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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
Personal Experience
by: Greg Stones
My friend and I had planned to attend the G420 parade and peacefully demonstrate, unfortunately we were late arriving and the GO train stopped running to Union Station and we had to get off at Danforth, take the subway, and then walk south to the protest area. While walking a few unmarked SUV's raced into an intersection, blocked it off and very forcefully yelled at people that they cannot walk down the street, I believe it was several kilometers north of the protests on Yonge. We took a right turn and saw more police down the street and went down an alley which was unguarded. We were in! We walked around for awhile looking at some of the broken windows and commented how sad it was that people would be so violent and hateful and that this was no better than the atrocities which we were protesting.
Eventually, we found a march which we joined up with, it was a mixture of groups including CAW, first nations and water rights. We marched peacefully chanting for some time until the riot police in full gear stepped out into the street and stopped us. We chanted let us through for some time and then a parade ended up on the other side of the street, also facing their own line of police in full riot garb. After an hour, maybe less, all four sides of the intersection had a protest group blocked by police. The police then went about bullying people and splitting the group by use of riot police. I cannot stress enough everything here was entirely peaceful, probably 15,000 people.
After that, I went for dinner at a friend’s downtown apartment and watched some of the coverage on TV and was surprised to see how violence-centric the coverage was. My entire day I never saw any protester being violent, only police. On TV we saw what was occurring on Queen Street and made sure to avoid that area. Later we left to see if we could find another peaceful protest and we found a sit in and which had been surrounded by riot police, trapping them. Crowds started forming chanting "let them out, let them out" which the riot police eventually did and everyone started to march and chant. We managed to get down near the security fence where we had a very small demonstration then continued to march. We marched over to the Novotel Hotel, where the French delegation and possibly a German delegate were staying. We sat down right in front of the hotel and began a demonstration. After 5-10 minutes riot police showed up in front of us and demanded we move. We told them this was a peaceful sit-down protest and nobody would be leaving. After some negotiations and many threats on the part of the riot police, who were all dressed up in gas masks and all, it was agreed that if everyone in the crowd gave the peace sign the riot line would step aside and allow us to continue to march. Unfortunately this was just a trick to keep everyone there, in the time it took us to get everyone to give the peace sign at the same time another police line formed behind us, trapping us. The lines then began charging forward and grabbing people, then retreating. They eventually arrested everyone, 200-300 peaceful protesters, including 2 reporters, 1 for the National Post and an independent reporter. The NP reported received some facial damage, a cut or a black eye, there were so many people who were injured I forget which was on who.
Now begins the saga and the G20 Detention Center which I have named the G20 Torture center. When I arrived the entire bus of peaceful protesters I was with were placed in a holding cage which did have a bathroom and we were provided with water, at this point everything was OK. As the night went on the place got busier and busier and the conditions got worse and worse. Up to processing everything was O.K. although they were extremely unorganized keeping track of everyone’s personal belongings. Once through processing things took a hard U-turn to torture town, n the area I was in 6 people forced to sit a 6 foot by 9 foot concrete slab covered in an 8 foot high cage. There was hardly enough room for everyone to sit on the floor let alone people sleep, therefore we were deprived of sleep and forced to sit in incredibly uncomfortable positions, I believe this is called torture. Moreover, there were many people injured, including reporters. The center had an onsite doctor who would look at injuries. When our bus pulled up we watched them put a person into an ambulance and he/she (couldn’t see a face) was a taken away. In the center I saw many injured people coming in, mostly with cuts on their faces and knees, bruises were also very common, I have some myself from being forced onto my knees with my hands zip tied behind my back.
In addition to the harsh basic conditions, bathrooms were hard to come by the same as was water; you had to beg the guards to get both. After asking the guards would laugh and snicker and eventually take you to the bathroom, water you had to wait for the set times for it to be handed out. Then, when it was being handed out, you would get a very small Styrofoam cup (of all things), and only one. Additionally, there was no access to lawyers or the telephone. I argued for 20 hours before I was allowed to speak on the phone to tell my family I was OK and had not been injured during my arrest, they figured I had been arrested. Many guards lied about the phones all day to every person, I had been told one minute before going to the phone that all the phones were being used then I asked another officer who took me to a phone, I had built a relationship with this officer over the course of his shift and had been asking to use the phone the entire time, so he relented. There were about 15 phones and nobody was on any of them. I was told they didn't have enough guards to allow people to use the phones. I doubt I need to point out that access to a phone is a Charter Right and cannot be denied. Although it was to many, many people.
Now I will talk about the guards personally, some were extremely nice people and I felt bad that the ISU would put them into such a position, but others seemed to revel in torturing the protesters, one officer dressed in riot gear told me and I quote "I enjoy bashing the heads of protesters." But please keep in mind many of the guards were extremely nice and treated me and the other protesters with the most respect possible, and it was returned for the most part. The major problem in the detention center was over crowding. They simply did not have the resources or capabilities to handle that many people, so fast. The riot police on the street seemed to have an ‘us vs. you’ mentality and were extremely aggressive and forceful, even when reason would have been far more effective. I think this speaks to their training more than anything else.
After speaking to a lawyer I was released a couple hours later since they were nearing the 24 hour limit of holding me without charge, I would point out they told me all day they were waiting for paperwork to release me which is total bullshit. Coincidentally everyone’s paperwork arrives nearly 24 hours after they were arrested, bullshit. When I left I was pleasantly surprised by a waiting group of protesters whom cheered and gave me some proper food. The food in the torture center was a piece of processed cheese on a bun, nothing else, no nutrition at all.
My friend was also arrested and was placed in a holding cell with 40 people zip tied for 24 hours, with a 15 year old kid. I haven't had a chance to talk to him much to get his story but he said he is going to write it up so I will share that as well.
Sincerely,
Greg S.