Anti-G20 group slams 'excessive' policing
About 20 members of community organizations who plan to protest during the G20 summit held a news conference Tuesday to speak out against what they're calling police intimidation.
They carried signs and gave speeches on Bremner Boulevard near the south entrance of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. World leaders will be meeting at the centre for the June 26-27 summit.
Some demonstrators said they knew of activists who had been intimidated by police talking to them, but gave no specific examples.
Greg Thomas, a member of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, called on police to back off.
"The excessive arming of the police force, the demonization of Torontonians, the G8/G20 bully pulpit has created a dangerous power imbalance," Thomas said. "We are here today to call on our leaders to get off the pulpit."
Thomas also complained about security measures, saying Toronto streets are "on lockdown." He and other speakers said the money being spent could be better used for community-based programs.
There were at least 40 police officers on foot, bicycle, in cars and on horseback surrounding the demonstrators at the event.
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The G8/G20 meetings took place in Ontario from June 25-27, 2010. Toronto-based organizations of women, people of colour, indigenous peoples, the poor, the working class, queer and trans people and disabled people organized a peoples convergence with 40,000 people taking to the streets, standing up for justice in collaboration and solidarity!
Activists, community members, inspired and outraged individuals came together as a movement to demand justice for people and the planet. Over a week of mobilizations, events, workshops and direct actions took place in the face of state and police repression, violence and infringements on rights and freedoms.
We must continue to mobilize and build greater solidarity among our communities- an important part of this is supporting all those arrested during the G20 summit, including our allies still in detention, and those released on bail.