The Mass Arrests, the
Socialist Project * E-Bulletin No. 377
June 28, 2010
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/377.php#continue
The massive police presence in
has been officially justified on the basis of
protecting the leaders of the G8 and G20 countries
meeting in
the creation of the fenced-in fortress, the massive
mobilization of police (estimates ranging from
10-20,000) from across
a secret law on policing (by the executive of the
Assembly and the opposition parties) that made it a
crime to appear within five metres of the security
fence, would protect our right to protest as well.
This is not what unfolded in
Thousands of protesters marched peacefully on Friday,
challenging the purpose and agenda of the G20, although
completely hemmed on all sides by thousands of heavily
armed police over the entire march (and severely
hampering the freedom of assembly). On Saturday, in the
midst of a larger demonstration (estimated at between
10-25,000), organized by the labour, anti-privatization
and peace movements, a series of unwarranted acts of
vandalism by a small number of protesters against
stores, vehicles and buildings, was used as an excuse
for a massive unleashing of repression and attacks by
police against the democratic rights of both
protestors, and Torontonians as a whole. (Like what
happened at the
leaders in August 2007, it will come out over the next
weeks how widely the police had infiltrated some of the
key groups - especially the so-called Black Bloc, knew
the planning and participated as agent provocateurs.)
There seemed to be no real effort on the part of the
police to stop the attacks on the stores. As well, none
of the massive police contingents tried to stop some of
the small groups from burning three of their police
vehicles. It was as if the police weren't all that
concerned with these actions. Reporters from European
broadcasters and newspapers reported that this was
totally out of keeping with any real concern to prevent violence.
The police then unleashed waves of repression against
the legitimate protesters. This included those who
wished to push toward the security fence - in an effort
to challenge the militarization of the streets and
demand that the G20 leaders respond to concerns about
austerity and attacks on poor and working people; those
who were simply voicing their concerns about the G20
agenda (with its radical austerity agenda of having the
public sector and the poor pay for the bailout of the
banks); and journalists and even innocent and curious
bystanders. In one attack on a "free protest" zone
(previously negotiated with the police) rubber bullets
and tear gas was used, and people were indiscriminately
taken down, beaten and arrested.
In all, by Sunday morning estimates were that some 500
people were arrested (and there have been hundreds more
over the course of the day bringing estimates up to 900
detainees). It is impossible for anyone to know how
many of these were instigators of violence and how many
were people simply exercising their right to protest.
But clearly the mass majority were only protesting and
exercising their rights to assembly and free speech,
which the
have been systematically violating.
The temporary jail that protestors have been placed in
is located at the old
Avenue on the eastern edge of the downtown, converted
into a series of cages in essentially a huge warehouse.
The jail is described by inmates as a kind of
humiliating for those who were said to have refused
arrest. People have been held for hours without
recourse to legal representation, of which there has
been a large legal team at hand. Protesters hoping to
provide some type of support for those incarcerated,
have themselves been attacked, tear-gassed and
dispersed by police violence, with several more being arrested.
Listening to the mass media and the interviews with the
police and security spokespeople for the City of
Toronto and the Canadian state, one would have thought
that there was full scale rioting, and that the
massive, billion dollar spending spree on security for
the
was somehow worth it. As part of this, all protesters
are being demonized and the police are being portrayed
as heroes, notably by the political leadership and the
Mayor of
The message of the protests (and of the thousands who
protested across the week at hundreds of talks,
meetings, protests, cultural events) - that the G20
meeting reflected the underlying agenda of the
corporations and the political elites, to make sharp
cutbacks across the public sector, to impose wage cuts,
to not raise significant (or any) new taxes on
financial capital and to impose new forms of hardship
in the form of higher taxes and cuts in benefits for
working people and the poor - was drowned out in a
demonizing of the entire project of the protest. The
ruling classes in the G20 were doing everything in
their power to have the working classes pay for the
crisis and their project of re-constructing
neoliberalism and the political hegemony of the banks
and financial capital.
The police and much of
establishment sought to use the incidents to change the
entire discourse of the G20 week.
Socialists, of course, take their distance from the
foolish acts of the few who confuse violent attacks and
trashing with revolutionary politics. This is to
substitute individual acts of dissent for the working
class and the mass movement as a whole. It is the
adventurism that calls forth the most violent features
of the security and policing apparatuses of the state,
catching hundreds of innocents in the wake, and helps
justify the endless expansion of the security state. To
challenge the neoliberal globalization agenda of the
G20, and overturn all the undemocratic exploitative
relations of capitalism, we need to build a political
movement in
don't earn their income from capital ownership, and who
also are oppressed by the unequal relations of race,
gender, sexuality and nationality.
At this moment, it is a point of fundamental solidarity
to denounce, as forcefully as possible, the police
repression being unleashed against G20 protesters. We
insist that those incarcerated on
their full civil rights restored and that civilian
authorities take control from the
Services of oversight of these proceedings. They have
proven incapable of protecting - and understanding -
basic civil rights (starting from the special emergency
powers asked for by Police Chief Blair, and granted by
stealth by Premier Dalton McGuinty). The accused should
immediately be released without charge, or be freed on
bail and given the right to defend themselves in open
courts (not the kangaroo courts with limited or no
public access that have been operating over this week).
The police occupation of
immediately, and our full civil rights - and especially
our rights to our city and streets - be restored. There
clearly will need to be a full and independent
investigation about the role of the police in the
violence of the last few days, the role of agent
provocateurs and plants in the planning of these events
and the astonishing violation of the rights of ordinary
people and protesters alike on the streets of
over the last week. *
Socialist Project
For people sitting at home and watching TV news last
night,
Queen St W. burned and blew up over and over again. The
same image of a young man very violently smashing
Starbucks windows appeared over and over again. Windows
smashed all along Yonge St. None of us had ever seen
Full article at www.rabble.ca. Understanding Anarchism
and Policing
David McNally, political science professor at
University, interviewed by CBC-News on The Black Bloc.
Appeal for Broad Political Support for the G20
Arrestees June 27, 2010 - 3:00pm | by movementdefence
The MDC's
the movements it supports to mobilize a show of
political strength and solidarity for the nearly 500
people arrested in the last four days. The
Police and the ISU appear to have lost control of their
'prisoner processing center,' denying arrestees
meaningful and timely access to counsel while beating
and arresting those peacefully protesting their
detention outside.
Despite assurances to the contrary, only a handful of
people have been released, including those held for
many hours without charge. Arrestees are given
incorrect information about the bail process they will
be subjected to, and friends and family members gather
hours early at the courthouse, located far from the
city center and inaccessible via transit.
Our lawyers call in and are told that there is no one
available to make decisions or wait for hours at the
detention centre, only to be denied access to their
clients. Almost 500 people are in custody and we know
from experience that the vast majority of those charges
will disappear and yet the cell doors remain shut.
We need to step it up and build a political response.
We need many more voices - especially prominent ones -
to say that the abuse and incompetence at 629 Eastern
Avenue must stop. We must demand that all levels of
government take control of the police forces under
their command. We need to ensure that courts and crown
attorneys act to enforce constitutional rights rather
than collude in their violation.
Free the
The Movement Defence Committee
<<<The B u l l e t ))))
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