They old can’t kill the young forever, Tienanmen Square

(Last 31 seconds of police charge on Queen St. at Spadina)

It is a shame on Canada that Prime Minister Harper doesn’t want to hear the voices of Canadians. Neither did the Communist leadership in China at Tienanmen Square.

Harper reacted to the G20 protests the same way the Chinese government did with military might. Harper got ready with in $1 billion in police buildup.

The police attacked the crowd on Queen Street West near Spadina. Up until then people had been walking and protesting, carrying their signs. Those would be Charter Rights in Canada.

After singing O’Canada, a few people sat in the middle of the street and the police charged the crowd. (8:30 in the video) Then the violence began. Don’t take our word for it. The video is crystal clear (after the story break)

Queen & Spadina Protest (original file/unedited) from Meghann Millard on Vimeo.

The police reason for charging the crowd was explained by “Staff Superintendent Jeff McGuire of the Toronto Police Service (who) held a press conference to address questions about police actions this evening at Queen and Spadina. He said that police took the actions that they did (roughly: charging the crowd and detaining many people for hours on site without charge or explanation) because they have received information that Black Bloc protesters were in the crowd as well as “people who chose not to disassociate themselves” from them.” Torontoist

For  a street level and scary video of the final seconds see Toronto Police in Full Riot Gear Beat Peaceful G20 Protesters

The Globe and Mail reported

“At an afternoon news conference, the Toronto Community Mobilization Network said they had negotiated with police ahead of the march and received assurances that demonstrators would not be arrested if they protested peacefully.

Spokeswoman Maryam Adrangi said police were rounding people up when they went to the detention centre to try to find their friends.

“We are finding police are meeting them there with brutality,” she said. “They are circling groups of people in smaller groups. We have seen plainclothes officers snatching people and throwing them into cars.”

Mack Scott, a legal observer for the protesters who was at the protest Sunday, said six people were arrested as police drove the protesters back.

Police would not confirm if they had made a deal not to arrest protesters. On Sunday afternoon, authorities said that 562 people had been arrested since June 18, and 224 since 6 a.m. Sunday alone.” Globe and Mail

PEI activist Leo Broderick told the Guardian that the police provoked the violence.

“As the march went toward the (summit) location, the police pressure was just overwhelming,” Broderick said. “People couldn’t move without being stopped (by police). A police car was in the middle of the street, we had to go around it. The burning question is why did police have those three police cars in the middle of the street?”

As the march went on, Broderick said a small group broke away and turned to violent measures in the form of burning police cars and destroying property.

He had a chance to speak with one individual who was let go after being arrested and there seemed to be no logic to who was being targeted by police, Broderick said.
“(Those arrested) were simply hauled out of the crowd (Saturday).”

It was unfortunate the protest turned violent and the media chose to highlight those actions, which was not a good representation of what the council
was trying to accomplish at the protest, Broderick said. “Violence takes away from the issues we’re trying to get at. We believe the G8/G20 are not what most people around the world want.” The issues not being considered at the summit were things like climate change, water resources and unemployment, Broderick said.
“Deficit mediation means more cuts to public services and important things like public health and education.”

His group does not condone the violent protest actions but it does show the state of the world today, Broderick said. “We have a growing underclass of young people in this country due to government policy. We have a lot of angry people.” Guardian

Silencing dissent and street protests is a tool used by dictators. When young people of Beijing protested in 1989 , Communist government reacted with brutal force. The image of the young people being charged by police on horses is eerily reminiscent of Tienanmen Square.