Protest in Toronto fizzles after violent clash

By OLIVER MOORE

Globe and Mail Update

Police briefly cleared Bay Street in

downtown Toronto on Tuesday

morning following a burst of violence at a protest march

spearheaded by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).

A witness at First Canadian Place said a demonstrator was clubbed

down by riot police following an attempt to attack them with a

protest sign. Police Constable Debbie Abbott at Metro Toronto

Police Service headquarters said that she had heard a report of a

protester being "seriously injured," but that she could not specify the

extent of the injuries. She added that an ambulance was on the way

to the scene.

Unable to put a definite figure on the number of arrested, Constable

Abbott said that at least 12 have been picked up. She added that 52

Division was unable to process any more detainees and that

prisoners were being shunted to 51 and 14 Divisions.

Police reportedly seized parts for Molotov cocktails, pieces of wood

spiked with metal wing nuts and a large bag of gas masks.

There has been "quite a number of arrests," OCAP spokesman John

Clarke told globeandmail.com. "Our legal team doesn't have

[specific] numbers because they seem to be holding people in limbo

before processing them."

Mr. Clarke, who was not at the scene because of bail conditions

that restrict his ability to protest, said that many of the arrests

sounded "preventative," rather than reactive.

A mass of demonstrators marched south on Bay Street and turned

west on King. A smaller group then turned back and headed north

on Bay. Reports indicate the march was generally peaceful before

the clash broke out and police cleared the street. Witnesses said

there had already been sporadic violence, including a youth

attempting to batter newspaper boxes.

Many protesters, who turned out despite periods of heavy rain,

chanted: "This is what democracy looks like."

The demonstrators were diverted to Front Street, and some massed

briefly in front of the Royal York Hotel. A crowd of several

hundred cheered as one man climbed the awning over the hotel's

main entrance and spray-painted "Stop murder" on a U.S. flag

before setting it ablaze.

There were also reports of slow-moving vehicles interfering with

traffic on the arterial Don Valley Parkway. Mr. Clarke could not

confirm that those people were officially part of the protest, but said

he personally had no doubt.

The demonstration was "enormously successful," Mr. Clarke said,

adding that the protesters wanted to show that "it couldn't be

business as usual."

OCAP was also involved in a violent protest last year at Queen's

Park, seat of the Ontario provincial legislature. With concerns

accentuated by last month's terrorist attacks on New York and

Washington, law-enforcement authorities have decided to take no

chances.

Police refuse to give specific numbers of officers in the downtown

core "for security reasons," but witnesses at the scene describe a

massive law-enforcement presence.

Questioned by reporters about the security presence, Toronto Police

Chief Julian Fantino said that he would not stand by and watch

Toronto reel under the sort of violence seen in Seattle, Prague,

Quebec City and Genoa.

"They shouldn't have big rocks and sticks, tear gas and masks,"

Chief Fantino said. They "obviously intended to do other then stage

a peaceful demonstration."

Chief Fantino apparently asked OCAP that the protest be postponed

"in the interest of public safety." In a letter published on their Web

site, OCAP responded that while demonstrations inevitably cause

some disruption, they have never "stated publicly or through

advertisement that they condone or encourage any threat to any

individual or person who may find them self within the

demonstration area."

Major activist victory in Toronto on O16. We shut down the financial centre of Canada!!!!

O16 Economic Disruption in Downtown Toronto a smashing success!

Quick report by a member of the YN Affinity Group

This morning (O16) thousands of anti-poverty, global justice, union, social justice, and First Nations activists converged in downtown Toronto and shut down its gigantic financial district. A series of snake marches maneuvered around blockades of riot police to shut down vehicular and pedistrian traffic in the district. By 8:00 am we learned that employers were encouraging people not to come to work today. We shut down the heart of Corporate Canada. By using the tactic of Economic Disruption we (probably) caused Canada' s financial elite to lose millions of dollars (2 billion dollars circulates through the financial distict every single day!).

This was an amazingly successful event. At 5:00 am thousands of activist met at Nathan Phillip's Square (City Hall) for breakfast, music, speeches and preparation. While a number of activists were pre-emptively arrested for wearing bandannas, gas masks and bike helmets, the massive police presence failed to deter activists from assembling.

Around 6:00 am we were notified that riot police had surrounded the square and that we were effectively boxed-in. We were also notified that the large Montreal contingent (400 strong?) had been stopped and searched by the police en route to the square. After a number of good agitational speeches we took to the streets, but were immediately blocked by a huge wall of riot cops armed with rubber bullet guns, shields, battons, and riot gear. After an intense standoff the communications team informed us that they had discovered an escape route and we left the standoff and escaped from the square.

We re-assembled on one of the biggest streets in the downtown and began to march towards the financial district. We by-passed a number of police blockades and managed to turn onto a major street that led right into the heart of the financial district. It was an amazing feeling to outsmart the cops, whose authoritarian command structure had prevented them from reacting effectively to our movements. Suddenly we were at the intersection of Bay and King, the heart of the financial district. All traffic was stopped. No one was getting into the banks and brokerage houses. There was no profiteering.

Our large march then broke down into 3 marches and all three marches continued to snake their ways through the financial district, disrupting traffic, picketing doorways to the major buildings, dumping newspaper boxes into the street, chanting, dancing, and pumping our fists. Chants included: "Stop the War on the Poor, Make the Rich Pay!" and "Down with Harris (the Premier who just announced that he was resigning!)" and "Smash Capitalism, Smash the State!"

The police were totally outsmarted. They had hundreds of goons ready to beat us up but they couldn't react quickly enough to catch us. Occasionally we would have to hurry to avoid being boxed into a block, but for the most part, the police were unprepared to deal with us. We continued to weave our way through the financial district until we heard the best news of the day--that the financial district had been shut down! Apparently, the radio stations said that drivers should stay out of the financial district and that employers were asking employees to work from home today. When we heard this news we screamed with excitement. It felt like Seattle and Quebec City all over again. In fact, it felt better...

Anyways, a few minutes later we witnessed another amazing event: An activist had climbed onto the large overhang covering the front doors to one of the glitziest hotels in Toronto, grabbed the American flag hanging above, spray-painted "murder" across it, and set it on fire while thousands of people below chanted "No racist war! No racist War!..." This was amazing!

By now, our numbers had swelled to several thousand people. We then set our sights on the American consulate. Everyone gathered outside the consulate and we heard a number of amazing speeches. All of a sudden, the black bloc started tipping over police barricades and vehicles. However, since the cops were so disorganised they couldn't stop the actions. (I forgot to mention that a number of big bank windows were broken earlier).

Our goal was to disrupt the financial district and disperse by 11:00 am. Around 10:30 we marched to a more open area of the downtown and people started to disperse to prepare for the Mob4Glob event at noon and the massive labour rally at 5:00 pm.

This was a great event. Despite all of the threats from the police (activists were pre-emptively arrested, spied-on, harrassed, delivered intimidating letters from the Chief of Police, photographed [the Montreal contingent was surrounded by cops and photograhed as soon as they pulled into Toronto!]), we took to the streets with courage and won the first battle in the Fall Campaign.

Today's event was the kick-off event for the Ontario Common Front's FALL CAMPAIGN OF ECONOMIC DISRUPTION that will attempt to create a political crisis for the Tory government by shutting down the profit system in this province. Today's action included activists from the union, student, global justice, socialist, anarchist, social justice, and First Nations movements. Activists at today's event will now take the struggle back into their workplaces. They will engage in strike actions or other activities of economic disruption that will create a crisis of legitimacy for the rulers of the province. For example, CUPE-Ontario (Canadian Union of Public Employees; 140,000 members) will start a general strike in the next few months. Other actions will also occur across the province.

Lessons? Organise locally and be confident. Take to the street and attack the root sources of our oppression. For more info, check out http://ontario.indymedia.org and http://www.ocap.ca

As we said in Quebec, So-So-So, Solidarity!

And as we now say in Toronto, Economic Disruption! Fight to Win!

ontario.indymedia.org