In order to protect the elite, the democratic rights of every Torontonian were violated. The G20 met to discuss how to make the vast majority pay for the financial crisis created by the banks and corporations. To perpetrate this theft of wealth from the poor to the rich, they spent $1.3-billion to hire armed goons—money that could be far better spent on social services. This is just the beginning of a systematic attack on the democratic rights to free assembly, free association, and free speech, aimed against working people trying to defend their standard of living.
We denounce the massive and provocative police presence that aimed to intimidate people from their right to free dissent. Leading up to the G20 thousands were illegally searched, completely violating the right to presumption of innocence. Toronto Chief of Police Bill Blair deliberately lied about the secret law to supposedly make this legal, entirely destroying any confidence the people have in the police forces.
Over 25,000 braved the intimidation and the rain on Saturday 26th June to show their defiance to the G20 agenda of austerity. We believe that mass action such as this is the only way to overcome the corporate onslaught on working people. Unfortunately, a “Black Bloc” of one or two hundred was allowed by the police to vandalize the city of Toronto. The police abandoned select cars to allow this mob to torch them. This was then used as justification to attack the mass of peaceful working class protesters. When the Black Bloc hid in the mass at Queen’s Park, the police attacked Saturday afternoon. Then, the police attacked the peaceful protest at Novotel on the Esplanade Saturday night. They attacked the protest outside the Eastern Ave. detention centre Sunday morning. And finally, they kettled several hundred in the pouring rain at Queen and Spadina Sunday evening. We state that the Black Bloc are not part of our movement and there is no difference between them and police provocateurs. As seen in other protests, some of them may in fact be police agents.
Over 900 were arrested; more than 700 were released without charge after being brutalized and having their right to counsel and a phone call denied. We call for the release of all political prisoners.
Working people need to fight back. We call on the labour movement to organize an emergency conference to: 1) discuss the attacks on civil liberties; 2) discuss the attacks on the people of Toronto by the police and the Black Bloc; and 3) discuss the necessary tactics to fight back against capitalist austerity. This will be the only way to fight the G20 and the austerity packages, the only way to fight back against the bosses, to fight against capitalism for a better, socialist world.
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