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Jun 28
2010
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It's a sad day for Toronto and CANADA - G20 - The world was watching.Posted by: Daniel in General on Jun 28, 2010 Tagged in: police
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Hope this is the last G20 summit we have in Toronto for a long time. As of Sunday morning almost 1000 people had been arrested and put through the Toronto Police Service (TPS) holding/processing centre in the makeshift jail at the Toronto Film Studios dubbed Torontonomo Bay near Lake Ontario. 
Just clowning it up (below) two feet from the police line at Richmond/Bay on Saturday night. I did see one female officer crack a smile but most were stone cold. 
These police lines (below) were all over the downtown core well away from the "red zone" infamous fence and it was just a cat/mouse situation where the riot squad moved from place to place all weekend, and it didn't appear they had any rhyme or reason. They will say it was all carefully planned. 
Local residents of the Queen/Pape area where the Film Studio Detention Centre (Torontonomo Bay) was built were not happy. I spoke to several residents from the area and they said "they were not notified by the city of the erection of this Detention/processing Centre." Many said they heard about it on the local news but after Sundays use of teargas for the first time in Toronto's history they were even more upset. "It seems to be mostly the younger generation that don't respect the police and act up this way," said area resident Rosemary. She went on to say "when it's over I don't think it will stop at future protests, now they know how to stir things up, and it would have been better at the CNE grounds." 
"It's location makes us nervous and if there is any violence while we're watching, we're out of here." she concluded. 
Just clowning it up (below) two feet from the police line at Richmond/Bay on Saturday night. I did see one female officer crack a smile but most were stone cold.
These police lines (below) were all over the downtown core well away from the "red zone" infamous fence and it was just a cat/mouse situation where the riot squad moved from place to place all weekend, and it didn't appear they had any rhyme or reason. They will say it was all carefully planned.
Local residents of the Queen/Pape area where the Film Studio Detention Centre (Torontonomo Bay) was built were not happy. I spoke to several residents from the area and they said "they were not notified by the city of the erection of this Detention/processing Centre." Many said they heard about it on the local news but after Sundays use of teargas for the first time in Toronto's history they were even more upset. "It seems to be mostly the younger generation that don't respect the police and act up this way," said area resident Rosemary. She went on to say "when it's over I don't think it will stop at future protests, now they know how to stir things up, and it would have been better at the CNE grounds."
"It's location makes us nervous and if there is any violence while we're watching, we're out of here." she concluded.
Why did they not build this detention on the fringes of the city, maybe Steeles/DVP in a field or Downsview Airport? I believe the violence was uncalled for, but nearly all this destruction was done by members of the group "Black Bloc" tactics, who go from city to city around the world creating this violence. They say they never hurt anyone but just destroy Corporate Companies which is not true, it hurts us all. Destroying a police vehicle or a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) vehicle costs the taxpayer again.
There are many horror stories coming out now about the treatment of many innocent victims caught up in the sweep of the "Storm Troopers" during this past weekend. I think one of the best first hand well written articles I have read so far is in the CityTVNews24 station when one of their young reporters was arrested held for about 6 hours and released without charges.
In that regard, the police did a great job as they arrested about 70 of them (BlackBloc) Sunday morning staying at a University of Toronto dormitory residence. Overall almost 1000 were arrested/detained over the weekend. Later in the evening (Sunday) the police, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) surrounded about 100 residents/protesters with the idea that some of the violent people were within that group. They made them stand at Spadina/Queen for about four hours without being allowed to leave or use a washroom, or access to water while it rained very heavily.
A little fine art done right at Bay/King just after a police car was torched.
Hopefully we shall learn from this terrible incident but the people that stood in the heavy rain for 4 hours, and the destruction that was committed by the "Black Bloc" (tactics) were criminal acts and must be dealt with, but it is clearly a sad day for Toronto and CANADA, we must never let this happen again. One person said to me, "this is my Woodstock of our time" and will never forget this, as I'm sure I will never forget it either.
Daniel .. Toronto - My take on the G20
