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"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

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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

Luke's Story
by: Luke Keeler

Hi,

My friend and I went to the G-20 protests on Sunday to take part in a peaceful protest. Everybody was having fun and behaving completely within the law, from what I could see, there was absolutely no violence. People were even chanting "peaceful protest" in case the police officers couldn't gather that from pure observation. There is plenty of video footage corroborating the fact that we were all calm, happy, and had no intention of provoking the police or being aggressive in any way.

We were herded along where the cops wanted us to walk as we marched through Toronto. We were blocked off at one point, and we asked the police if they would let us through which they did. We were stopped again by police on bikes, and again they let us through after we asked them to let us through. We continued, but were blocked off at Spadina and Queen, and it seemed as though there was an ulterior motive to them letting us get to Queen and Spadina, and then just stopping us from going any further in any direction.

Once in Queen and Spadina, there was a peaceful sit-in, everyone was singing peaceful songs, like 'O Canada,' everything seemed to be perfectly jolly. The police then began to barricade us, we had no idea what was going on. We didn't think we had to leave, but there began to be a larger police presence. I can understand why there was such a large police presence, perhaps they just wanted to monitor the area completely.

However, suddenly there was no exit in sight. When we realized there was no way of leaving, we began to cry out at the police, "How can we leave?" and "Where do we go?" These questions were not answered, or the police would yell "Move" and begin to barricade us in closer and closer together and it was getting people claustrophobic. We had no idea what was going on. Then the police began to split the group into two and bunch us in even closer together. We still believed at this point that we would be let go, we just thought the police were trying to contain us and keep an eye on us and then let us leave in smaller groups or something, we didn't think we could possibly be arrested.

People began panicking, people were crying, I was worried for my friend that I was with. We saw people being taken out of the group, and we didn't know why they were being picked off because they hadn't done anything wrong. A boy beside us was trying to take a sweater out of his bag and the police pointed a machine gun at him. They arrested him shortly after even though he was being completely cooperative and asking the cops for permission to take out his sweater, telling them exactly what he was doing.

At this point, the cops were being very provocative, aggressive, and I didn't want to get shot at or tear gassed so my friend and i volunteered ourselves up to the police, wanting to get out of the situation. When I volunteered, I was grabbed by my arm, it was twisted back, and shoved out of the crowd. They slammed me onto the ground, I had a knee pressed into my back, even though it was clear that I was volunteering myself and was in no way going to be violent or uncooperative, and this force was completely unnecessary. I looked around, and saw people receiving the same treatment. People's faces were bloody from their heads being slammed down, girls half the police officer's size were being slammed down, even though every single person I saw volunteered to be taken out with no provocation or aggression, and making no indication that they would be a problem for the police.

When we were brought to the arrest line in front of the coffee shop, I was forced to face forward and was not allowed to look around. I had the death grip on my arm the entire time. I was searched, they took my information, and then I was brought to the line to be taken to the detention centre. Once in the line, even though it was clear that it was going to rain, I was asked to take my shoes off for no reason, while the police officers around me laughed at me and smirked, "I'm glad I have my shoes on, eh?" I was asked if I had any medical problems and I told them I was on anxiety medication which they took from me and I was not allowed to take. I was anxious at this point and visibly squirming, trying to deal with the stressfulness of the situation, and the police officer seemed to enjoy this, telling me to stop tapping my foot and doing anything that would allow me to release my tension.

We took the bus to the detention centre after waiting for a long period of time. We sat in rows, were denied water, denied bathrooms, the police would keep saying "soon" to our requests. The court officers seemed nicer than the police officers.

Finally, when we were released, I was led through the detention centre and saw the horrors of it all. It is nothing like how they are being portrayed in the media, because the photos shown after the police cleaned it up have no people in them. With the people stuffed in the cells in the detention centre, they were shivering, crying, pleading for water, there was urine and feces everywhere.

When they were releasing me, I wasn't allowed to put my shoes on even though it was raining and there was a good few millimetres of water on the ground due to flooding, until I was onto the street.

I have completely lost faith in the Canadian government, in the police, and Canada. I feel like I completely lost my human rights for those hours. It was a completely peaceful protest, there were absolutely no weapons, and all of the police officers knew it. The chief of police knows this and the mayor knows this. They have been lying to the media. It's a sad time to be Canadian.

Sincerely,
Luke Keeler
Arrest #5341 (I think)