300-plus G20 suspects to cram Toronto courthouse

Aug. 23
More than 300 people charged with offences relating to the G20 protests will be appearing in a packed Toronto courthouse Monday.
The scene is expected to be a chaotic one as the suspects, their families, supporters, lawyers and various other protest groups and demonstrators descend on the courthouse in north Toronto.
It is expected to be one of the largest mass court appearances the city has ever seen.
All of those appearing in court Monday have already been called before a judge in recent months to face their charges, and were told to return to court today.
A table has been set up outside the courthouse, and those who arrive are being assigned a colour-coded card indicating one of three courtrooms where they are to appear.
At one point Monday morning a bus from Quebec, apparently carrying a group of people charged with G20 offences, pulled into the courthouse parking lot.
There will be no trial proceedings Monday. Instead, those charged will receive disclosure about the allegations against them and information about the next step in their legal proceedings.
It is expected to take hours for the judges in the various courtrooms to get through their dockets.
Toronto Police G20 investigator Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux said Sunday the goal is to process as many people as possible.
“If you’re out (of custody) you’ll be appearing. If you’re in you’re appearing physically, in custody or by video,” he said.
Most of those appearing Monday were arrested at a protest at Queen’s Park on June 26 when police stormed the area and rounded up dozens of suspects.
Some suspected ringleaders are also appearing Monday. They are charged with conspiracy to assault and obstruct police.
About 20 others who were rounded up after police released photos and asked for help from the public, will also appear Monday.

The fight back is on! Solidarity with the Toronto 900 rallies organized across the country

All out against police brutality and in solidarity with the Toronto 900! A protest outside police headquarters in every city!

WEDNESDAY 7 JULY 2010
WATERLOO TOWN SQUARE and various locations
4PM-6PM

July 10, Day of Action for Civil Liberties
1:00pm
Queen's Park
Toronto, ON

The events of the past week in Toronto have been unprecedented in Canadian history. Over 900 people were arrested, the biggest mass arrests ever in Canada, for daring to protest against the destructive policies of the G20.

Protesters and local residents were subjected to violent baton attacks, snatch squads, tear gas and rubber bullets. Sleeping people have been pulled from their homes at gunpoint in the middle of the night. Many have been beaten. People who have been arrested have been strip-searched and held in cages, facing long delays in obtaining legal support. We have heard numerous accounts of sexual abuse by police from women who were arrested. Journalists have been punched, arrested and had their equipment broken.

On the streets of Toronto, the mask of “liberal democracy” has slipped off and the police reminded us of the State's willingness to use blatant violence against its own population in the face of popular dissent. And thanks to citizen journalists, the alternative media and even some in the corporate media, the truth of what happened in Toronto is slowly emerging.

In order to make sure that the actions of the police state are fully exposed, we must keep up the pressure on the police and the government.

We must also publicly demonstrate our solidarity with all those arrested so that they are released as quickly as possible and charges are dropped against all those caught up in the net of the police state.

In Toronto, solidarity rallies outside detention centres and police stations are already taking place. But just as police forces from across the province converged on Toronto for the G20, so our resistance must spread out from the epicentre of oppression to every corner of the province.

Common Cause thus calls on all those concerned to take the fight back across the province and across the country.

Starting this Wednesday, June 30, we are calling for solidarity rallies outside police headquarters in as many cities as possible.

Our message will be clear:

Free the Toronto 900!

Fight back against the police state! We are putting you under surveillance!

Build the resistance against the G20! Build the resistance against austerity!

Build the general strike!

solidarity g20 protesters

solidarity means attack ...hot night in turin (italy)

in solidarity with the g20 protesters (toronto) group of comrades smash windows , destroy cash machines and paint bomb 2 canadian banks in turin (italy)...with this action we show solidarity to the almost 900 people detained in the g20 summit in canada , to the enormous police state that comrades live in the world and very importante to susy , its women who was verbally and physical sexual assaulted once inside the detencion center made for the g20 protesters ..we will not acept any kind of repression .one of us is worth 1 million of them ..........RESIST EXIST REVOLT SOLIDARITY MEANS ATTACK

This is what a police state looks like!

Editorial
June 27, 2010

We live in a political and economic system based on constant violence; exploitation of workers, destruction of the environment, war, racist police killings, hunger and homelessness in an environment of plenty, denial of land and self-government to indigenous peoples, plundering of the resources of the Third World and the arming of repressive regimes. This weekend, this quiet violence continued within the G8 and G20 summits. G20 leaders agreed to halve national deficits by 2013; The expected cuts to educational, social services and healthcare programmes will no doubt continue to be carried out on the backs of workers and poor people.

On the streets of Toronto, the police reminded us of the state's willingness to use blatant violence. Protesters sitting in the streets this morning at a jail solidarity rally were subjected to violent baton attacks, snatch squads and rubber bullets by the Police. Others were boxed in by riot cops and arrested, while being told they had to leave. Sleeping people have been pulled from their homes at gunpoint in the middle of the night.

As of today, well over 600 people have been arrested. Many have been beaten. People who have been arrested have been strip-searched and held in cages, facing long delays in obtaining legal support, including one deaf man who was denied an ASL interpreter. People arrested have included both corporate and independent journalists as well as approximately 200 people, many local residents, who were surrounded by police and held in the pouring rain over four hours. This is how the state responds to anyone who shows dissent.

Common Cause stands in solidarity with everyone who was arrested or assaulted by the police. As anarchist communists, we oppose all state violence. While the violence on the street may dissipate after this weekend, the police will not be going away; they will be remaining in Toronto, or returning to Hamilton, Montreal, Vancouver, or Calgary.

We will continue to resist austerity measures and other policies that exploit and oppress us in our daily lives. Although the street violence today was directed at us in Toronto, the violence of the state continues around the world. The violence of the capitalist state will not stop with the end of the G20 summit; neither will our resistance. We are with those arrested in Toronto, with those who protested, and with those around the world who will continue to fight for our collective liberation.

Free the Toronto 600!
Build the General Strike!

Jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police

Members of prisoner support rally outside G20 prison beaten, arrested by police

A prisoner solidarity protest in downtown Toronto today faced an unprompted attack by police forces.

Over 100 people gathered at Jimmie Simpson Park in east Toronto at 10am this morning, quickly moving onto the streets, for a high energy protest to support over 500 social justice activists arrested in the past 24 hours during protests against the Toronto G20 summit.

As people approached the G20 protest jail, a film studio warehouse building converted into a prison, people began clapping in unison, chanting "Free our Prisoners!" outside the jail gate flaked by armed police.

As hundreds gathered at the intersection facing the prison doors, the protest mood was spirited; one person played rhythms on a guitar while people chanted along to the music.

Organizers from Toronto G20 Community Mobilization Network appealed to people gathered at the intersection to stay calm, leading solidarity chants for the hundreds of jailed activists on the street.

Quickly without warning police lines moved in on the protest. Both heavily armed riot police and undercover agents charged at the people gathered, trampling over some protest participants who sat on the road chanting in unison. Quickly police swung baton blows randomly into the crowd and pushed the solidarity gathering away from the warehouse jail.

Police also carried out snatch squad arrests, rushing into the crowd and violently tackling people to the ground, including an accredited member of the G20 Alternative Media Centre. Faces hit the hard pavement as police in full riot gear randomly arrested participants in the jail solidarity rally.

After numerous arrests the police fully charged the protest pushing it to the north. Demonstrators moved away from the police line, some running. As people ran north gun shot sounds rang out in the air, white smoke filled the air as riot police ran towards the protest swinging batons.

As G20 leaders meet behind the multi layered security perimeter that has turned downtown Toronto into a fortress, the shocking security budget, now totalling well over $1 billion, illustrates the chilling face of a systematic affront on public dissent in Toronto as world leaders speak rhetorically about global cooperation.

Toronto g20 27/6

Broken windows, burnt cars left by G20 riots in Toronto 26/6

G20 Protests Heat Up: Video of police car fire in Toronto 26/6

Protests against the G20 summit in Canada have turned violent.

On the streets of Toronto, where the world leaders are meeting, thousands of people were out to demonstrate against the event. However, what started off as a peaceful rally, transformed into ugly scenes as anarchists, dressed in black, broke away from the main group.

At least two police cars were set on fire, one in the financial district of the city.

Shop fronts were destroyed, as people wearing masks continued to cause havoc, moving to just blocks away from the three meter fence around the summit site.

Police in riot gear made a number of arrests, and some streets leading to the downtown part of the city were sealed off.

The city’s mayor condemned the violence, saying a relatively small group are intent on damaging property and breaking the law.

Canadian authorities have been taking security very seriously during the summits, spending almost eight hundred million euros.