police state image

One year after the G20 protests in downtown Toronto, the gross excess of police intimidations, interrogations and arrests are hardly a distant memory for activists who rallied to bring attention to the pressing economic and social inequalities of our time — or for Toronto residents who found themselves caught up in one of the biggest mass arrests in Canadian history — all while world leaders gathered to negotiate our collective global future behind closed doors.

Calls for a public inquiry into police action during the G20 have continued to go unheeded, despite the plethora of individual stories that continue to emerge detailing police abuse.

On Saturday, June 25, 2011 many will gather at Queen’s Park in Toronto to reflect on those days that marked an unprecedented degree of infringement of individual civil liberties and fundamental freedoms, and work to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.  Find the details here.

rabble was on the ground, inside and outside the fence a year ago, covering events live on twitter, flickr, blogs, podcasts, video, discussion board threads, and, of course, with feature stories.

Below is just a small sample of our G20 related reportage. Find these highlights and much, much more coverage by visiting our G8/G20 section here.

G8/G20 Communique
by Krystalline Kraus
Toronto-based activist and writer, Krystalline Kraus, has spent the last year reporting on G20 related actions, interventions and events. Read her blog here.

Two activists speak out about G8/G20 CSIS intimidation: Stefan Christoff’s story
by Stefan Christoff
Two Montreal activists, Freda Guttman and Stefan Christoff, say they and their friends have been targeted by CSIS in the run up to the Huntsville G8 and Toronto G20 summits.

VIDEO: Shout Out for Global Justice
On June 25, 2010 leading activists from around the world joined thousands in Toronto at Massey Hall to oppose the G8/20 agenda. rabble was the only Canadian media there to livestream the event.

The People First March and the Toronto riot in 503 Tweets
by rabble staff
Fourteen hours after the People First March started, police are still making arrests.

Photo blog: Toronto police arrest and release G20 protesters
by Kristen Hanson
I am working on a photo story of the girl sitting with peace symbols up and her friend in the tiedye.

VIDEO: Eighteen-year-old detainee recounts experience of being held inside G8/20 police cage for 26 hours
by Tor Sandberg
On his first day as a resident of Toronto, Dan Hamilton was a bystander during a protest when he was caught with his boyfriend in a mass arrest for “breaching the peace.”

Toronto is burning or is it?
by Judy Rebick
For people sitting at home and watching TV news last night, Toronto was burning.

My city feels like a crime scene
by Naomi Klein
My city feels like a crime scene and the criminals are all melting into the night, fleeing the scene.

Is this what a police state looks like?
by Murray Dobbin
Police states don’t appear full blown, over night. They are, like any other social phenomenon, part of social and political process

The G20 debacle
by Justin Podur
Hosting the G20 in Toronto was the first of a series of political gambles by the Conservative Canadian government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Black, white and rage all over
by Aalya Ahmad
It’s been daunting to try to take in all that has been already testified, discussed, debated, ranted about, witnessed and reported of the G20 protests.

VIDEO: Hair-raising footage of police charging peaceful protesters singing ‘Oh Canada’

Spadina and Queen: After the crowd stops to sing “Oh Canada” during a a peaceful G20 protest at Queen and Spadina, Toronto police charge.

Not Rex: Free Hundert, bust Bubbles
by Humberto DaSilva
This week Not Rex, Humberto DaSilva, argues that by criminalizing activists like Alex Hundert and others as dangerous subversives, law enforcers are justifying the massive costs of brutality on Toronto’s streets during the G20 summit

Of my illegal detention (with 899 others) and the G20 protests
by Ben Powless
Last Thursday was Canada Day. I’ve never been anything close to patriotically Canadian, as a Mohawk citizen, but this year was a particular sore point

PODCAST: In his own words: Guardian journalist arrested by G20 security forces

Interview by Meagan Perry

Jesse Rosenfeld was writing for The Guardian when G20 security beat him
up and arrested him. rabble radio spoke to him a few hours after he was
released from detention.

VIDEO: Naomi Klein to police: ‘Don’t play public relations, do your goddamned job!’

by Tor Sandberg

After the widely condemned police brutality during the G20 Summit in Toronto, crowds gathered for a protest in front of Police Headquarters in Toronto on Monday, June 28, 2010. There, Naomi Klein tore into the Toronto Police for choosing to “play public relations” instead of doing their job.

G20 Public Hearing November 10 – 12: Live Blog

by Krystalline Kraus

On Nov. 10 and 11, 2010, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Union of Public and General Employees co-host two days of public hearings to examine police activity during the recent G20 Summit in Toronto.  

G20 Telethon with Naomi Klein and Hawksley Workman. Thursday, Nov 11
On Thursday Nov. 11 at 8 p.m., internationally acclaimed author Naomi Klein, Juno award-winning singer, musician Hawksley Workman, comic Martha Chaves and electronic group LAL took the stage in Toronto at the Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W. to raise funds for the G20 arrestees.

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