Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for coming out with some very powerful testimony.
If I may, I'm going to start with Mr. Paikin.
I appreciate your opening statement. I appreciate that you may not be able to answer the questions, but I'm sure, and particularly as the testimony has unfolded, you'll understand the reasons why I ask. I think a number of us are deeply concerned with what took place. Obviously there was some extreme behaviour on the one hand, which nobody supports, and it has to be dealt with severely, but on the other hand, we're hearing from peaceful protestors who had some experiences that are deeply unsettling and could fundamentally impede the ability of people's right to protest or to speak freely.
On June 26.... I'm going to read to you some of your observations. A lot of us were reading your tweets and following what was happening from some of your observations. I'll read you some of them and ask you whether you care to or are able to expand upon what you saw:
i saw police brutality tonight. it was unnecessary. they asked me to leave the site or they would arrest me. i told them I was doing my job.
they repeated they would arrest me if i didn't leave. as i was escorted away from the demonstration, i saw two police officers hold a journalist.
the journalist identified himself as working for “the guardian”. he talked too much and pissed the police off. two officers held him....
a third punched him in the stomach. totally unnecessary. the man collapsed. then the third officer drove his elbow into the man's back.
no cameras recorded the assault. and it was an assault.
the officer who escorted me away from the demo said, “yeah, that shouldn't have happened.” he is correct. there was no cause for it.
i can appreciate that the police were on edge today, after seeing four or five of their cruisers burned. but why such overreaction tonight?
the demonstration on the esplanade was peaceful. It was like an old sit in. no one was aggressive. and yet riot squad officers moved in.
the police on one side screamed at the crowd to leave one way. then police on the other side said leave the other way. there was no way out.
so the police just started arresting people. i stress, this was a peaceful, middle class, diverse crowd. no anarchists.
literally more than 100 officers with guns pointing at the crowd. rubber bullets and smoke bombs ready to be fired. rubber bullets fired.
Do you care to or are you able to expand upon your experiences of that evening and what you saw?