June 28, 2010

VINCE VERSACE

A riot officer, with the support of mounted police, keeps a watchful eye on protestors at the intersection of Spadina Ave. and Richmond St.

Violent G20 protestors denounced as thugs as police restore order

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Would-be marauding anarchists who set police cars ablaze and smashed storefronts in downtown Toronto are nothing more than “thugs,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“What we saw yesterday was a bunch of thugs that pretend to have a difference of opinion with policies,” said Dimitri Soudas, director of communications for the PMO. “Instead they choose violence in order to express those so called differences in opinion.”

A peaceful protest and march, organized by the Canadian Labour Congress and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) on Saturday, June 26 in Toronto, unfolded for 90 minutes without incident until a group of militant protestors, clad in black clothing, started to destroy storefronts and challenge police.

Bill Blair, Toronto’s police chief, stated that the violent protestors were trying to draw the heavy summit security detail north, away from the perimeter of the downtown G20 security zone. Police made over 400 arrests and used tear gas for the first time on Toronto’s streets in the ensuing hours to restore order in pockets of the city’s downtown.

VINCE VERSACE

This police cruiser was spray painted and vandalized on Queen Street as peaceful protests escalated to violence thanks to militant protestors dubbed as “thugs” by the Prime Minister’s Office. The bumper sticker states “Capitalism is death”.

Sid Ryan, president of the OFL, denounced the violent acts which left a trail of destruction stating they have nothing to do with the G20 protests of earlier in the day. The “People First!”rally was held as G20 summit leaders converged on Toronto after the G8 summit in Muskoka wrapped up.

Organizers of the rally wanted to give ordinary working people “a chance to speak out” and register protest on issues such as government bailouts of failed banking institutions and the $1.1 billion security price tag for the two Canadian summits, Ryan said. Approximately 4,000 people assembled on the front lawn of Queen’s Park at the outset of the rally.

Soudas said free speech is a principle of Canadian democracy but that the violent “thugs” did not represent the Canadian way of life.

“People do disagree on issues,” Soudas added. “Leaders that meet all the time do not necessarily see eye-to-eye but you do not see people burning up police cars and breaking windows.”

The federal government has endured heavy criticism for the $1.1 billion price tag for summit security. Soudas was asked, during a Sunday morning press conference, what the regular Canadian, the average Torontonian, gets from having their city host the G20 in light of the havoc unleashed on the streets.

“What Canadian get out of it is you have 20 global leaders of the world having important discussions on ensuring that, following the Toronto summit, we will continue on the path of recovery from the recession, instead of rolling backwards, returning to 2008,” said Soudas. “Those leaders are discussing growing the economy and creating jobs.”

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