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G20 rally run-around

Roughly 800 protesters gathered at Queen’s Park Saturday to call for a public inquiry into the events at last year’s G20 summit. Dubbed G20 Redux, it turned out to only be the afternoon’s opening act, and after the speeches hundreds marched to confront the cops at police headquarters.

The rally and march came on the one-year anniversary of the disastrous summit, and on the same day as polls were released showing more than two thirds of Torontonians want a public inquiry into what went wrong at the G20.

“Today we gather here on the lawn of Queen’s Park, the so-called designated protest zone where many of us were tear-gassed, brutalized, and arrested by G20 forces, to send a message,” said protest organizer Gillary Massa. “We have not forgotten. One year later we are still here fighting for justice in our communities.”

Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan called for Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair to resign because of the role he may have played in obstructing investigations into police brutality.

“Above all we have to say to the chief of police in this city, you let us down Chief Blair. You did not protect the citizens of this community, Chief Blair. You were behind the scenes Chief Blair, covering up for those cops who beat the crap out of our citizens,” Ryan said in a blazing speech that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

While the event was billed as a festival (local musicians including Allie Hughes and Tiny Danza performed sets) there was clearly a lot of anger in the crowd.

Given the outrage in this city over the summit, which polls show is growing and unites people across the political spectrum, one might have thought the turnout would have been larger. But with divisive figures like rogue Senate page Brigette DePape on the speakers list, this was never going to be a rally that all Torontonians could get behind.

At times the speakers’ remarks veered away from the summit, with some denouncing the global financial order, austerity measures, and political situations in Latin American and Africa. For some activists these issues are all tied together, but at times those broader concerns threatened to overshadow the core issue of what happened on Toronto’s streets last year.

And that’s a shame, because horror stories like the one John Pruyn told should have been front and centre. Pruyn, a 57-year old protester who was at Queen’s Park during the G20 summit, had his prosthetic leg ripped off when police arrested him. He alleges his walking sticks were confiscated and never returned, and police also took his glasses and $33 in cash. He was detained, but never charged with an offense.

“To this day I do not know why I was dragged away from Queen’s Park. It still feels like I was kidnapped,” he told the crowd. “I was violated when they ripped my leg off, and they looted my possessions. Canada needs a fully independent inquiry to look at why the police acted as though they were out of control.”

After the rally, protesters’ messaging became even more fractured. A smaller group of about 300 people marched first to Queen and Spadina, the site of the infamous kettling incident, and then through the shopping district to police headquarters at Bay and College. The march had no effective leader, and throughout there were running arguments about who should be allowed to speak through the megaphone.

At first, led by members of the anarchist hip-hop group Test Their Logik, many in the crowd chanted “Fuck the police!” even as police officers patiently escorted them through traffic. But many other marchers felt that was too negative a sentiment and chanted “Whose Streets? Our Streets” instead. By the time they reached police headquarters, squabbling over speaking time was so bad some were chanting, “Share the megaphone!”

By that time the crowd had dwindled to a few dozen, and was almost outnumbered by the police officers who stood with their bikes guarding the front of the building.

Seamus Parker was one the most vocal marchers and says he was detained for 22 hours after being arrested while working as a volunteer medic at the summit. The march gave him a chance to address police directly, but not before he had to talk down a man who had grabbed the megaphone to enlighten the crowd about how 9/11 was an inside job.

Despite the mixed messages, Parker was pleased by how the march turned out. “It’s actually refreshing to see so many unique perspectives,” he said. “The whole reason we took to the streets today was to remind people what they came close to losing and what happens when the government begins to put the rights of property over the rights of people.”

Ally Henderson was also detained without charge after being arrested outside the Novotel hotel during the summit. “My message for the cops is honestly that I’m really sad,” she explained. “I really want them to think about what they’re doing, to try to understand that they do have a choice, they’re not robots. They can make an ethical call next time.”

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