Two investigative reports from Ontario’s police complaints watchdog – obtained yesterday by the Star from complainants – concluded that three senior police officers committed misconduct at the G20 summit two years ago.

Jayme Poisson and Jennifer Yang

In an open letter to Torontonians, Police Chief Bill Blair said Friday he accepts responsibility for the actions of his police service and its members during the G20 summit, but stopped short of an apology.

“I will ensure that the lessons we learn during the G20 are incorporated into our procedures, our training and our future response. I am also fully committed to holding police officers of any rank accountable for misconduct,” the chief said.

“I remain committed to the safety of our city and all its citizens. I remain committed to restoring the confidence of the people we are sworn to serve and protect.”

What happened: More than 700 people began marching north on Bay St. from King St., then headed west on Queen St. By the time they hit the intersection of Queen and Spadina Ave., the crowd had grown to include media and bystanders. There they were boxed in by police using a controversial crowd-control move called “kettling.”

What the report found: When night shift Incident Commander Mark Fenton took control of the Major Incident Command Centre (MICC) he ordered more police public order units and officers on bicycles to the intersection to “box in the group and arrest them all for conspiracy to commit mischief,” said the report. At 7 p.m., a heavy downpour soaked protesters and police.

The weather made it difficult for commanders on the ground to shout instructions to the crowd, many of whom couldn’t hear them. On two occasions, public order unit commanders requested to use the long-range acoustic device (LRAD), but were denied by the command centre. The report quotes audio notes from an OPP public order section commander reporting concerns that people contained would “start dropping” from hypothermia. Specific instances included two young girls who lived in the area and a middle-aged couple out biking, both shivering.

A Toronto G20 protester was found not guilty today on all charges of possessing explosives and counselling mischief stemming for a police sweep in June 2010.

Byron Sonne was arrested during the massive police sweep of his Toronto home, just days before the G20 summit was set to open.

On Tuesday, Justice Nancy Spies said the Crown had not proven any of the charges against the 39-year-old, self-described security expert.

The judge told the Toronto court there’s no evidence to suggest Sonne meant to create explosives or cause any real damage at the G20, and that if he were intending to build a bomb, he probably wouldn’t do it inside his own home.

The decision means Sonne is immediately free, although he has been out on bail for the past year.

Sonne spent 11 months in detention.

Für 10 italienische Genossen, die in einem Mammutverfahren anlässlich der Proteste gegen den G8 in Genua in zweiter Instanz zu insgesamt knapp 100 Jahren Haft verurteilt wurden, steht am 13. Juli die letzte Instanz bevor. In zweiter Instanz waren folgende Strafmaße verhängt worden: Vincenzo P.: 15 Jahre, Vincenzo V.: 13 Jahre, 3 Monate, Marina: 12 Jahre, 3 Monate, Luca:10 Jahre, 9 Monate, Alberto: 10 Jahre, Carlo A.: 8 Jahre, Carlo C.: 8 Jahre, Antonio: 8 Jahre, Dario: 7 Jahre, Ines: 6 Jahre und 6 Monate. Die Prognose ist denkbar schlecht: der Kassationshof prüft eigentlich nur die prozeduralen Aspekte des Verfahrens.

Julian Ichim, the anti-poverty activist once accused of being a G20 co-conspirator, has filed a notice of claim to sue the Crown, Toronto police and his former “good friend” who was actually an undercover officer tasked with infiltrating activist groups.

In a notice filed with the Crown’s office Wednesday, Ichim alleges Ontario Provincial Police Const. Bindo Showan — who went by the name “Khalid Mohammed” — overstepped his lawful authority by encouraging criminal acts and driving drunk while working as an undercover police officer ahead of the June 2010 summit in Toronto.

Ichim claims his Charter rights were violated and that Showan provided “false and misleading information” that resulted in his unlawful arrest. He also alleges he was beaten by Toronto police, strip searched and subjected to “cruel and unusual treatment” at the G20 temporary jail.

• Aufruf in deutsch

According to a protocol of the EU Council working group on “Terrorism”, the European police agency EUROPOL is organising a conference on anarchism on the 24th and 25th of April 2012 in The Hague. According to media reports, there will be a presentation by the Italian delegation on the activities of the „Federazione Anarchica Informale“ (F.A.I.) and the conference will also discuss actions against “railway infrastructures” and against the “No Border Network”.

“Railway infrastructure”? WTF?!

Very much in line with general European politics, the actual content and intention of the organisers remains in the dark. What, for example, is meant by the term “railway infrastructure”: It seems reasonable to assume that it refers to the protests against the “railway infrastructure” Stuttgart 21 in Germany as well as the high speed connection “Treno ad Alta Velocità” (TAV) which is planned from Turin to Lyon. Both projects were strongly opposed by local communities and this resistance has of course also been strongly supported by a variety of Italian and German left social movements. In this context the German government speaks of “left wing extremism and terrorism” and its alleged “attacks on train transports”.

It can be assumed that the planned EUROPOL conference aims at shifting the legitimate resistance against pointless large-scale projects and dangerous technologies into the focus of conservative securocrats. This would fit the picture of the governments’ politics and their police, which repeat untrue claims that protestors would accept fatalities and should be classified as “terrorists”. Thereby it is the police themselves which endanger lives, namely by using violence and terrorizing methods against politically engaged people. Recent examples are the No-TAV activist “Luca”, who suffered from life threatening injuries after falling from high attitude because of police action; or the young man who was shot in the head with a rubber bullet by a cop at the Spanish general strike against the capitalist policies to tackle the crisis.

Matthias Monroy

Anonymous hat Webseiten mehrerer Ministerien lahmgelegt, um gegen die Repression gegen linke Aktivisten zu protestieren. Die Aktion steht unter anderem im Kontext des G8-Gipfels in Genua

“Hallo, Bundesministerium für Inneres, Verteidigung und Polizei”, grüßten Netzaktivisten letztes Wochenende auf der Webseite der italienischen Sektion von Anonymous. Die Hacker hatten kurz zuvor die Webseiten der beiden Ministerien sowie der dem Militär unterstellten Carabinieri lahmgelegt. In dem anlässlich der Blockade verbreiteten Posting wird das Vorgehen gegen den Streik von Arbeitern des Aluminiumkonzerns Alcoa kritisiert. Jugendliche wie Erwachsene wurden dabei gleichsam mit Polizeiknüppeln traktiert. Die Aktion galt auch dem Vorgehen gegen die “No TAV”-Bewegung, die seit rund 20 Jahren gegen eine Hochgeschwindigkeitsverbindung von Turin ins französische Lyon protestiert (Europol und das Gespenst des Anarchismus). Im Februar nahmen rund 70.000 Menschen an einer neuerlichen Demonstration teil. Die Polizei kriminalisiert die Bewegung und behauptet, die Demonstranten würden Tote in Kauf nehmen. Daher würden sie als “terroristisch” gelten. Gleichzeitig griffen die Beamten zu rabiaten Methoden: Bei der Räumung von Baumbesetzern ließ die Polizei einen Kletterer aus großer Höhe abstürzen, worauf dieser lebensgefährlich verletzt wurde und mehrere Tage in Koma lag.

A former TTC employee admits he did some stupid, goofy things during the G20 protests, including jumping up and down on an abandoned police cruiser on Queen St. W.

He also joined others trying to flip the car over, retreating when told to stop, playing with police radios and removing Toronto Police Service papers scattered inside the vehicle.

But Ashan Ravindhraraj, 27, says he did not set the fire that engulfed the scout car parked in the middle of Queen, just east of Spadina Ave., on June 26, 2010, one of the more indelible images of that notorious weekend.

At the outset of his trial last week, the first G20 case to be heard in front of a Toronto jury, Ravindhraraj pleaded guilty to two counts of mischief to property but pleaded not guilty to arson.

The final review of police actions at the G20 summit in Toronto will cost nearly twice as much as original estimates and could come months later than expected.

The civilian board that commissioned the report had hoped it would be ready late last month, 18 months after the process began. But an 11th-hour release of documents – provided by the RCMP in February – prompted reviewers to push that timeline back.

“Because new information became available, even though it was further down the road, we obviously had to look at it,” said Ryan Teschner, a lawyer for the Independent Civilian Review. “Unfortunately, timelines are not the same for everybody and we have to take a look at the information as it comes to us.”

Byron Sonne

The trial of a Forest Hill computer consultant charged with plotting to attack the Toronto G20 summit resumed Monday after a months-long hiatus.

Byron Sonne, who stands charged with possessing explosive substances and counselling the commission of mischief not committed, was arrested in the lead-up to the 2010 world leaders’ summit.

On Monday, the court heard from Detective Constable David Ouellette, a Toronto police officer seconded to the RCMP’s integrated national security enforcement team. Det. Const. Ouellette described a number of materials found on Mr. Sonne’s computer after his arrest, including a torrent file showing the accused had uploaded a document called Security Culture: A Handbook for Activists.

Jayme Poisson

It was an image that came to represent just about everything that went wrong with policing during the G20 Summit. One badgeless officer, face covered with a gas mask and visor, apparently kicking a protester in the back at Queen’s Park.

Nearly two years later, Nikos Kapetaneas, the 25-year-old environmentalist pictured in the photograph, body tense and face wincing, finally has the name of the officer: Const. Oliver Simpson — also implicated in the high-profile Adam Nobody case.

Caitlin Morgan claims she was next to her partner Kapetaneas when she was kicked forcefully in the side by the same cop on the Saturday of the June 2010 summit. The couple is suing the Toronto Police Services Board (who employs Toronto Police officers) for negligence, assault and battery, and intimidation. The two separate lawsuits, filed last week in small claims court, seek $25,000 each in damages.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. Police have not yet been served the lawsuit, said the couple’s lawyer Davin Charney.

Wendy Gillis

Toronto police have settled a human rights claim filed by a paraplegic man arrested during the G20 summit, but the terms will not be made public due to a confidentiality clause.

Gabriel Jacobs, a panhandler paralyzed from the waist down, filed a claim with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario last year, after he was arrested during the 2010 summit and later released without charge.

According to the claim, Jacobs was “dragged” from his motorized wheelchair, thrown into the back of a police cruiser and left on the floor of a temporary G20 detention centre where he defecated on himself because guards refused to help him.

Tess Sheldon, Jacobs’ lawyer, told the Star the claim was settled Friday, but said the terms “remain confidential.”

White House gives no reason for shift, saying only that Obama is inviting leaders to Maryland to ‘facilitate free-flowing discussion’

Barack Obama has moved the planned G8 meeting of the world’s top nations from Chicago to the president’s fortified Camp David compound.

The meeting of the world’s richest nations was originally scheduled for Obama’s home town of Chicago on 18-19 May. The G8 summit has often been a target for activists and was this year expected to attract massive protests from the Occupy movement and others.

In a statement, the White House said it had moved the venue “to facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G8 partners”.

Obama had originally planned to follow the G8 meeting in Chicago with a meeting with Nato leaders that is expected to discuss the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan. The Nato meeting will still go ahead in Chicago.

Occupy Chicago, others elated and still plan city marches

By David Heinzmann and John Chase

Protesters gearing up for Chicago’s spring gathering of world leaders cheered the news that the G-8 summit is being moved to Camp David while maintaining that the city would remain a major magnet for demonstrators during that weekend’s NATO gathering.

About 30 people showed up at Occupy Chicago headquarters for a regularly scheduled meeting where Monday’s developments were suddenly a main topic of debate.

“I don’t think we alone are the cause but I think we can take some credit,” said Andy Thayer, a protest organizer who called President Barack Obama’s G-8 decision “a victory for our side.”

Out-of-town protesters noted the summits are two months away and said demonstrators already have committed to their plans.

Chris Young

The officer was off duty at the time of the alleged offence, police say

A Toronto police officer has been charged with committing mischief and an indecent act after allegedly peeping into an apartment window.

Police say Constable Johnathon Blair, 30, “committed an indecent act while looking into a nearby apartment window” on Feb. 4. The location was not specified, but authorities say it was near the accused’s home.

Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash would not clarify what Const. Blair was allegedly doing in front of the window, noting the matter is now before the courts.

Const. Blair, who has five years of service with the Toronto force and is currently attached to 54 Division, was arrested Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court next month.

By Dan Neutel

The G20 Review, an independent body created to study police actions at the during summit protests in Toronto two years ago, has announced it will delay releasing its findings until later in the spring.

It had been hoping to have its final report published by the end of March, but recently received information has caused a delay, the group said Thursday.

“We did estimate that we would be in position sometime in March to have our report completed,” said Ryan Teschner, council to the review. “Given where we’re at right now, and because we’ve received new material, it is difficult for us to make a new prediction.”

The Independent Civilian Review, which began Sept. 23, 2010 by the Toronto Police Services Board, is to determine whether the planning and implementation of police actions during the summit were adequate and effective.

Landgericht Karlsruhe verhandelt über emonstrationsfreiheit
Kampagne 19. Mai ruft zu Kundgebung auf

Am kommenden Dienstag, 6.3.2012 muss sich der Anmelder einer Demonstration am 19. Mai 2007 in zweiter Instanz vor dem Karlsruher Landgericht verantworten. Während der Demonstration gegen Razzien bei Gegnern des G8-Gipfels 2007 sollen einzelne Teilnehmer gegen Auflagen verstoßen haben.
In dem Prozess wird die Frage verhandelt, ob der Anmelder wegen diesen Vorwürfen bestraft werden kann. Ihm selbst wird kein Vergehen zur Last gelegt.

In erster Instanz hatte das Amtsgericht Karlsruhe den Angeklagten im Juni 2008 zu einer Geldstrafe von 60 Tagessätzen verurteilt. Begründet wurde das Urteil mit einer vermeintlichen Untätigkeit des Angeklagten. Seine Verteidigung hatte Freispruch beantragt, weil eine "stellvertretende" Verurteilung nicht zulässig ist und legte Berufung gegen das erstinstanzliche Urteil ein.

_By Kristie Pearce_

A Windsor-area man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for vandalism at Toronto police headquarters during violent protests that greeted the G20 summit in 2010.

Jae Muzzin was one of 317 people charged with committing criminal offences during the gathering of world leaders.

Justice Melvyn Green of the Ontario court in Toronto, said Muzzin appeared to act of character when he broke a window or windows at the police building.

Noting Muzzin's expressions of remorse, his lack of a criminal record and a low probability that he will reoffend, Green ordered that the sentence be served on weekends, followed by a one-year term of probation.

TORONTO - A Guelph activist accused of being an organizer of violent protests during the Toronto G20 summit in 2010 has pleaded guilty to eight charges.

Investigators alleged Kelly Pflug-Back was an organizer of the violence that saw at least five police vehicles burned and storefront windows smashed in the city's downtown.

Pflug-Back pleaded guilty today to one count of wearing a disguise with intent, and seven counts of mischief over $5,000.

She was on a Toronto police list of "most wanted" suspects of the G20 violence.

She surrendered to police in Peterborough, Ont., in July 2010, just hours after a warrant was issued for her arrest via a police press conference in Toronto where she was described as an organizer and active participant in criminal G20 protest actions.

Im Juni 2008 wurde der Anmelder einer bundesweiten Demonstration im Zusammenhang mit dem G8-Gipfel in Heiligendamm vom Amtsgericht Karlsruhe zu 60 Tagessätzen verurteilt. Er soll nicht ausreichend für die Durchsetzung einzelner Auflagen gesorgt haben.

Das Urteil des Amtsrichters Neuberth treibt die Deformierung des Versammlungsrechts auf die Spitze. Damit wäre jede Demoanmeldung ein unkalkulierbares Risiko.

Wir wehren uns gegen die zunehmende Praxis der Behörden, Demonstrationen bereits im Vorfeld mit schikanösen Auflagen zu belegen und durch das Auftreten von Polizeihundertschaften zu kriminalisieren.