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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
“they were detaining me until I told them where I was staying in Toronto”
by: Anonymous
source
Water is a basic human right; not a weapon On Tuesday, June 22nd, days before the G8 or G20 summits had started, or any “black bloc” tactics had been used in Toronto, I decided to head to the Queer Theme Day of Resistance’s Kiss-In. As the event was based around kissing, an action so instinctively tied to love and peace, I hardly thought I should expect anything too confrontational. Arriving at the corner of Bay and Queen proved otherwise, as a line of police officers on bicycles held the street. Nevertheless, I decided to continue down Queen Street to join my friends at the rally. While walking along the sidewalk, a police officer on a bike suddenly swung dangerously close in front of me, and before I could react, at least two other officers were tackling me to the ground from behind. They forced my head into the ground, and ripped my arms behind my back, forcing me into handcuffs. A previous cut on my chin was opened in the process, but the officers cared little about my pleading to be gentle, as blood spread on my face. They also tossed away books I had picked up earlier from the University of Toronto — suggesting they realize education is one of the most powerful weapons we have against them. As they forced me to my feet and dragged me into a stairway leading underground, I heard the powerful chanting of my friends behind me: “LET HIM GO”… I love you all for that. They brought me down and sat me on a stairwell to question me, doing a pat-down search and removing everything from my pockets. I had a water bottle slung around my shoulder, hanging underneath my unzipped hoodie, clearly visible what it was, but they claimed that this was probable grounds to arrest me for possession of a weapon. They also noted that when they approached me, I reached for said water bottle, which they believed meant I was reaching for whatever weapon they believed me to be carrying. I still fail to understand when in the process of being forced to the ground, having my hands forced behind my back, and being placed in handcuffs, I could possibly have reached for my water bottle. I asked if I was under arrest, and they said that I was, but failed to notify me of my rights, and I forgot the first rule: to ask for a lawyer and not say anything. I answered their questions about where I was from, how old I was, etc. though refused to give information about what I was doing or who I was involved with. When I insisted on speaking to a lawyer, one officer laughed at me, asked me how old I was, then said I watched too much TV, too much Matlock, which I found ironic as he should have assumed from my age that Matlock was quite a bit before my time. After further questioning and intimidation tactics, including teasing that I was about to cry, a tactic I remember being used by elementary school bullies, they brought me underground, through the Queen Subway station (I believe), and out at a different location. There, they released me without charges, returning my possessions, including the school books they had previously thrown away, though failing to return my bank card which they had taken, and failing to give me a chance to clean myself at all, instead letting me loose on streets of a city I do not live in, disoriented, with blood down the side of my face. I walked away, but soon realized my bank card was missing, so returned to the officers to ask for it. They did not have it, and searched alongside me, where I had been questioned, to see if it was there. It was not. I decided to try to find an open bank to put a freeze on my card, though that was impossible given how the downtown core has been shut down. Given my appearance at the time, I presume I would be considered too unsavoury to access a bank if one had been open anyway. As I continued this search further and further away, a group of four police officers on bicycles stopped to question me. I explained my situation, that I was looking for a bank, and had just been arrested and released without charges, and they continued to question me, putting particular emphasis on where I was staying in Toronto. I refused to tell them, but did tell them that I would be returning home (not in Toronto), as soon as I had put a freeze on my bank card. They patted me, searched my pockets, though did not handcuff me. I asked if I was under arrest, and they told me that I wasn’t, but that they remembered me from Monday’s march, which they reaffirmed to me was peaceful, but told me that because of my participation there, they were detaining me until I told them where I was staying in Toronto. After quite awhile of holding me and questioning me, they decided they knew where I was staying; believing there was a group of violent anarchists staying in a church basement somewhere. One officer also made threats of ratting me out to this cell of anarchists, saying I sold them out, and that I should get out of town because they (the police) wouldn’t even need to hurt me after these “anarchists” found out about what I’d done. The same officer also warned me about returning for any other actions, saying he knew my face now (I do have visible stitches in my face, so am noticeable) and that if he saw me again, he would take pleasure in hurting me, making the cut on my chin just get bigger and bigger, and making up whatever charges he wanted against me. In a sense, they won. I left town. I am not in Toronto; however, it was more that having had this contact with the police, and having visible injuries/identifying features, I could be targeted by the same police if they saw me, I did not want to put anyone I am associated with at risk.