Toronto police questioned after summit arrests

Toronto police questioned after summit arrests

news.yahoo.com

TORONTO – Civil liberties groups called for an investigation of police conduct Tuesday following the arrest of 900 people during the massive and sometimes violent protests at the global economic summits over the weekend.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association called for a public inquiry Tuesday into security operations at the G-20 and G-8 summits, which resulted in the largest mass arrests in Canadian history and included the use of tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters.

"We have police brutality, illegal searches, arbitrary detentions, people being asked all sorts of questions

(visit the link for the full news article)

Civil liberties groups are calling for an investigation on how

police in Toronto managed themselves and the situation during

the G8 and G20 protests over the summit meetings this past

weekend, after the arrest of 900 people, which was the largest

mass arrests in Canadian history.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association called for a public

inquiry today into the security operations outside the summit

meetings which resulted in the use of rubber bullets and tear

gas on protesters.

"We have police brutality, illegal searches, arbitrary detentions,

people being asked all sorts of questions and being harassed,"

Nathalie Des Rosiers, general council for the Canadian Civil

Liberties Association, said Tuesday. "It's unconstitutional, it's

illegal and it should not happen."

The Canadian Civil Liberties group had 50 human rights

monitors at the protests to observe police behavior. The

Civil Liberties group is also calling for an apology to those

people who feel their civil liberties were stumped on.

The Canadian Civil Liberties group said in a statement about

the police conduct observed, "at times, disproportionate,

arbitrary and excessive."

Amnesty International backed the demand for an independent

review.







news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 29-6-2010 by InvisibleObserver]

I believe the police handled things in a professional manner and if a number of violent protesters were inconvenienced, that's just too bad.

As to the Civil Liberty violations, sorry, this time there is guilt by association. They were duly warned of the consequences of violence, and many chose to ignore them.

I only had two words for this bunch: bail bond.

[email protected]

if anybody would like to congratulate or comment on the Toronto police, the Toronto chief of police email is above

reply to post by Cynic


But where is the balance? There is a right to peacefully protest. It isn't a a right to only protest if you meet criteria A, B, C, D, E, F..... X, Y, and finally, but we must never forget... Z.

Yes, the "Peaceful" bit is not an ancillary and inconsequential thing, it's intrinsic in the fundamental right. And, when a demonstration is not peaceful the police have the responsibility to intercede. But that intercession must not include the peaceful.

Lack of balance was demonstrated on both sides: Protesters and police.

"I believe the police handled things in a professional manner and if a number of violent protesters were inconvenienced, that's just too bad."

Yeah sure...the police handled things perfectly if Canada was some Banana Republic where human rights violations are the norm. This is a country which supposedly gives refugees protection from human rights violations. Aaaahhhhh, the hypocrisy of today's Western "Democratic" Governments.

As for your comment about violent protesters, you may want to look into who was behind instigating the violence and protecting the violent protesters. There's video of this semi-human trash all over ATS. That is, if you don't mind actually investigating matters for yourself and not drawing ill-informed assumptions which are fed to you by the corrupt and disreputable useless media.

Originally posted by Geeky_Bubbe
reply to post by Cynic

 

But where is the balance? There is a right to peacefully protest. It isn't a a right to only protest if you meet criteria A, B, C, D, E, F..... X, Y, and finally, but we must never forget... Z.

Yes, the "Peaceful" bit is not an ancillary and inconsequential thing, it's intrinsic in the fundamental right. And, when a demonstration is not peaceful the police have the responsibility to intercede. But that intercession must not include the peaceful.

Lack of balance was demonstrated on both sides: Protesters and police.

On the contrary, I believe the police made it clear from the get-go several weeks ago, that any form of violent protest would be met in kind.

The problem that arose was that the police raided a number of residences looking for agitators. They found and arrested many in the process. There were innocents involved (a certain vet and his family come to mind) that were inconvenienced or detained. Whether they sue remains to be seen, but they certainly have a case in my opinion.

I understand where you are coming from, but in all fairness, what did they think would happen? One can only poke a dog so long before he snaps, and torching cars and destroying part of the downtown core is a heck of a poke at Toronto's finest! And who pays to clean it up? Citizens through higher taxes or citizens through higher insurance premiums? Take your pick.

We can philosophize or debate the issue until we are blue in the face, but the fact remains that the police had a duty to the residents and business owners in the City of Toronto, and they performed it admirably.

Originally posted by SphinxMontreal

Yeah sure...the police handled things perfectly if Canada was some Banana Republic where human rights violations are the norm. This is a country which supposedly gives refugees protection from human rights violations. Aaaahhhhh, the hypocrisy of today's Western "Democratic" Governments.



I see, thanks so much for the enlightened response. Once you graduate and move out mom's basement, and get a real job, you will understand adult conversations. Until then, feel free to enjoy the wonders of youthful idealism.

[edit on 29-6-2010 by Cynic]

Click here for more information.

reply to post by Cynic


The problem isn't detaining violent protestors. Problem is that they just pretty much randomly picked people from the streets. People who had nothing to do with the 'anarchy'.

reply to post by Cynic


Spoken like a true Cynic.

No one will disagree with the police going after the black block and those immature enough to get caught up in the rioting they started.

However, this is about an entirely different matter. Very seldom am I disappointed in my country. On Sunday I was.

Double post.

I apologise and must be punished.



[edit on 29-6-2010 by mr-lizard]

Originally posted by area6
reply to post by Cynic

 

Spoken like a true Cynic.

No one will disagree with the police going after the black block and those immature enough to get caught up in the rioting they started.

Unless of course some of the police ARE the black bloc ?

Originally posted by mr-lizard

Originally posted by area6
reply to post by Cynic

 

Spoken like a true Cynic.

No one will disagree with the police going after the black block and those immature enough to get caught up in the rioting they started.

Unless of course some of the police ARE the black bloc ?

That doesn't really change my stance that they should be arrested though ...

Originally posted by Your_Number_One_Fan
reply to post by Cynic

 

You are useless with a capital Y. Now say that to yourself.

I'm sorry, I'm just not getting it. Shouldn't that be a 'U'?

Just want to make sure in case I'm missing some type of in joke...

P.S I have friends in Toronto who were probably agitators. I respect their courage, but will still call them dumb-assess to their face. Calm down and try and to have a reasonable conversation rather then flinging insults at anyone you don't agree with.

I can already see this G-20 crap turning into another one of these BP things, with threads left and right. WHO CARES if they arrested so much people. You people need to lighten up, I think the police did a very good job at handling the situations they were in. You think ALL of those cops are dirty cops? NO, I'm sure more then half of them were as scared as the people themselves. I know there are certain bad apples, but there will always be bad apples and they should be questioned when and if caught in the act. Like come on people, what if they didn't use the aggression they used from the start??? Things probably would of been uglier dont you think? Like F--k man, lighten up, get your panties out of a knot, I've had it with this sh-t already and its only been a couple of days...

Originally posted by Cynic
I believe the police handled things in a professional manner and if a number of violent protesters were inconvenienced, that's just too bad.

As to the Civil Liberty violations, sorry, this time there is guilt by association. They were duly warned of the consequences of violence, and many chose to ignore them.

I only had two words for this bunch: bail bond.

There were still residents living and working in the area. Families that should have also been protected, not rounded up on their way home. A couple of kids even ended up detained. A 12 and a 14 year old. Can you imagine how their parents felt when they didn't show up at home? Media and workers on their way home were rounded up, and not able to go anywhere, cause they just cornered everyone in a large area.

That whole area should have been completely evacuated before the summit, even the mayor of Toronto is pi$$ed off. They didn't have to have it in an area where people live. Now all across Canada, the mayors are saying "never in my city". And rightfully so. This was poorly thought out from the beginning. There were so many other options. Canada is a huge country, and for a billion dollars, they could have gone anywhere besides the most populated area.

Originally posted by mr-lizard
[email protected]

if anybody would like to congratulate or comment on the Toronto police, the Toronto chief of police email is above

Police Chief Bill Blair Admits There Was No Five-Metre Rule Regarding G20 Fence

Yeah, a real stand up guy.

Please, everyone, use the email address provided and let Chief Blair know how you feel.

Originally posted by Cynic
I believe the police handled things in a professional manner and if a number of violent protesters were inconvenienced, that's just too bad.

As to the Civil Liberty violations, sorry, this time there is guilt by association. They were duly warned of the consequences of violence, and many chose to ignore them.

I only had two words for this bunch: bail bond.

OK, I'm getting tired of pointing this out.
Please look at this video and compare it to what happened a few days ago, also, don't you find it strange that there were no police at the time that the "black block" rioters started rioting?
How convenient was it that there were empty police cars just waiting to be messed with?
Get real and stop protecting these corrupt people.
Are you getting paid to do this or do you really believe what you are saying?

reply to post by Syphon


What would the chief care about what people not of his constituency think?

Besides, if that's a publicly available email address someone else no doubt filters it for him first, only passing along those emails that are seen as actually relevant.