{"id":12176,"date":"2010-06-27T19:32:28","date_gmt":"2010-06-27T23:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=12176"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:45:11","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:45:11","slug":"g20-police-tactics-must-be-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/06\/27\/g20-police-tactics-must-be-questioned\/","title":{"rendered":"G20: Police tactics must be questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dale Duncan is a former editor of Spacing. The opinions expressed in this article represent her personal views on this weekend’s events.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Leading up to the G20 summit, at meetings organized to provide local residents and business owners with information about what to expect, police and politicians reminded those in attendance of our right to assemble and demonstrate in public spaces.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of people who joined demonstrations yesterday did so peacefully.<\/a> But what people are most likely to remember about this summit is the much smaller group of militant thugs who decided it would be a good idea to set police cars on fire and smash the windows of stores and banks.<\/p>\n

There’s no question that those who vandalized our city should be stopped and held accountable to their actions, but, now, it seems that the average citizen\u2019s right to peacefully protest in Toronto is being treated as though it\u2019s a criminal act.<\/a> Sadly, it\u2019s the aggression exhibited by the police<\/a> \u2014 not the so-called Black Bloc \u2014 that have instilled fear in many members of the general public who witnessed some of the events<\/a> of this weekend.<\/p>\n

Some are commending the police for showing restraint yesterday; I witnessed some of that restraint. I went for a walk to Yonge Street in the afternoon and, by chance, happened upon the vandals who were out breaking storefront windows.<\/a> As I watched people march by, my heart pounding and my mouth agape, there seemed to be no police in sight. With all the money spent on security this weekend in Toronto \u2014“the biggest security operation ever in Canada”<\/a> \u2014 I don\u2019t understand why the police weren\u2019t able to stop these criminals from continuing to smash windows all the way up Yonge and then West along College.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Other<\/a> accounts of the day\u2019s events suggest that the police were anything but restrained.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the evening, a friend who lives close to where much of the action took place was coming home by bike. He stopped at Yonge because he saw that a crowd of non-violent demonstrators was coming down the street. Before he knew it, there were police behind him. Inexplicably, and without warning, they violently pushed him to the ground. He grabbed his bike and had to beg them to let him simply leave the area so he could go home.<\/p>\n

It was later reported<\/a> that the police encircled these protestors. People would be told to leave the area in one direction, only to meet a line of police telling them to turn around and walk back the way they came. There was no escape. Journalists were told to leave<\/a> or be arrested. <\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard some people say that if you made the decision to join a demonstration, or simply go close to one, you have no one but yourself to blame for being attacked by police. But the idea that here in Toronto, in Canada \u2014 a 10-minute walk from my house no less \u2014 I could get assaulted by police for participating in a peaceful demonstration (or for simply wanting to witness one) is incomprehensible. I have always felt safe in this city. This weekend, I did not.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between the thousands of peaceful protestors who marched on the streets yesterday and the much smaller number of the violent thugs who set fire to cars and smashed windows. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but it\u2019s a fact I fear will be forgotten in the coming days.<\/p>\n

An even more frightening thought is that the police tactics used this weekend \u2013 the unnecessary intimidation, assaults<\/a>, searches<\/a> and arrests<\/a> \u2013 will go unquestioned, that the police will not be held to account for their actions (just as the vandals who ravaged our city should be).<\/p>\n

We have to make sure that this doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

photo by nouspique<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dale Duncan is a former editor of Spacing. The opinions expressed in this article represent her personal views on this weekend’s events. 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