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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

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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

Selwyn arrested at G20 protest
by: Selwyn Firth, Mayoral Candidate

source

As a mayoral candidate I decided to obtain a personal view of the situation.I left home at 5:30pm sat June 26, 2010.I rode the subway west to Yonge St at Bloor. Exited the subway at the Southside of Bloor Street. Began walking south along the east side of Yonge St. The sidewalk was crowded but could not see many protestors. Began counting broken windows.There were a number, but not all windows were broken.This was the situation all along the street south to Richmond street. Total count ~30-40 broken windows on both sides of Yonge St.Went west along Richmond Street to Bay where there was about 5,000 protestors chanting and singing protest songs.Turned south on Bay and noticed a manned police barricade at King Street.They appeared to be about 100 police at about 3 deep. With face masks and riot shields.I approached them and asked how the situation was. They were very polite and told me that the fires related to the burning cars had been extinguished and the protestors had moved north to Richmond St.I thanked the police woman and men whom I had spoken with and turned and headed North to Richmond St.At Richmond I viewed the same protestors and found nothing had changed and continued East to Yonge Street.I continued North to Dundas Street observing the broken glass windows. At Dundas I turned east to Victoria St and entered the Imperial Pub and Library.While enjoying a pint of lager I noticed the news channel and saw some demonstration at Queen Park just North of College St.I decided to see for myself what was actually happening and walked over to University Av. and continued North to College St.

I encountered blocked cars from Gerrard St north to College St. I also encountered a police barricade and asked why they had stopped traffic at college and locking the northbound cars on University Av. In. I was given a gruff reply that they could turn around and this was obviously not true as the cars were bumper to bumper. There were hundreds of police manning the barricades and none were spared to assist the poor trapped motorists.

I began to wonder what was really happening. I proceeded south to a laneway which headed west to McCaul St saw police at College and McCaul and continued south to a Baldwin street and turned west to Henry St and started north towards College st.

I encountered a friend who invited me to her home for tea and I accepted. My friend asked me why I was there and I told her that I wanted to get a close up assessment of the real situation.

After tea was over I proceeded to the U of Toronto King's College Road entrance and headed north . I headed east towards the McLeod auditorium and a plaza area where there would have been a good elevated view of Queens Park. The plaza of about 7500 square feet was vacant save for a group of dark clothed men and as I approached them I was told to stop and leave.

I yelled that I only wanted to know what was happening . I remained in my spot and saw a man who appeared to be the leader of the group of six approach me.

I assumed he was going to tell me what was happening so I waited for him. He approached me and told me to leave. I waited for him and tried to let him know that I was a mayoral candidate and felt that I should be allowed to see for myself what was happening. As he got closer he picked up speed and deliberately bumped into me with his well protected chest pushing me backwards He was yelling at me to leave and bumped me twice more. I told him my name and that I was a mayoral candidate. He told I was under arrest as two other police officers each grabbed one of my arms.

They forced me to the pebble stone concrete plaza so hard that the left side of my face was lacerated and my left knee scratched. I was then lifted by my arms and forced to march towards the area where the men had originally been.

I tried to explain that I was only interested in seeing what was happening and that I was a candidate for Mayor. I was forced to walk towards a booking area where I was formally charged with obstructing police. I was photographed and had my shoelaces and belt removed.

All of my possessions and credit cards, debit cards and hospital cards were seized and placed in a plastic bag identified by a number that was printed on a plastic wrist band placed on my arm.

My jacket which had a drawstring in it had both ends of the draw string cut off rather than removing the drawstring, thus damaging the jacket. Seemingly this was done on purpose since I was willing to remove my jacket and let them place it in the bag with my other possessions. My arms were cuffed behind my back and my left shoe was removed and as the officer ran his hand over the sole of my left foot I reflexively kicked as I am very ticklish.

The officer threatened me and I tried to explain that I had ticklish soles and need a harder push. He must of realized this as when he searched my right foot there was no reflexive kick. My ankles were shackled and I was told to enter the bus.

The bus slowly filled up. It had 2 large open compartments each seating about 16 detainees. The rear compartment was filled and I was the first into the second compartment. I was told to sit by the window and had a clear view of the area to the east of the bus. There had been a column of riot police rapidly marching down Queen's park crescent and to the left of the bus. It was like a scene out of a movie set.

The second compartment finally filled . There was a badly injured man in the rear compartment and he may have had a concussion. It took a lot of yelling and more than 15 minutes to get him help. I heard comments from the police that he should of thought of that before he protested, as if it was his fault for exerting his right to protest and not theirs for injuring him.

The general comment about the arrests, from the protesters, was that the police had purposely set out to intimidate and arrest peaceful protesters.

Not having seen the activity I can only repeat what was told to me. The row's of police dressed in riot gear would head toward the protesters and suddenly open up allowing 2-3 running riot police per row in a column formation to attack the protesters.

This had the effect of moving the protesters as if they were cattle into a confined area. This very tactic seemed to be a deliberate attempt to antagonize the protesters so that the police could then read them the Riot act ( in both official languages) . It was after this that the mass arrests began.

Many of the protesters were quite badly injured having suffered blows to the face and head with billyclubs. One protester who sat next to me may have had his jaw broken or dislodged as he could not close it properly.

None of the arrested seemed to have been doing anything violent at all.

I met a young Japanese student who had been visiting friends in Chinatown and was walking to an uptown area that required him to cross the protest area. Being curious and having a camera he was taking pictures when he was arrested; for being a curious tourist in effect. One of the other protesters who was arrested had a camera in his backpack ,yet it was not there when it was searched. He swears that it was in the pack when he handed it to the police officer.

There were many stories of people having been punched and hit in the face with billyclubs. People I saw with cuts and bruises to the face, lacerations on their chests from being pulled facedown over asphalt or concrete surfaces.

All this for doing nothing but exercising their rights of free assembly.

The worst of the night was the detention center. We were forced to remove our shoes and walk in either barefoot or just with our socks on. This on a concrete or chipboard floor.

It was really difficult to get water to drink. The washroom was a portable toilet without running water and the door had been removed.

If animals were treated this way people would be sent to jail. It was as if the police had been instructed to treat us as animals so they would be able to dehumanize us.

The police were using quite vulgar language with the word fuck being the most common profanity. Surprisingly about 80 percent of the woman police used it regularly.

One can only feel sorry for our city which has one of the highest paid but morally corrupt forces in Canada and maybe the world.

The worst thing for me was the inability of the Doctor on call to be able to get me insulin supplies. I am a type 1 diabetic and require insulin all day long.

I use a long acting one called Lantis. I split the dose into 10 units at noon and midnight. The other insulin is Humalog which is a very quick acting and short duration insulin.

The Dr. was unable to find the insulin and I had to help him. He found the pharmacy and he could not obtain the Lantis type . He was sent a vial of Humalog and an injection device that had no needles nor the special vial required for it.

He suggested that since he had not ordered insulin syringes that maybe we could use a 1 CC tuberculin syringe to administer the Humalog.

I still had some Lantis working from my previous days injection. I had my blood sugar tested and it was about 20, so we decided to just use 5 units. He measured the dose I injected it.

Due to the lack of insulin I was not able to eat and finally was given a glass of water. I was afraid that if I took too much insulin I could develop a very low blood sugar and possibly die so decided to err on the high side.

They were letting some people go home that night and early morning, but for me and despite my medical condition I was forced to stay in the center overnight.

All one can say for the city where the production and discovery was made a very basic medical condition was completely ignored by what can be described as ignorant, incompetent. non caring or all of the preceding.

The air temperature was kept colder than is allowed in the city during the wintertime. No extra shirts sweaters of blankets were provided another way to dehumanize people who were and are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.

When it came time to take my fingerprints my hands were so cold that the technician had to spend an inordinate amount of time before she was able to obtain a good result.

The next morning we were shackled and handcuffed and bundled into a Paddy wagon with about 8 compartments of 2 seats each. The inside was pretty cramped and there were no seat belts . The construction material seemed to be stainless steel with a sheet of perforated ss covering a translucent glass. The grab rail was poorly designed and could not be gripped comfortably and with any safety. It is my opinion that the paddy wagon does not meet any safety standards for passengers, yet is used every court day.

I was concerned about my health and asked if the insulin and syringes would be sent. I was assured that the courthouse would have all supplies necessary for me. I was relieved to hear that.

On the way to the courthouse the driver stopped for at least 5 minutes with the engine running. I was able to smell the exhaust fumes and knew that all of the passengers were being exposed to the deadly gas Carbon monoxide.

Luckily nothing happened. I was a little queasy though. On being processed I notified the intake officer of my Type 1 Diabetic condition. I was assured I would be taken care of, not knowing what that meant. I simply assumed that they had insulin and syringes. I was placed in a single cell because of my diabetes and figured I would be ok.

I waited for food and insulin. I was offered food but refused it because of no insulin. I asked for it and was told that there was none and that the person downtown was an asshole.

They decided to take me to emergency and left around 12 :15 pm. The trip was by ambulance and the distance was only a couple of miles. It took over 3 hours to have me blood work, vitals and sugar tested and to see the doctor.

The hospital did not have any Lantis and so we decided to use another long acting insulin called NPH. Back at the courthouse I was given a couple of cheese sandwiches and some sweet drink.

I was almost immediately called up for a bail hearing and after agreeing to the bail conditions I was granted bail. I had to promise to pay a $1000.00 penalty if I breached my bail conditions. Time now was about 4 :30 pm. I waited until 7:45 before I was actually given my possessions and was allowed to leave. All was there except for my belt. I finally arrived home at about 8:30 pm some 26 hours after starting out.

I Selwyn Firth Affirm the above to be a true recollection of the events of Sat June 26 and Sunday June 27 , 2010.