Reported By Emily Bronswell**
June 26, saturday, Midnight.
Queen Street west and Bathurst
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On the evening of June 26th, I personally witnessed an incident between riot police and a group of peaceful marchers.
At approximatly Midnight, I exited The Club I was attending for a ciggarette, feeling that something was about to go amiss on my beloved queen west.
I heard the chanting, “Who’s streets? OUR STREETS!” … I can’t remember at this point who came from what side, east or west, but frankly it didn’t matter.
I made my way east a block to stand in the cage enclosure around the doorway of velvet underground, who had shut their doors until things calmed. Between the wire bars I watched the marchers assemble in front of the line of riot police which had suddenly marched in from the east. The ratio was about 3 police to each civilian, and these were people I knew by face and name, individuals of peace and non-confrontation who simply were outraged at the police behaviour.
There were about 12 mounted officers, the horses took stance and assembled the front line…
Never in my life will I forget the sound of the batons cracking in rythym against the riot sheilds…I still find myself woken in the night by anything that soundsl ike it…it was an army that had suddenly descended upon our community, like I was watching my worst nightmare come true right in front of me.
The riot police had begun to drive their line west, towards the marchers advancing peacfully. They were now right in front of me, still crouched behind the bars to remain unseen. People were already stepping back and preparing to run. We all knew what was about to happen.
Without any kind of warning at any time, the line of horses charged through towards the crowd, sending them running down the street with no way to go left or right or take cover from being trampled. One idiot threw a plastic signboard from a shop in an attempt of defence, before all of the marchers scattered down the street screaming, running from 12 horses and countless armed men in uniform.
That one tiny little plastic signboard was the only show of retaliation from the marchers during this confrontation, and at no time was any warning or direction given by police to dispurse or stand down. They just met head on, there in the street and charged without reason.
I remember screaming a little as the riot police on foot marchched past me down that street, some of them toting tear gas guns like new toys, locking down the corner of portland and queen much the same as they had locked other areas down in the weekend. One officer as he passed held his rifle pointed towards me and said loudly and frighteningly,
“For your safety mam, close the door!”
First of all, any fool with eyes would see there was no door to close, they had trapped me as an innocent civilian in the line of danger amidst them.
Second, the officers showed absolutely no concern for the safety of club goers and bar patrons present as they effectively locked the confrontation into the area directly in front of said clubs. If things had gotten rough, we all would have suffered dearly.
I shrank far into the shadowy corner as the horses charged at the marchers twice more, and the riot police enclosed the now empty intersection.
I was alone inside that lockdown, watching as they toted their guns with such pride, smiling and joking at their acts of repression and violence against these innocent people, my family, my friends, who spend most of our days on queen west and know it as our own home.
For nearly 10 minutes, the riot police stood without purpose, toting guns carelessly like children and waving teargas guns like lunchboxes… they were surounding the empty intersection simply to show they had “secured it” from these “violent protestors”
After this time, for no apparent reason other than their own choice, and again with no verbal communication at any time to the group assembled or the civilians present, the police began to march backwards in retrea- style eastward, allowing the marchers to come forward in the direction they’d wanted to. They did so with a cheer, and continued as they had begun, marching and chanting with no violence to mar their message.
Who’s street?
Our street.
The way the officers moved made it look like they were being attacked, and yet nearly 100 feet remained between their guns and the people at all times. They were like soldiers in a video game, programmed to react in a certain way at certain times….
I thought about the whole thing in conjunction with the turn of social standards that queen west has taken on with the new development in that area, how it is becomming a new kind of living and nightspot for a more mainstream crowd, and how the alternative community has been slowly and systematically moved off….
I have come to the conclusion that this incident was directly part of the G20 scripting, a planned confrontation to make it appear to clubgoers that the activism/alternative community were causing the issue at hand. The riot police seemed to be displaying a show of power to the bar patrons, and how “dangerous” and “violent” things would have been had they not been there to defend the streets.
Let me tell you something officers — Your job was to protect me as an innocent bystander from not only the violence of these supposed dissdents, but also from your own fucking carelessness in conducting your jobs.
I was a civilian that got caught in the crossfire. Your job was to prevent that. Tell me what is it exactly you accomplished that night other than scaring the shit out of our own citizens?
Wait, I forgot that was the whole reason G20 got dumped in our lap. To show us true fear and repression and send us running into the arms of the government for their protection from their own rules.
One consistency in the actions which I will note on in furute posts is that at all confrontations where police brutality was reported, onlookers and pedestrians were kept back far enough out of veiwing and camera range to ensure that the information comming out of that zone could be manipulated in any way the police saw fit. This is why people filming at the lines were told to get back, lest the truth be captured for us all to see
Toronto: Wake up, ask questions, be involved, be a witness to your reality
I have-I do-I am-You can too
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**(Names changed for privacy protection)
Toronto Truth 