statism watch

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. – Howard Zinn

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CBC News
July 1, 2010

More than 2,000 people demonstrated in Toronto and Montreal on Thursday against the arrests of nearly 1,000 protesters during last weekend’s G20 summit in Toronto.

About 1,000 protesters gathered at the Ontario legislature before marching south on University Avenue and then along a route that look them past Toronto police headquarters and back to Queen’s Park.

Groups including Canadians Advocating Public Participation called for an independent public inquiry into the way security was handled during the recent summit. Some also called for the resignation of Toronto police Chief Bill Blair.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has described the arrests as unprecedented, disproportionate, arbitrary and excessive.

“The CCLA is planning to help people who are seeking compensation to [initiate] a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Ontario,” Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the association, told the Toronto Star. “We have a couple of plaintiffs.”

Protesting police ‘intimidation’

In Montreal, more than 1,000 people, including women’s rights groups, union representatives and a provincial politician, marched to protest what happened in Toronto.

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Please consider supporting the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. They have a breakdown of the charges laid (or lack thereof) against the 1,105 people arrested here.

Related: Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Toronto Police Lied: No five-metre rule existed in G20 security fence law | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Jennifer Yang, Toronto Star
June 30, 2010

Overwhelmed with calls, Civil Liberties Association is working on suing police forces

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it is considering a joint lawsuit against the Toronto police and other police forces responsible for the G20 mass arrests.

“The CCLA is planning to help people who are seeking compensation to (initiate) a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Ontario,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the CCLA. “We have a couple of plaintiffs.”

More than 1,000 arrests were made relating to the G20 summit and multiple reports have emerged alleging peaceful demonstrators or even bystanders were caught up in the mass arrests – most notably, at the Esplanade’s Novotel Hotel on Saturday, where demonstrators tried to stage a sit-in, or at Queen St. and Spadina Ave., where a large crowd was boxed in and detained for several hours in the rain.

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This just keeps getting better, doesn’t it? You can read the nauseatingly breathless story on the unveiling of the ‘weapons cache’ here. They even displayed the homeless camper’s crossbow and chainsaw, even though they admitted weeks ago that guy had nothing to do with the G20. One can only speculate where Blair and his force may have produced the machetes from.

Related: Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Toronto Police Lied: No five-metre rule existed in G20 security fence law | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Black Bloc tactics sparked Saturday G20 vandalism, confrontation | G20 protesters clash with Vancouver police | ‘Anarchists’ leave trail of destruction, peaceful 3hr march forgotten | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | Naomi Klein and 500 marchers crash party at tent city | Protesters flood the streets on first day of Toronto G20 summit | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | Huntsville G8: Military, locked down security, few protesters | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | UK: Filmmaker Captures Absurdity, Empty Threats Of Police Terror Stop Laws | Canada flunks on indigenous rights: G20 native protesters | Marcus Gee: Why the G20 protesters won’t condemn violence | Peaceful protests continue in Toronto as G20 nears | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Anti-poverty activists occupy ESSO station during Monday G20 protest — for ten minutes | Toronto activists launch G20 alternative media centre | Ban G20 summit agents provocateurs: activist groups to PM | Oxfam astroturf march leads early G20 protest for bank tax | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

The Canadian Press
June 30, 2010

Toronto’s top police officer misled the public by displaying fake weapons used in a medieval-themed role-playing game to help justify their actions during G20 protests, their owner said Wednesday.

Brian Barrett said everything in the backpack police confiscated from him “was safe enough for toddlers.”

Barrett’s “spell-balls,” foam-covered batons and scale-mail vest were among items police Chief Bill Blair showed reporters on Tuesday.

“He turns around and states that they are specifically dangerous terrorist items that were solely intended to hurt police,” Barrett said. “That’s unacceptable to me.”

Barrett, 25, of Whitby, Ont., was en route to a west-end park for a role-playing fantasy game called Amtgard when police stopped him at Union Station on Saturday.

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The Daily Mail
June 30, 2010

Full body scanners at airports could increase your risk of skin cancer, experts warn.

The X-ray machines have been brought in at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow.

But scientists say radiation from the scanners has been underestimated and could be particularly risky for children.

They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin – one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body – that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated.

Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University’s centre for radiological research, said although the danger posed to the individual passenger is ‘very low’, he is urging researchers to carry out more tests on the device to look at the way it affects specific groups who could be more sensitive to radiation.

He says children and passengers with gene mutations – around one in 20 of the population – are more at risk as they are less able to repair X-ray damage to their DNA.

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Related: Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Black Bloc tactics sparked Saturday G20 vandalism, confrontation | G20 protesters clash with Vancouver police | ‘Anarchists’ leave trail of destruction, peaceful 3hr march forgotten | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | Naomi Klein and 500 marchers crash party at tent city | Protesters flood the streets on first day of Toronto G20 summit | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | Huntsville G8: Military, locked down security, few protesters | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | UK: Filmmaker Captures Absurdity, Empty Threats Of Police Terror Stop Laws | Canada flunks on indigenous rights: G20 native protesters | Marcus Gee: Why the G20 protesters won’t condemn violence | Peaceful protests continue in Toronto as G20 nears | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Anti-poverty activists occupy ESSO station during Monday G20 protest — for ten minutes | Toronto activists launch G20 alternative media centre | Ban G20 summit agents provocateurs: activist groups to PM | Oxfam astroturf march leads early G20 protest for bank tax | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Carmen Chai, Canwest News
June 30, 2010

A Toronto-based lawyer representing four journalists, who filed complaints with Ontario’s police watchdog and claimed that police physically assaulted and threatened to sexually assault the female reporters during the G20 summit, is calling for a full investigation into the alleged violence.

On Tuesday, Jesse Rosenfeld, Amy Miller, Daniel McIsaac and Lisa Walter each filed complaints about their arrests during the G20 summit with the Office of Independent Police Review Director.

Julian Falconer is representing the “Free Press 4” group.

“From our point of view, if peaceful protesters and journalists engaged in peaceful coverage are treated this way, this is a sad day for democracy. My clients are seeking accountability for what appears to be a serious overreaction by some police officers,” he said in a written statement.

Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said there were more than 100 cameras documenting everything that happened in the prisoner processing centres and on the streets so “it’s not someone’s word against someone else’s.”

“We have video of everything. We’ll make sure that we provide the best possible evidence to determine the truth or otherwise in these allegations,” he said.

Police “anticipated” people would make complaints.

“We have to consider the possibility that complaints are completely unfounded. There are people who have said things so far that are clearly lies,” Pugash said.

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