2010-07-13
Groups launch peoples’ investigation into police abuses at G20
Toronto – Community groups are calling on the public to come forward with photos, video, and eye witness accounts of police violence against civilians during the G20 summits in Toronto. This evidence will be used to ensure that there are consequences for all those who beat and injured people, and for the masterminds who conspired to plan and give orders for the widespread police violence and repression that was experienced by thousands on the streets. Further details can be found at http://g20.torontomobilize.org/PeoplesInvestigation
Press Conference: 11 a.m., Tuesday July 13, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor Street West room 7-216.
“Police seriously injured many people in our city while the G20 met to plan the gutting of our social programs,” said Farrah Miranda of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network. “We are asking the public to help us to expose these incidents, and to ensure that there are consequences for these outrageous abuses of power.”
“These rogue officers did not act alone,” she added. “They were part of a coordinated conspiracy by police chiefs and politicians that led to injuries, the detention of organizers, and the largest arbitrary mass arrest in modern Canadian history. This is not behaviour that should be commended, this is behaviour that should be investigated.”
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is launching an independent peoples’ investigation into the severe and widespread abuses of police power that occurred during the G20 meetings in Toronto, and the collusion of politicians in making and executing those plans. This peoples’ investigation will include representation from community groups, people who were detained and hurt, NGO’s, academics, legal and medical professionals, and the communities who face police repression every day. The investigation will yield a report calling for clear consequences including firings, and charges of those responsible for abuses including:
1. Arbitrary intimidation, searches, mass arrests and abhorrent conditions in detention.
2. Many serious injuries to protesters, including while in handcuffs.
3. Illegal, repeated strip searches, threats of rape, and molestation.
4. Discrimination against deaf people, women, LGBTQ people, Quebecois, organizers, others.
5. Passing of secret laws limiting civil rights, and then misleading the public about their nature.
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is posting today 6 photos of police abuses, and is asking the public to help identify the officers involved. We are also calling on people of conscience within the police and the government to come forward as whistleblowers to expose the decision makers behind this violence. People can contribute photos or other information to our investigation through http://g20.torontomobilize.org/PeoplesInvestigation, by emailing g20PoliceViolence@gmail.com, and by tagging uploaded photos, accounts, and video with #G20PoliceViolence. We cannot ensure the confidentiality of these submissions.
Movement organizations continue to call for:
1. Immediate release of all G20 protest prisoners.
2. Dropping all G20 related charges.
3. Firings and prosecution of those responsible for ordering police violence, and abuses.
4. Abolishment of the G20.
“All of the serious injuries we saw and treated were caused by police violence,” said Dr. Abeer Majeed of the Toronto Street Medics. “We did not come across any police officers or bystanders who were injured by demonstrators. The police abuses that we witnessed against people caused significant trauma, injuries and a shattering of the public trust. It is imperative that there is accountability and there are consequences for these senseless, violent, and dangerous actions.”
“If such abuses of power are not nipped in the bud such crackdowns will be repeated as our communities organize to oppose the cutbacks and suffering imposed by the G20 austerity agenda,” said Jean McDonald, a York University student who had her hand broken by police. “Police violence has long targeted racialized communities. Now all our communities are coming together and the police and politicians are out of control. We need to ensure that those conspiring to hurt people in any community cannot get away with it ever again.”