[Note: I was not covering the labour / NGO / Peace march — not my bag — but I’m sure someone else from rabble.ca was.]
I’m trying to find the words to describe what Toronto the Good felt like yesterday and all I can think of is: Police State.
It was as if a (domestic) invading army had occupied our city. As the day grew longer, more and more cops appeared on the streets: cops on foot, bikes, horses, driving around in vans and buses.
If there was anyone I was afraid of yesterday, it wasn’t the infamous black bloc, it was the police. If you looked young, looked different=alt-culture, then you were at risk of at least police harassment if not detention or arrest — whether you were an activist or not.
Remember that Queen’s Park was supposed to be the official, state sanctioned, designated “free-speech zone.”
But activists who had congregated there ended up getting penned in by police on all sides as mounted units rode their horses straight through the crowds. From the solidarity line South on University Avenue, we could see groups of protesters attempt to make a mad dash towards freedom, but were always being corralled back.
Police used tear gas on the trapped group, an act the police tried to deny to the media but were later forced to admit in light of all the footage-proof.
Remember: All this happened within the designated, state sanctioned, official “free-speech” zone purposefully set aside for activists.
And no where was safe on the streets.
Covering the radical snake march for rabble.ca, the black bloc and other militant demonstrators took to the downtown core (rough estimate after 3:00 p.m.) where police — as they would later admit — left a few police vehicles unattended out in the middle of the King Street and Bay Street intersection, right in the heart of the financial district. At the time, I tweeted that this had to be a set-up. I might be proven right on this count.
As the black bloc attacked the cop cars, one was set on fire. As the crowd tried to back away from the flames fearing the engine would blow, riot cops pushed us down Bay Street towards the burning car.
Protesters yelled that they felt unsafe being herded right towards a potential explosion, especially since that lit cop car was extremely close to two others which could also potentially explode if gas tanks blew.
Protesters (and David and myself) screamed and begged for mercy not to be pushed towards the burning cars. The police line of riot cops began banging on their shields and with no other choice but to risk arrest, activists moved as fast as they could towards the burning car before making a sharp left.
You could hear the cop car making popping and sizzling noises and could feel the heat as you rushed past on your way to safety.
Turning around, the downtown core was filled with thick toxic smoke that filled the skies.
Cat and mouse games between bands of demonstrators and police occurred through out the late afternoon and early evening. Three other cop cars were set alight.
One police vehicle was set alight on Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue, a great crowd of onlookers (who were attracted by the huge plume of black smoke) gathered and mingled with the activists. Seasoned demonstrators began teaching the newcomers simple protest chants: “G8 / G20 / Their police / Our money!” I remember thinking: wow, we have just radicalized a whole new crop of activists.
As night fell, as I rested for a brief moment on Dundas Street near University Avenue, I saw dozens and dozens of vans and chartered buses filled with cops speeding down University Avenue into the downtown core.
It turns out they were chasing multiple snake marches, include one at Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue, one at Front Street and Yonge Street and one at the Novotel Hotel.
It was at the Novotel hotel that the police yelled for everyone to put their hands on their head and then mass arrested at least 150 activists, including rabbler Ben Powless who managed to tweet out: “Just being arrested. Let the world know we didn’t do anything, just got trapped (behind) police lines.”
Steve Paikin, who was also present at the arrest, tweeted: “I saw police brutality tonight. It was unnecessary.”
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Nick Seebruch, editor
