MPs wade into G20 security swamp
Barely off the plane after grilling CSIS boss Richard Fadden at a special meeting earlier this week, the members of the Commons public safety committee are about to return to Ottawa to explore the security issues stemming from last month’s G20 summit in Toronto.
Don Davies, the NDP member of the committee, has obtained the signatures of his Liberal and Bloc Québécois counterparts on a motion that requires the committee to reconvene no later than Monday of next week.
The New Democrats say the aim of this special summer gathering is to address concerns about the conduct of summit security personnel, violations of civil liberties, violence and property destruction, and the political and operational decisions that led to these problems.
“This is the fastest way to get a form of public inquiry and we want to start getting answers now,” Mr. Davies told The Globe.
As the summit was being conducted behind a security perimeter, stores in downtown Toronto were vandalized and police cars were set ablaze. More than 1,000 people were arrested, but only 263 charged with anything more serious than breach of peace. And there has been criticism of the methods police used to disperse and detain protesters.
“We spent a billion dollars. For a billion dollars, we were supposed to avoid violence; we got violence. We were supposed to protect civil liberties and they weren’t [protected],” Mr. Davies said.
“We need to start rolling our sleeves up now to start getting answers while memories are fresh, while information is still available,” he added. “We just think it’s important that we start a public inquiry of some sort to get to the bottom of whet happened and to try to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Although the event took place in Toronto and the municipal force was the public face of the police during the G20, it was a federal initiative, the NDP MP explained, adding that both the RCMP and CSIS were involved.
“This was a co-ordinated security response and I think those are good question to find out who was responsible for what,” he said. “Who was responsible for making some of the questionable decisions about the suspension of civil liberties? Who did make the decision to hold it in downtown Toronto in the first place.”
The motion will now go to Garry Breitkreuz, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee. Mr. Breitkreuz must give 48-hours notice of the meeting but it must be held within five days.
It looks we are finally getting somewhere with this and there is more and more Pressure on Harper to conduct a public inquiry. The voice is getting louder and louder and more and more people are asking questions.
hardcore trancer
More and more evidence of Police brutality coming out day by day.
Thorold, Ontario Amputee Has His Artificial Leg Ripped Off By Police And Is Slammed In Makeshift Cell During G20 Summit – At Least One Ontario MPP Calls The Whole Episode “Shocking”
July 5, 2010
By Doug Draper
John Pruyn wasn’t much in the mood for celebrating Canada Day this year.
How could he be after the way he was treated a few days earlier in Toronto by figures of authority most of us were brought up to respect, our publicly paid-for police forces who are supposed to be there to serve and protect peaceful, law-abiding citizens like him.
The 57-year-old Thorold, Ontario resident – an employee with Revenue Canada and a part-time farmer who lost a leg above his knee following a farming accident 17 years ago – was sitting on the grass at Queen’s Park with his daughter Sarah and two other young people this June 26, during the G20 summit, where he assumed it would be safe.
As it turned out, it was a bad assumption because in came a line of armoured police, into an area the city had promised would be safe for peaceful demonstrations during the summit. They closed right in on John and his daughter and the two others and ordered them to move. Pruyn tried getting up and he fell, and it was all too slow for the police.
As Sarah began pleading with them to give her father a little time and space to get up because he is an amputee, they began kicking and hitting him. One of the police officers used his knee to press Pruyn’s head down so hard on the ground, said Pruyn in an interview this July 4 with Niagara At Large, that his head was still hurting a week later.
Accusing him of resisting arrest, they pulled his walking sticks away from him, tied his hands behind his back and ripped off his prosthetic leg. Then they told him to get up and hop, and when he said he couldn’t, they dragged him across the pavement, tearing skin off his elbows , with his hands still tied behind his back. His glasses were knocked off as they continued to accuse him of resisting arrest and of being a “spitter,” something he said he did not do. They took him to a warehouse and locked him in a steel-mesh cage where his nightmare continued for another 27 hours.
“John’s story is one of the most shocking of the whole (G20 summit) weekend,” said the Ontario New Democratic Party’s justice critic and Niagara area representative Peter Kormos, who has called for a public inquiry into the conduct of security forces during the summit. “He is not a young man and he is an amputee. …. John is not a troublemaker. He is a peacemaker and like most of the people who were arrested, he was never charged with anything , which raises questions about why they were arrested in the first place.”
Pruyn told Niagara At Large that he never was given a reason for his arrest . When he was being kicked and hand-tied, police yelled at him that he was resisting arrest. Then a court officer approached him two hours before his release on Sunday evening, June 27, and told him he should not still be there in that steel -mesh cage. So why were Pruyn and his daughter Sarah, a University of Guelph student, who was locked up somewhere else, detained in a makeshift jails for more than 24 hours, along with many other mostly young people who, so far as he could hear and see, had nothing to do with the smashing of windows and torching of a few police cars by a few hundred so-called ‘Black Bloc’ hooligans that weekend?
Why was Pruyn slammed in a cell without his glasses and artificial limb, with no water to drink in the heat for five hours and only a cement floor to sit and sleep on before his captors finally gave him a wheelchair? Why was he never read his rights or even granted the opportunity to make one phone call to a lawyer or his family – the same rights that would be granted to a notorious criminal like Clifford Olsen or Paul Bernardo?
He never received an answer to these questions and, he said, “I was never told I was charged with anything.” Neither were many of the others who were penned up in that warehouse with him, including one person who was bound to a wheelchair because was paralyzed on one side and begging, over and over again, to go to the washroom before finally wetting his pants.
Pruyn said others in the warehouse begged for a drink of water and younger people made futile pleas to call their parents to at least let them know where they were. In the meantime, Pruyn’s wife, Susan, was frantically trying to find out from the police and others what happened to her husband and daughter. She found out nothing until they were finally released 27 hours after she was supposed to meet back with them at a subway station near Queen’s Park.
So what was this all about and why were John and Sue Pruyn arrested if they were part of the gathering of peaceful demonstrators in the Queen’s Park area? Was their crime to dare to come to Toronto in the first place and join with those who express concerns about the G20 and whether it has any concern at all for the environment, for people living in poverty, for fair access to health care and other issues important to people around the world who fall into the category of ‘have nots’?
Pruyn wonders if the idea of the crackdown was to send a message to the public at large that gatherings of opposition to government policies won’t be tolerated. “That is (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper’s attitude,” he said. “He doesn’t like dissent in his own (party) ranks.”
Kormos said some might respond to the crackdown against the G20 summit demonstrators by saying that they should have stayed home or they should not have been there, or that if they were swept up by the police, they should have nothing to worry about if they did nothing wrong. But that misses the point, he said. It misses the possibility that this was another example of the province and country sliding down a path of clamping down on citizens’ right to gather together and express views that may not be popular with the government of the day.
Kormos stressed again that a public inquiry is needed, not only for those demonstrators arrested and roughed up during the summit, but for those shop owners in Toronto that had their stores vandalized by a horde of hooligans with little apparent presence of police officers to prevent it.
Asked if there was any possibility a few hundred black-clad vandals were allowed to run wild to make the thousands of people there to demonstrate peacefully look badly, Kormos responded; “That’s why we need a public inquiry.”
Susan Pruyn agreed. “ We need a public inquiry for all of the people who went (to Toronto) with good intentions and who ended up suffering that weekend,” she said.
Abercrombie
quote:
Originally posted by psyrel
Thorold, Ontario Amputee Has His Artificial Leg Ripped Off By Police And Is Slammed In Makeshift Cell During G20 Summit – At Least One Ontario MPP Calls The Whole Episode “Shocking”
Thorold, Ontario Amputee Has His Artificial Leg Ripped Off By Police And Is Slammed In Makeshift Cell During G20 Summit – At Least One Ontario MPP Calls The Whole Episode “Shocking”
July 5, 2010
By Doug Draper
John Pruyn wasn’t much in the mood for celebrating Canada Day this year.
How could he be after the way he was treated a few days earlier in Toronto by figures of authority most of us were brought up to respect, our publicly paid-for police forces who are supposed to be there to serve and protect peaceful, law-abiding citizens like him.
The 57-year-old Thorold, Ontario resident – an employee with Revenue Canada and a part-time farmer who lost a leg above his knee following a farming accident 17 years ago – was sitting on the grass at Queen’s Park with his daughter Sarah and two other young people this June 26, during the G20 summit, where he assumed it would be safe.
As it turned out, it was a bad assumption because in came a line of armoured police, into an area the city had promised would be safe for peaceful demonstrations during the summit. They closed right in on John and his daughter and the two others and ordered them to move. Pruyn tried getting up and he fell, and it was all too slow for the police.
As Sarah began pleading with them to give her father a little time and space to get up because he is an amputee, they began kicking and hitting him. One of the police officers used his knee to press Pruyn’s head down so hard on the ground, said Pruyn in an interview this July 4 with Niagara At Large, that his head was still hurting a week later.
Accusing him of resisting arrest, they pulled his walking sticks away from him, tied his hands behind his back and ripped off his prosthetic leg. Then they told him to get up and hop, and when he said he couldn’t, they dragged him across the pavement, tearing skin off his elbows , with his hands still tied behind his back. His glasses were knocked off as they continued to accuse him of resisting arrest and of being a “spitter,” something he said he did not do. They took him to a warehouse and locked him in a steel-mesh cage where his nightmare continued for another 27 hours.
“John’s story is one of the most shocking of the whole (G20 summit) weekend,” said the Ontario New Democratic Party’s justice critic and Niagara area representative Peter Kormos, who has called for a public inquiry into the conduct of security forces during the summit. “He is not a young man and he is an amputee. …. John is not a troublemaker. He is a peacemaker and like most of the people who were arrested, he was never charged with anything , which raises questions about why they were arrested in the first place.”
Pruyn told Niagara At Large that he never was given a reason for his arrest . When he was being kicked and hand-tied, police yelled at him that he was resisting arrest. Then a court officer approached him two hours before his release on Sunday evening, June 27, and told him he should not still be there in that steel -mesh cage. So why were Pruyn and his daughter Sarah, a University of Guelph student, who was locked up somewhere else, detained in a makeshift jails for more than 24 hours, along with many other mostly young people who, so far as he could hear and see, had nothing to do with the smashing of windows and torching of a few police cars by a few hundred so-called ‘Black Bloc’ hooligans that weekend?
Why was Pruyn slammed in a cell without his glasses and artificial limb, with no water to drink in the heat for five hours and only a cement floor to sit and sleep on before his captors finally gave him a wheelchair? Why was he never read his rights or even granted the opportunity to make one phone call to a lawyer or his family – the same rights that would be granted to a notorious criminal like Clifford Olsen or Paul Bernardo?
He never received an answer to these questions and, he said, “I was never told I was charged with anything.” Neither were many of the others who were penned up in that warehouse with him, including one person who was bound to a wheelchair because was paralyzed on one side and begging, over and over again, to go to the washroom before finally wetting his pants.
Pruyn said others in the warehouse begged for a drink of water and younger people made futile pleas to call their parents to at least let them know where they were. In the meantime, Pruyn’s wife, Susan, was frantically trying to find out from the police and others what happened to her husband and daughter. She found out nothing until they were finally released 27 hours after she was supposed to meet back with them at a subway station near Queen’s Park.
So what was this all about and why were John and Sue Pruyn arrested if they were part of the gathering of peaceful demonstrators in the Queen’s Park area? Was their crime to dare to come to Toronto in the first place and join with those who express concerns about the G20 and whether it has any concern at all for the environment, for people living in poverty, for fair access to health care and other issues important to people around the world who fall into the category of ‘have nots’?
Pruyn wonders if the idea of the crackdown was to send a message to the public at large that gatherings of opposition to government policies won’t be tolerated. “That is (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper’s attitude,” he said. “He doesn’t like dissent in his own (party) ranks.”
Kormos said some might respond to the crackdown against the G20 summit demonstrators by saying that they should have stayed home or they should not have been there, or that if they were swept up by the police, they should have nothing to worry about if they did nothing wrong. But that misses the point, he said. It misses the possibility that this was another example of the province and country sliding down a path of clamping down on citizens’ right to gather together and express views that may not be popular with the government of the day.
Kormos stressed again that a public inquiry is needed, not only for those demonstrators arrested and roughed up during the summit, but for those shop owners in Toronto that had their stores vandalized by a horde of hooligans with little apparent presence of police officers to prevent it.
Asked if there was any possibility a few hundred black-clad vandals were allowed to run wild to make the thousands of people there to demonstrate peacefully look badly, Kormos responded; “That’s why we need a public inquiry.”
Susan Pruyn agreed. “ We need a public inquiry for all of the people who went (to Toronto) with good intentions and who ended up suffering that weekend,” she said.
That is really sickening to read.:whip: yet many still chose to believe the Police had every in right to do what they did. Give a break already and wake the up. More and more evidence is coming out everyday on the Police brutality during the G20 summit.
Abercrombie
He was certainly stumped by the police.
hardcore trancer
quote:
Originally posted by Abercrombie
He was certainly stumped by the police.
I'm guessing you are ok with that?
*~LiSa-LoO~*
Was just sent this msg:
quote:
My city councilor has advised me of the following:
At yesterday’s meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board, the Board formally established an Independent Civilian Review of the G20 Summit.
This review will identify and study the issues raised by the Board and the public regarding the oversight, governance, accountability, transparency, communications, and supervision.
Within the next two weeks, the Board will finalize and present the Terms of Reference for the Review. We invite the public to make recommendations on the Terms of Reference.
With the release of the Terms of Reference, the Board will also announce the individual who will lead the review. The Board is currently pursuing a person to lead the Review who has a high level of experience and skill in reviewing complex matters such as this, and whose neutrality and support from all sides will be above reproach.
The Review will last about 8 to 12 weeks. The Review will conclude with a report to the Board with recommendations regarding policy and structural issues.
Individual complaints should be forwarded to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, Gerry McNeilly. The website is www.oiprd.on.ca.
The public submissions with regards to the Terms of Reference can be made to the Board Office at [email protected]. For further information and updates, follow the Chair’s blog at www.tpsb.ca.
hardcore trancer
quote:
Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~*
Was just sent this msg:
quote:
My city councilor has advised me of the following:
At yesterday’s meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board, the Board formally established an Independent Civilian Review of the G20 Summit.
This review will identify and study the issues raised by the Board and the public regarding the oversight, governance, accountability, transparency, communications, and supervision.
Within the next two weeks, the Board will finalize and present the Terms of Reference for the Review. We invite the public to make recommendations on the Terms of Reference.
With the release of the Terms of Reference, the Board will also announce the individual who will lead the review. The Board is currently pursuing a person to lead the Review who has a high level of experience and skill in reviewing complex matters such as this, and whose neutrality and support from all sides will be above reproach.
The Review will last about 8 to 12 weeks. The Review will conclude with a report to the Board with recommendations regarding policy and structural issues.
Individual complaints should be forwarded to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, Gerry McNeilly. The website is www.oiprd.on.ca.
The public submissions with regards to the Terms of Reference can be made to the Board Office at [email protected]. For further information and updates, follow the Chair’s blog at www.tpsb.ca.
That is unacceptable in many levels, let me give you an example, if you let’s say committed a crime is it fair /justified for you to go and investigate yourself? Also why are they selecting one individual for this so called inquiry?
This is just a way for the Police to deceive the public and trying to put a lid on the problem. This is nowhere near a full public inquiry.
Thanks for sharing Anas, the public must be informed about everything that went down during the G20. Your first video made me very angry. These Cops are all acting like a bunch of wild animals.
I can tell you that they indeed enjoyed beating up the public, since I know at least three Police officers who told me right to my face that they enjoyed being able to do what they want and to beat up people and get paid for it.
