“I saw many injured detainees with arms in slings and faces bruised and swollen being led quickly with their ankles chained”
by Taiva Tegler
7/1/2010
“In a matter of seconds, without warning, we were trapped. Our questions were met with blank stares, our panic with more pushing, complaints with arrest”
by Terra Dafoe
7/1/2010
“we were staging a peaceful protest when riot police surrounded us on all sides and would not let us leave”
by Trevor Grant
7/1/2010
Of a million G20 stories in this taken city, this was mine
If anything, there was less black being worn on Queen than usual
by Tabatha Southey
7/1/2010
Personal Experience
by Greg Stones
7/1/2010
'Unlawful Assembly'
by Syl Grady
7/1/2010
untitled
by Karen Nickel
7/1/2010
untitled
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
Mourning Canadian democracy
by Roberta McQuade
7/1/2010
untitled
by Kiel Widmeyer
7/1/2010
In His Own Words (Interview Transcript)
by Jesse Rosenfeld
7/1/2010
untitled
by Neil Stanton
7/1/2010
Singer Marc Mysterio caught in Toronto riots during video shoot
by Marc Mysterio
7/1/2010
Thorold, Ontario Amputee Has His Artificial Leg Ripped Off By Police And Is Slammed In Makeshift Cell During G20 Summit – At Least One Ontario MPP Calls The Whole Episode “Shocking”
by John Pruyn
7/1/2010
How I Got Arrested and Abused at the G20 in Toronto, Canada
by Tommy Taylor
note: photos/videos are not included in this but all text is original. To read this story with images, please click on 'Source' above
7/1/2010
Man and family being picked up from work brutality attacked by police
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
and this time, it won't be me.
by A Canadian Serviceman
7/1/2010
Fear and mayhem in Toronto
by Lawrence McCurry
7/1/2010
My Experience
by Jesse Miller
7/1/2010
Inside Torontanamo
by Matt Shultz
7/1/2010
Beaten by police before being arrested
by Andrew Stakhov
7/1/2010
Don't breathe or I'll kill you
by Facebook User: Drew Ferguson
7/1/2010
“I was held for 21 hours for peacefully protesting.”
by Marc Gleeson
6/30/2010
Thugs take over Queen's Park
by Matthew Webb
6/29/2010 10:08:00 AM
How I Ended Up In A G20 Jail
by Michael Talbot
6/29/2010
Union Station Washroom
by Andrei Poliakov
6/28/2010 5:30:00 PM
I was just harassed by Toronto Police
by Mike Brock, Western Standard
6/28/2010
Sonia's Story
by Sonia Zawitkowski
6/27/2010
Luke's Story
by Luke Keeler
6/27/2010
Someone call 911!
by Eda Martinovic
6/27/2010
Selwyn arrested at G20 protest
by Selwyn Firth, Mayoral Candidate
6/27/2010
Civil Rights, Interrupted: A G20 Arrest
by Mark Donald
6/26/2010
My Story - Help ID This Criminal!
by Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy
6/26/2010
Pre-G20 Atrocities
by Sean Salvati
6/23/2010
Eye Witness Accounts
Civil Rights, Interrupted: A G20 Arrest
by: Mark Donald
source
Toronto police failed to protect and uphold the civic duty they share with protesters: preserving a free and democratic society.
I was oddly calm when it became clear I was being arrested by the Toronto Police Service. As a human rights monitor for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association during the G20 summit, I had been told during training that arrest was a possibility, and moreover, that it would be “the worst experience of your life.” Looking back on the night of June 26, it is a valid assertion; not because of the challenges I encountered, but for the stark questions that night raised about the strength of democracy in this nation.
My partner John and I had been sent out with little knowledge of what was going on in the downtown core. We were effectively aimless, monitoring the police presence on street corners and intersections, hoping to bump into a demonstration or protest that was worth observing. As we moved down Yonge Street, the dull sound of yelling got louder. We eventually came upon a group of protestors making their way down Victoria Street and immediately knew that we had to follow them. This was an unsanctioned protest, but it was also our job.
The crowd turned onto the Esplanade and halted in front of the Novotel hotel, where the protesters were loud but focused, obviously angry but clearly restrained. They were, in short, engaged in a protest that would have made Gandhi proud.
And yet to the authorities, the protesters peaceful exercise of their democratic rights was intolerable. Without warning, two detachments of Calgary riot police swept in; first from the east, then from the west. My partner and I, along with onlookers, passersby, and protesters, were now hemmed in. In fact, the only communication that the crowd had with police was when they announced that if we promised not to fight back, we would all be arrested peacefully. When I tried to explain to one of the officers that I was an impartial observer with documentation and that many of the others around me were not involved with protesters, he gruffly barked, “Don’t care.” That sentiment was to become a theme.
The arrest, however, paled in comparison to incarceration at the delightful Eastern Avenue detention facility. The authorities’ unpreparedness for managing the mass arrests they themselves had ruthlessly enacted was evident from the moment we arrived. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that all detainees are entitled to “prompt” communication with counsel. Over 16 hours of imprisonment, none of the 13 or so people in my cell was granted a phone call at all, and neither was anyone from the cells nearby. Water rations were meager, in some cases undrinkable, and delivered with such delay that it was tantamount to denial.
Most shocking of the entire experience was when a young diabetic in my cell did not receive proper medical treatment, at first because police could not find his insulin amongst his possessions, and then because the facility’s doctor tried to inject him with the wrong variety of insulin. When this young man informed the “doctor” of this fact, he was chided for being “paranoid” and “manipulative.” Before he left to see the doctor, another inmate shook the sick man’s hand and told him he hoped that they would never meet again. But they would, as he was returned to his cell about an hour later, still without his necessary insulin shot. I was released soon after, and I’m unsure what became of the young man.
Equally damning is that when the many failings of the facility became clear, not once did any official appear to make a better effort to rectify the manifold problems that were present. More often than not, I saw officers milling around, laughing and making the most of their overtime pay. Those who are arrested for their beliefs should expect a certain amount of hardship, but in a country like Canada, with its tradition of democracy and the rule of law, treatment by the police should meet a basic standard. During my detention, police conduct can be described at best as gross negligence and at worst as outright cruelty. Much like during my arrest, it was hard to shake the feeling that the police were contemptuous of me and my cellmates – that they simply didn’t care or had given up caring long ago. I want to respect police, but their actions, along with their lies, half-truths, and misinformation after the fact, are making such sentiments difficult.
I am writing this account on the morning of July 1 – Canada Day. I do it not in an effort to smear or merely embarrass the police services, but to remind them as forcefully as I can that both they and I must seek the same goals – the preservation of a free and democratic society. It is surely the job of the police to keep us safe. But, we must remind ourselves that the founding principles of this nation were not simply granted by the beneficent state; they were expanded, renewed, and agitated for by the actions of ordinary people. The sooner we as Canadians remind ourselves of this great truth, the sooner will stop regarding peaceful protesters as prospective terrorists, and the sooner both civilians and police will see themselves as what they really are: partners in the ongoing project that is our nation.
I refuse to give up in this effort, and I implore the authorities not to do so either.
Happy Canada Day.