This past weekend, rights to basic civil liberties were suspended for thousands of people who descended on Toronto to peacefully protest the G8 and G20 Summits. There seemed to be no distinction made between those who wished to display their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and those who were hellbent on destroying Toronto’s downtown core. On radio and television newscasts, coverage was mainly geared towards the “black bloc” tactics of a few hundred anarchists who broke away from the peaceful procession and began wreaking havoc on the streets of Toronto. On TV, round the clock Summit coverage displayed pictures of broken storefront windows and burning police cars, protesters dressed in black with their faces covered, angrily storming the streets chanting “Toronto belongs to us”. On the radio, reporters were drowned out by the sound of glass breaking and incoherent shouting from angry mobs who were running amok in the downtown core. I can’t help but wonder though, how it all started and why. Tens of thousands gathered in what was supposed to be a free protest zone, to march from Queens Park and bring light to so many issues which were left off of this weekends Summit agendas. Yet later on in the afternoon, the largest show of force from the police was there, to break up an incredibly diverse crowd, who wanted to highlight important global issues, such as maternal health and the steady degradation of our environment. There was no provocation from the crowd, no sneering taunts or violence, either towards each other or the police surrounding them.
They did not assemble to destroy the peace, or inflate the cost of the Summit to the estimated 1.1 billion it now stands at. They walked peacefully through the streets, while hundreds of police officers closed in and destroyed their right to basic, yet fundamental liberties that we in Canada are fortunate enough to have, rights entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Freedom of expression, which gives us the right to protest, peacefully.
Please take a few minutes to watch this short video of the protest, images you may not have seen through your regular media outlets.
thinkGood. Guest Blogger: Rasheeda Ali
Do Good, Feel Good, Live Good
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Tags: G20 Summit, G8 Summit, Peaceful Protesting, Toronto G20