Joel Duff, Ontario organizer at the Canadian Federation of Students, picked up the large white bullhorn in his right hand.

Raising the electronic megaphone upwards, he tilted his head back and squeezed the pistol grip trigger switch as he prepared to address an audience of close to 5,000 assembled on the front lawn at Queen’s Park.

“We are here because more than 900 people were arrested on the streets of Toronto,” he said, referring to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history two weeks ago during the G20 summit.