“Quite Foppish.”
More than 1,000 people detained during the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto –described as one of the worst violations of civil liberties in Canada’s history – have won the right to move ahead with class-action lawsuits against police.
On Wednesday, Ontario’s top court gave the go-ahead to two lawsuits alleging civil rights abuses during the summit and noted the role legal action could play in forcing police to change their behaviour.
Toronto’s G20 summit made headlines around the world – not as much for the discussions taking place behind the nearly 10 kilometres of fence erected for the summit, but for the dozens of anarchists who broke away from the largely peaceful anti-globalisation demonstrations to torch cars and smash store windows.
Police responded with teargas, pepper spray and force; boxing in people at various locations around the city. More than 1,000 people – including peaceful protesters, bystanders and journalists – were arrested or detained in what became the largest mass arrest in Canada’s history.
Many of them were held at a makeshift detention centre dubbed “Torontonamo Bay” for its deplorable conditions. Within 24 hours, most had been released without charges.
On Wednesday, the court noted that police cannot indiscriminately arrest large groups of people in hopes of catching a few criminals. “There was some basis in fact for finding that the individual officer or officers who are alleged to have given orders for mass detentions and arrests did so without regard to whether all of the individuals detained … were implicated in the criminal activity with which the police were concerned,” the court said.
via: Asylum
Do you know that over 5 Billion dollars was spent on Security for both the G8 and G20 Summits……over 5 Billion, not millions