G8-G20

The last jailed Toronto G-20 activist is released

Computer security expert Byron Sonne was granted finally bail after 330 days behind bars on May 16. He waited until Wednesday to be released, however, following the final bail hearing, when the crown attorney had the opportunity to contest the decision. Fortunately, the judge disagreed and he was free to go.

Sonne spent roughly 11 months in custody. The 38 year old was denied bail twice since his June 22, 2010 arrest, which took place just prior to the start of the G-20 Summit in Toronto.

Bail was set at $250,000, and Sonne is now free until he returns to court for trial in Nov. 2011.

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in her own words

The G20 mass arrest fiasco: A wartime denial of rights during peacetime

Last May, the Ontario cabinet met and passed a regulation that granted police unprecedented power to arrest and search citizens without warrant during late June's G20 Summit. They didn't debate the law in the Legislature. In fact, the McGuinty Liberal government went out of their way to hide the new law from citizens who would be affected.

Premier Dalton McGuinty hasn't apologized for this and, until recently, he defended his decision. Last week, Ontario ombudsman André Marin delivered a stern wake up call to the premier and it's now up to Ontarians to demand a full public inquiry -- something Ontario New Democrats have called for since the day after the G20 Summit wrapped up.

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The Ontario ombudsman's G20 report confirms the denial of our civil liberties

Liberty Lost (G20, Toronto). Photo montage by Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge.

Vindication.

Related rabble.ca story:

The Ontario ombudsman's G20 report confirms the denial of our civil liberties

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Opinion

The Ontario ombudsman's G20 report confirms the denial of our civil liberties

Vindication.

That's what the Ontario ombudsman's Andre Marin's report sounds like to me.

As a peaceful protester during the G20 demonstrations, I saw and experienced Toronto as a police state where the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms no longer applied. While the mainstream media couldn't tear the cameras away from burning cruisers, police officers were conducting illegal searches, used excessive force and the provincial government quietly withdrew our rights.

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in his own words

Meditations at the ringed fence around G20 Toronto

When I search for an image to describe the core of my spiritual practice, the one that presses up through the other narratives of my life is this one: June 26, 2010, carrying my six-year-old son away from a burning police car in front of a bank tower on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. Three young protesters, using black bloc tactics, jumped on the roof of the car as my son and I turned away and walked towards the empty street behind us to make our way home.