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.

“We’re here to denounce the police and the police state that we lived in [in] Toronto, the oppression, the police oppression and intimidation,” said Dani Royier of Convergence des luttes anticapitalist, a group opposed to capitalism,

Olivier Lamour Lafleur said he went to Toronto to protest peacefully but was arrested soon after the protests began. He said he spent 36 hours in a holding cell.

Several police vehicles, including vans carrying riot police, followed the Montreal marchers Thursday but there were no major incidents and only two protesters were arrested.

In Winnipeg, more than 100 protesters marched through a neighbourhood street festival on Thursday to show support for those arrested during the summit.

And in Windsor, Ont., on Wednesday night, a small group of protesters gathered at police headquarters following a call to action by a group known as Common Cause, which describes itself as an anarchist organization. No one from the group would provide an identity at the rally, and members refused to be interviewed by the CBC.

‘Stand up for free speech’

However, Margaret Villamizar, who went to Toronto police headquarters on Monday to protest against the large number of arrests during the G20, said she attended the Windsor rally for one reason.

“I’m here to stand up for free speech,” Villamizar said. “I think a lot of people’s rights were violated in Toronto. I think it’s a sad day for our country. I think the prime minister has sent a message that if you want to stand up against globalization or anything else he deems fit, he will use the police to crush your opinion.”

On its website, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it wants an independent inquiry to address:

• The dispersal of protesters at the designated demonstration site in Queen’s Park late last Saturday afternoon.
• The detention and mass arrest on The Esplanade on Saturday night.
• The arrests and police actions outside the Eastern Avenue detention centre last Sunday morning.
• The prolonged detention and mass arrest of individuals at Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue on Sunday evening.
• The conditions of detention at the Eastern Avenue detention centre.

The association says it also seeks the repeal or amendment of the Public Works Protection Act and reforms to ensure that Criminal Code provisions relating to “breach of the peace,” “unlawful assemblies” and “riots” are brought in line with constitutional standards.

Source | See also under Protest: Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Black Bloc tactics sparked Saturday G20 vandalism, confrontation | G20 protesters clash with Vancouver police | ‘Anarchists’ leave trail of destruction, peaceful 3hr march forgotten | Naomi Klein and 500 marchers crash party at tent city | Protesters flood the streets on first day of Toronto G20 summit | Mass sit-in in Egypt over police killing | Huntsville G8: Military, locked down security, few protesters | Canada flunks on indigenous rights: G20 native protesters | Greek anti-austerity strikes hit tourists | Marcus Gee: Why the G20 protesters won’t condemn violence | Hospitals, medics prepare for G20 injuries and tear gas | Peaceful protests continue in Toronto as G20 nears | Iran to send ship through Gaza blockade | Experts Draft Document Critical Of ACTA: Signatures Wanted | Anti-poverty activists occupy ESSO station during Monday G20 protest — for ten minutes | Toronto activists launch G20 alternative media centre | Police add water cannon to G20 arsenal | Ban G20 summit agents provocateurs: activist groups to PM | Oxfam astroturf march leads early G20 protest for bank tax | Russian police seize 100,000 anti-Vladimir Putin books | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Police use teargas on disgruntled World Cup workers | London G20: Jury acquits protester accused of being ringleader in clashes | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | G20 protesters say they won’t be intimidated by police | Egypt says Gaza blockade has failed, border crossing opened in wake of aid flotilla assault to stay | Canadian protesters condemn Israeli raids on aid flotillas | Autopsy: Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range | Bilderberg 2010: Why the protesters are your very best friends | Underground economy emerges in Ontario in response to HST | Gaza flotilla activists unarmed: Canadian | Toronto police show off G20 summit security | Prospective G20 prison camp medics told patients may be faking | Protests in Middle East, Europe, follow deadly Israeli attack on flotilla as UN convenes emergency session | Russian police crush anti-government protests | Israeli troops attack ship carrying aid to Gaza killing 16 | B.C. anti-HST petition hits target weeks ahead of schedule | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Couchiching First Nation’s highway ‘toll booth’ peaceful: OPP | Toronto banks review G20 security after Ottawa RBC fire | RBC firebombed as protest, group claims | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Anti-HST petition nears goal in B.C. | HST rage puts B.C. 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Seriously. | Thousands of Canadians protest shuttering of Parliament | Anti-prorogation protest dogs PM | War resister released from U.S. prison | UK: Anti-terror stop and search policy ruled illegal by European human rights court | German ‘Fleshmob’ Protests Airport Scanners | For more see The Memory Hole — Protest

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