Demonstrators have been hauled into detention cages, strip searched and denied legal counsel. There, detainees suffering from concussion and deep lacerations were denied medical attention. A diabetic entering into shock was denied treatment for four hours.
The “kennel” as it was dubbed by police guards, was crammed with people arrested for such egregious offences as carrying “dangerous weapons” such as protest signs and noise-makers. Smokers carrying lighters have been accused of possessing “incendiary devices”. Youth with the temerity to wear black clothing have been swept up by the police dragnet in a program dubbed “catch and release” by rank-and-file cops. (A collection of eyewitness accounts was published by the Toronto Star here.)
In one particularly provocative action, hundreds of heavily armed riot police corralled some 200 people Sunday night at a downtown street-corner, forcing them to stand in a driving thunderstorm for four hours. This “kettling operation” detained not only youth demonstrating against the G20 but commuters heading home from weekend shopping, dozens of citizens departing from world cup soccer celebrations, journalists covering the police build-up and entire families resident in the area. The scenes of drenched and shivering people, crying children and distressed family pets have struck a chord amongst broad layers of the city’s populace.
News anchors covering Monday evening’s protest against police brutality have been shocked by the size of the spontaneous outpouring of opposition to the repressive measures unleashed against the citizenry. As the march proceeded from downtown police headquarters towards the site of Sunday night’s “human corral”, people heading home from work joined the procession. A cacophony of car horns, stuck in traffic, rhythmically beeped in time with chants of “No police state”! Thousands of riot and mounted police, aware of the symbolism of the march, moved to block the route towards the kettling site.
Blocked from heading westward, the crowd marched to Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, the seat of the municipal government, shouting “Shame, Shame” in criticism of the social democratic mayor, David Miller, who issued statements over the weekend supporting the police repression.
The march then proceeded to Queen’s Park, the grounds of the provincial legislature, to register its opposition to the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty that earlier this month secretly passed a provision massively expanding police powers.
via www.wsws.org
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