CANADIAN POLITICS:
SOLIDARITY RALLIES WITH G20 DETAINEES:
As those arrested at the G20 protests are gradually being released or charged solidarity for their situation is growing across Canada. It may be that the federal Conservative government has made a grievous miscalculation in their plans, both in holding the summit in downtown Toronto which a majority of Canadians disapproved of, especially considering the cost, and then in authorizing the mass arrests that seemed targeted at everyone but the small group of rioters. Given the fact that the Canadian population was quite divided about the protests to begin with and the fact that few if any arrests were made of actual rioters while numerous ordinary citizens unconnected with the protests were scooped up and held in cages it is likely that the consequences for the show of force may rebound on the heads of the Harperites. Questions about police tactics during the initial riots are revolving around whether it was deliberate or not that police cars and a section of downtown Toronto were left for the rioters to play with.
Meanwhile solidarity rallies for those arrested are being held in many cities across eastern Canada. Here's a rundown from the Ontario platformist group Common Cause.
PPPPPPPPPP
The fight back is on!
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!
All out against police brutality and in solidarity with the Toronto 900!
A protest outside police headquarters in every city!
June 30, 2010 in Hamilton
5:00pm at Hamilton Police Headquarters
155 King William Street
June 30, 2010 in London
6:00 pm at London Police Headquarters
601 Dundas St (Dundas and Adelaide)
June 30, 2010 in Windsor
6:00pm at Windsor Police Headquarters
150 Goyeau Street
June 30, 2010 in Ottawa
7pm at 474 Elgin Street (Ottawa Police Station)
July 1, 2010 in Montreal
1pm carré Phillips,
St. Catherine
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!
Common Cause
http://www.linchpin.ca/
To add your rally to the list or to send pictures from rallies, please email us at commoncauseontario@gmail.com Media may also use the same email address to contact us. Check our website for regular updates on rallies in your city.
June 30, 2010 in Hamilton
5:00pm at Hamilton Police Headquarters
155 King William Street
June 30, 2010 in London
6:00 pm at London Police Headquarters
601 Dundas St (Dundas and Adelaide)
June 30, 2010 in Windsor
6:00pm at Windsor Police Headquarters
150 Goyeau Street
June 30, 2010 in Ottawa
7pm at 474 Elgin Street (Ottawa Police Station)
July 1, 2010 in Montreal
1pm carré Phillips,
St. Catherine
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!
Common Cause
http://www.linchpin.ca/
To add your rally to the list or to send pictures from rallies, please email us at commoncauseontario@gmail.com Media may also use the same email address to contact us. Check our website for regular updates on rallies in your city.
2 comments:
There is some evidence of provacateur involvement as well see
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19928
I don't know Larry. I looked at the evidence on the site you mentioned, and I think it is weak, consisting mainly of the fact that both the photographed police and the photographed Black Bloc have the same sort of new shiny footware. Many the two sides have exactly the same view of their own importantance.
Far be it from me to suggest that a government cannot waste money, but it stretches my credibility to try and imagine why given the fact that the "powers that be" know full well that there are half-baked "anarchists" willing to provide them services FOR FREE that they should pay anyone time and a half with whatever extra benefits (danger pay ?) the contract may stipulate to create situations that will either happen by themselves or with a slight amount of "bait" (abandoned cop cars).
The evidence I have seen was that the demonstrations were purulating with plain clothes cops, and I wouldn't expect anything else, but I see little evidence that there was a "direct hand" in the initial mini-riot. The pure unadulterated narcisstic insanity of the Black Block guarantees that they will act exactly like the police want them to given the opportunity. These people live in a tiny enclosed world of their own.
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