Click on any story below to read!
TORONTANAMO: Recollections Of A Concerned Citizen Who Was Detained At The G20 Summit
by T. Michael Douglas
3/2/2011 3:39:00 AM
Becky's Story
by Becky Russell
7/21/2010
"Catch & Release"
by Nathan Adler
7/16/2010 12:11:00 PM
Jail experience harrowing
by Skylar Radojkovic, Owen Sound Sun Times
7/13/2010
Bad News at Bancroft Avenue
by Dylan C. Robertson
7/13/2010
Arrested And Jailed In Toronto – A G20 Protestor’s Firsthand Account
by Sarah Pruyn
7/7/2010
Of my illegal detention (with 899 others) and the G20 protests
by Ben Powless, Organizer, Defenders of the Land
7/5/2010
Independent Journalist, Daniel Adam MacIsaac
by Ali Mustafa
7/5/2010
Ashamed
by Tracey Cox
7/3/2010
"The story of my unjust arrest" - Lacy MacAuley
by Lacy MacAuley
7/1/2010 10:32:00 PM
Without provocation, they attacked our peaceful protest”
by Adrian Naylor
7/1/2010
One woman held by police 'didn't even know what the G20 was'
by Alison Hendersen
7/1/2010
“They were going to release us until this one cop came and saw that we had the legal number written on our arms. She then said that we were elegible for arrest.”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“several police officers lining the west side of the street had removed their names and badge numbers”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“they were detaining me until I told them where I was staying in Toronto”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“They demanded identification and searches of bags and persons, without cause, and under the threat of physical violence, detention and legal action”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“I was beat roughly 20 times with batons”
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
“blood poured out of his head, down his face and on to my friends jacket, dripping on my pants”
by Bethany Horne
7/1/2010
Queen & John Eyewitness Report
by Emily B.
7/1/2010
untitled
by James
7/1/2010
“I cannot stress this enough: it was a completely peaceful protest. People were being arrested in a brutal, violent, and seemingly random way.”
by Johanna Lewis
7/1/2010
“I was there as a monitor for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. . . like many others, I was never given an opportunity to remove myself from the intersection”
by Julia Croome
7/1/2010
“It is important to note the horrid conditions in the jail. The cells, which were over-glorified dog cages, were often over-crowded.”
by Maximilian Pacheco
7/1/2010
“I have been having nightmares”
by Natasha Borris
7/1/2010
“At no time during the detention was anyone in my cage allowed to speak with a lawyer”
by Philip Boyle
7/1/2010
“police said they had the right to conduct these searches”
by Robert Bertuzzi
7/1/2010
what happened last night at queen and spadina g20
by Rodrigo Bravo
7/1/2010
Violence on Toronto streets for G20
by Ryan Bolton
7/1/2010
“Five officers grabbed me, hit me repeatedly with batons and fists, threw me to the concrete, crushed knees into my cheek bone, back and thighs, dragged me on the pavement and put handcuffs on me”.
by Seamus Wolfe
7/1/2010
“I couldn’t sleep last night. I took the day off work, I’m so upset”
by Sherry B. Good
7/1/2010
“I saw many injured detainees with arms in slings and faces bruised and swollen being led quickly with their ankles chained”
by Taiva Tegler
7/1/2010
“In a matter of seconds, without warning, we were trapped. Our questions were met with blank stares, our panic with more pushing, complaints with arrest”
by Terra Dafoe
7/1/2010
“we were staging a peaceful protest when riot police surrounded us on all sides and would not let us leave”
by Trevor Grant
7/1/2010
Of a million G20 stories in this taken city, this was mine
If anything, there was less black being worn on Queen than usual
by Tabatha Southey
7/1/2010
Personal Experience
by Greg Stones
7/1/2010
'Unlawful Assembly'
by Syl Grady
7/1/2010
untitled
by Karen Nickel
7/1/2010
untitled
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
Mourning Canadian democracy
by Roberta McQuade
7/1/2010
untitled
by Kiel Widmeyer
7/1/2010
In His Own Words (Interview Transcript)
by Jesse Rosenfeld
7/1/2010
untitled
by Neil Stanton
7/1/2010
Singer Marc Mysterio caught in Toronto riots during video shoot
by Marc Mysterio
7/1/2010
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”
by John Pruyn
7/1/2010
How I Got Arrested and Abused at the G20 in Toronto, Canada
by Tommy Taylor
note: photos/videos are not included in this but all text is original. To read this story with images, please click on 'Source' above
7/1/2010
Man and family being picked up from work brutality attacked by police
by Anonymous
7/1/2010
and this time, it won't be me.
by A Canadian Serviceman
7/1/2010
Fear and mayhem in Toronto
by Lawrence McCurry
7/1/2010
My Experience
by Jesse Miller
7/1/2010
Inside Torontanamo
by Matt Shultz
7/1/2010
Beaten by police before being arrested
by Andrew Stakhov
7/1/2010
Don't breathe or I'll kill you
by Facebook User: Drew Ferguson
7/1/2010
“I was held for 21 hours for peacefully protesting.”
by Marc Gleeson
6/30/2010
Thugs take over Queen's Park
by Matthew Webb
6/29/2010 10:08:00 AM
How I Ended Up In A G20 Jail
by Michael Talbot
6/29/2010
Union Station Washroom
by Andrei Poliakov
6/28/2010 5:30:00 PM
I was just harassed by Toronto Police
by Mike Brock, Western Standard
6/28/2010
Sonia's Story
by Sonia Zawitkowski
6/27/2010
Luke's Story
by Luke Keeler
6/27/2010
Someone call 911!
by Eda Martinovic
6/27/2010
Selwyn arrested at G20 protest
by Selwyn Firth, Mayoral Candidate
6/27/2010
Civil Rights, Interrupted: A G20 Arrest
by Mark Donald
6/26/2010
My Story - Help ID This Criminal!
by Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy
6/26/2010
Pre-G20 Atrocities
by Sean Salvati
6/23/2010
Eye Witness Accounts
My Experience
by: Jesse Miller
I have filed complaints with the OIPRD and CCLA, and have to file more regarding another incident earlier in the day. I have not spoken to local media yet. My fiance was with me, but after I was grabbed I had no clue what happened to her. I will not provide her account here. This will be strictly my experiences. Please feel free to comment, and perhaps donate email addresses of where I may want to send the story of my experience. It was a traumatic experience, so everything is to the best of my recollection.. If someone has a correction or anything please inform me directly.
My fiance and I were arrested at Queen and Spadina on Sunday the 27th while on our way home from the G20 summit protest. We were walking down Queen to try and get to Church where we parked. We had normally taken Richmond to get to our car, as that is the route we learned over the course of Saturday and Sunday. However, there was a hot dog vendor on Queen so we stopped for a bite to eat. We ended up walking down Queen and came to the bike block, where there was already a multitude of people. We intended to stop for a few last photos before heading home. By the time we stopped for a few last photos and and got to the other side we realized we were facing another line of riot police. In fact we were boxed in. We asked how to leave and were not given any answers, nor allowed to leave. I held my fiance while using my other hand to hold a peace sign as high as I could and taking pictures/video, while we sang O' Canada and chanting etc. Thats when they corralled everyone. Again we were desperately asking what was going on and how to leave.
It was like this for some time, then I saw one person get taken violently by an officer, dragged backwards by the neck in a strangle hold. I then saw an officer point at us and say "them next". Before the officer reached in for me, I shot both hands straight up and said 'Man, I will go anywhere you want me to'. The officer then yelled 'come here' and grabbed me by the neck and threw me to the ground yelling 'Get on the ground'. I was quickly surrounded by officers, though I don't know how many, and as I had been thrown down I dropped my phone. One officer 'nudged'me in the stomach, while another demanded my hands behind my back. I was trying to put my hands behind my back but the officer held them in place and yelled 'STOP RESISTING'. I think one of them may have been kneeling on me, but I couldn't see. After my hands were behind my back I lifted my head off the pavement slightly and pleaded with the officer (I could only see the toe of his boot at this point) to grab my phone off the ground, it is brand new and I had to re-sign a 3 year commitment to get it. The officer then said "where's your phone?", his boot was on top of it and he was swiveling around a bit, scraping on the pavement, I stated "its right there under your boot, please just put it in my pocket or take it" he replied, 'what, this phone?' and stepped on it with his boot, crushing it. He then also stepped on my sunglasses that were also on the ground. He then grabbed my hair at the back of my head and hit my face off the pavement THREE times, while saying 'you like that? HUH? You like that?'.
More than one officer then pulled my head back as they simultaneously put a foot in my back, after which two plain clothes officers hauled me into an alley to check my belongings and book them. The whole time the 'zip ties' that they were using for handcuffs were getting tighter and tighter, until it felt like my circulation was being cut off. I asked the officer that was attending me as I awaited my photograph to be taken and put in the bus, if there was anything he could do about it, I asked if they are supposed to self tighten. He said 'good, they aren't supposed to be comfortable' and pulled my hands which served to pull the cuffs tighter. They remained this way until I was boarded onto the bus, where I was fitted with handcuffs after a difficult and painful removal of the 'zip ties', and hauled away to a 'temporary holding facility', all the while those of us on the bus were being called criminals.
There was another man on the bus who identified himself as a type 2 diabetic, who alerted the court officers on the bus, and at one point was given the reply of 'you should have thought of that beforehand'. However, eventually they brought him a small bottle of orange juice. Some of the people that were being hauled off to the holding facility with me, had their shoes taken and were made to stand in the rain in their socks. When we got to the facility, I was shocked to see that there wasn't any semblance of cells from what I have seen of them, in fact they were merely cages in an empty warehouse at Toronto Film Studios, with a porta-potty with the door ripped off, and next to nothing for bathroom tissue. There was about a dozen of us in our one cage (of many in the building), with only a bench big enough for 4-5 people, and the rest of us had to stand/sit/lie on a damaged concrete floor with paint chips everywhere, once again, many of us, in socks. I was fortunate enough to keep my shoes through the ordeal. In the cages we still had to wear 'zip ties'. We were also denied water, or rather told we could have water, but they didn't bring any. There were about 8 half drank water bottles sitting on boxes just outside our cage, we even asked for those to drink. There was an orange placed on a box, just outside the cage on another side. The officers had also let garbage (empty styrofoam cups mostly) build up on the cage floor. There was one officer who helped me locate my fiance who was put in the cage some time after I was. He seemed to be the only one showing that he was human inside. I called to her from across the warehouse to make sure she was ok. When I was arrested I was not read a single right, (though I was promised a phone call and access to legal counsel after being in the process line, neither of which were honoured) and I was told on different occasions, that I was being arrested for different reasons. Breach of peace, obstructing, mischief.
In the end, I did not know what the arrest was truly for, until I was on my way out the building, hours later and was read a script by a sergeant, along with 3-4 other people, after again having our photo taken. We were to be released, and no charges were laid. They called it a breach of peace, and told us that if we were to go outside and protest any longer, we would be arrested again, and again placed in the facility, only this time they would charge us with 'obstructing' as they called it. Naming the charge before anything has even been committed, and quelling any sense that I had any rights as a law abiding citizen in Canada. I was then let out a side door into the pouring rain, just hoping my fiance would be released sooner rather than later, as I was telling myself there were to be no charges, just as in my case. Outside I was greeted by medics and concerned people. They gave me food and beverage, and helped me open the 'evidence' bag so I could retrieve what little I had left, and turn my 'evidence bag' into a rain poncho. My fiance came out shortly after me, shivering and crying. She had been standing in the rain for some time before being brought to the 'facility'. We had no idea where we were, and we don't know Toronto as we do not live in Toronto. We started walking in a direction when two concerned citizens on their way to help people being released, stopped and picked us up and gave us a ride to our parked car with the only request that we tell people about our experiences. When we got to our car, there was a parking violation ticket on the windshield. I have not provided an account of my fiance's arrest at this time.
I wish to extend a personal thanks to the couple that helped my fiance and I in a traumatic time. I will remember the kindness always.