I want to say I really needed yesterday’s Free the Toronto 900! rally protesting both police brutality and the arrest of over 900 activists. It was really beautiful and inspiring to see so many people directly show the police(=state) that we are not intimidated by aggressive police tactics. Monday night, we took our streets back.
I’m so proud of everyone who attended. I really needed that collective moment of empowerment. It’s like I could suddenly breathe again after having held my breath all weekend.
We all gathered in front of Police HQ (40 College Street) at 5:30 pm. Police were in the College Street subway station, eyeballing each activist-looking-person as they passed. There were more police on the street, who temporarily blocked access to College Street off of Yonge Street, but soon relented as too many people demanded to pass through their police line to attend the anti-police rally.
Speakers included Judy Rebick who encouraged the crowd to chant: “We won’t / We won’t / Shut the Fuck Up!” (the crowd really liked that one). I also think the crowd was actually stunned by the power and sound of its own echo when everyone yelled “Shame” at the police.
Other speakers included rabbler Ben Powless who spoke about his arrest in front of the Novotel Hotel and Dave Vasey (who was arrested twice during the week of protests) told the crowd to, “show those fuckers we aren’t afraid!”.
The protest marched West towards University Avenue, then South to Queen Street, and then east along Queen Street where a spontaneous street party broke out before marchers took their anger to Mayor David Miller’s doorstep at City Hall. I saw a cop hitting the seat of his bike to the rhythm of the crowd, which included a marching band.
As police stood by guarding an ice cream truck, the crowd chanted: “Who’s Ice Cream? / Our Ice Cream!”
As the crowd marched into City Hall where the Toronto Jazz Fest was located, the crowd chanted: “Who’s Jazz Fest? / Our Jazz Fest!”
(Where were the LRAD sound cannons (“communication devices”) so we could have flooded the streets with amazing jazz!)
All around, the mood of the crowd was spirited as numbers swelled to 2,000.
From there, the march retraced its route and ended up Queen’s Park. For a brief moment, I pictured a French revolution movement with citizens marching on the doorsteps of power. While there were plenty of bike cops and a mounted unit patrol, the police kept the riot cops hidden from view.
In fact, it’s as if the police had been ordered to be nice to us. As David and I left the demonstration and walked along College Street to the subway, six (count ’em, 6) cops said good night to us. Other smiled. It was very Twilight Zone-esque. The cop who beat you up yesterday is now suddenly trying to be your friend?
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