Thank you.
I'd like to thank the committee for allowing me to come before you.
I'm a local resident who was kettled in the rain for over four hours only two blocks away from my house. I was participating in demonstrations that weekend for a number of reasons: international, national, and--as someone decided to have this in my front yard--local concerns. That weekend, I brought my passport with me everywhere to comply with the requests of the integrated security unit, though by the end of the weekend and of my ordeal in the kettle, it was a wet, pulpy, unrecognizable mess.
My experience started on Tuesday, when I took part in a queer demonstration on the second day of themed resistance to the G-20. It was a peaceful protest and, though police presence was heavy, we were allowed to move through the streets largely unfettered.
Only minutes after that demonstration, the Toronto Police Service posted pictures from the event online, with this message: “Police Helping Activists Facilitate Lawful+Peaceful Protests”. It was in that context that I joined the demonstration on Saturday afternoon that marched within 15 metres of my house. I watched that day as my neighbourhood was destroyed while police did nothing. I watched as a police car sat un-towed for five hours until it was ignited.
The next day I went to King Street, and joined the “bike block”. It was a peaceful group that had returned from a peaceful demonstration outside the University Avenue detention centre. I followed them along Queen, past my house, until we reached Spadina. There we were blocked from continuing west, away from the fenced area. We were far from the fenced area. As the crowd continued to chant “peaceful protest” to the police and to each other, I expected this to be like any other protest. The mood of the crowd was similar to that of Tuesday--positive and upbeat.
There we began to feel that things were starting to change. I started to realize the alleys had been blocked and a line of riot police was making its way south toward us. This seemed odd, as no warnings were given, and as I said, when I looked around at the people who were there with me, there was no black bloc and there was no one who was looking to do any violence at that moment.
As the riot police approached, I could hear people behind me crying. We were all very frightened. We didn't know what was happening or why it was happening. I looked around and couldn't see anyone who wanted to do any damage. It was a mix of locals, tourists, and the innocently curious. By that time, we were kettled in a small area. As we were forced to sit in the rain, you could see the doubt on the faces of the officers who were around us. I actually in fact had a conversation with one of them in which I asked them to point out one person in that kettle who they thought could pose any harm at all. They couldn't do it.
By that time, we were wet and shivering. It wasn't a chanting group at all, because it wasn't a traditional protest type of group. It was a frightened group. And many of the officers there knew that. By the time the RCMP shift arrived, wearing massive equipment--they were almost like walking war machines--the crowd was certainly wet and more frightened than it had been earlier. At that point, I had had conversations with people in the crowd: the Sunday cyclists, the German tourists who were getting hot dogs, the four rugby players from Europe...it was a mix of people.
It was soon after the RCMP shift that we were allowed to leave--some of us who hadn't been detained were allowed at that point to leave. But of course we were all left wondering why we were kettled in the first place. Were we paying the price for damages that took place the day before? Who was responsible for keeping us there?
It is my hope that this committee--or someone--can answer these questions.