(Editor’s note: On Tuesday, June 29th, 2010, Toronto resident Tommy Taylor published, on his facebook page (log-in required), an extraordinary account of being arrested and caged at the G20 for 23 hours. At the time of his arrest, he and his girlfriend were watching a group of peaceful protestors, and had joined in when they sang “Give Peace a Chance.”
Below we reproduce, with permission, the post in its entirety, including the images originally used by Taylor. I find it hard to imagine a more important piece of journalism being written this year. – FM)
By Tommy Taylor
I’m going to start by saying that at no point in this note will I be exaggerating, bending the truth or lying in any way. I can also say I’ve never felt this angry, violated or betrayed.
Black Bloc left alone to create carnage and photo ops.
I’m not going to wig out in a conspiracy theory way, just read for yourself. The Black Bloc caused so much distraction and carnage. It happened to me and I still find it hard to believe, I don’t want to believe it. My country broke my heart.
So here is what happened.
PART ONE: Grandmas, Idiots and High School Reunions.
I was home during the day on Saturday June 26th until around 1:00pm when I went over to Allan Gardens Park (which is literally across the street from my apartment). Hey, if Mayor David Miller was encouraging people to get out and do things in the city, why not? There were a few tents left over from the Tent City, which slept there the night before. Various groups were getting signs still, ready to march over to the ‘Free Speech Zone” at Queen’s Park — far away from all things G20. I met a group of grandmothers who were marching on behalf of grandmothers in Third World countries who have adopted millions of children whose parents have died of AIDS. (To all those who are speaking out against the violence in the streets of Toronto and damning the protesters — where were your voices of outrage at this? Or do you only care when the irreplaceable Starbucks has its window smashed? 
When it’s on your front doorstep you cry and give the rest of the world your apathy — why are you only upset now?)
I walk with the grannies and arrive in Queens Park. There are thousands of police in all kinds of riot gear, mounted police units (people chant of “Get those animals off those horses” made me laugh). There were students, seniors, media, everyone, thousands! And it was so peaceful and a tremendous sense of community. The riot squads were quite scary, but people were chanting “You’re pretty, you’re cute, take off the ugly riot suit!”, which also made me laugh, and many of the officers in the riot gear laughed too, one of them quipped “I wish, this thing’s hot.” Cool, this was fun. Good messages, free speech, the grannies along side the burly boys of the Steel Workers Union. Someone gave me a marker and bristol board. I made a sign “Apathy Will Kill You.” After a while of awesome speeches, interesting people and wasted money (1.2 Biliion…?) I give away my sign and head home to Jarvis & Gerrard. Like on the way there, cops are lined up everywhere, watching everything — no holes anywhere. Strange absence of cops at Yonge and Dundas Square . . . they were all over it earlier . . . .
At home I soon read about the violence happening along Yonge . . . what? Where are the cops? It’s guys in ALL black, easy to see. Why are they just running along with no one to stop them . . . there were cops there. Ok. Weird. These guys suck for doing this, because this is all anyone will see and read about. And now it’s justification for the gross amount of force and money spent. Then comes word about the police cars parked and abandoned, they even rolled down the windows before leaving. What? No radios or any equipment inside the cop cars? No police in sight? Arrest these idiots before they ruin any chance at — oh, too late. So then the media starts to assemble the evening news with the fiery money shots of Yonge St and the burning cars. Vandal assholes taking the bait and acting in a predictable destructive way. Idiots.
Watch an account by a photo journalist who followed them:
Argghh! But, hey, at least things were cool in the “Free Speech Zone”. My girlfriend Kate gets home with her co-worker Ben and their friend Simon at around 7pm. She asks if it’s ok to go out and see what’s going on. I said sure, the Free Speech Zone is awesome, there’s all kinds of causes, we can go take a look. So, off we go along College Street. There are people on sidewalks and taxis and cars, all very normal. We got to Bay and College when around 20 mini-vans full of riot cops honked their horns and went flying through the intersection — I had never seen anything like it, it was crazy. We arrived at University Ave to find it completely blocked off by riot cops in full gear. The “Free Speech Zone” was completely blocked in. The cops wouldn’t answer any questions, wouldn’t move, wouldn’t look at you. Nothing. Then rows of riot police form on College behind us, start banging their shields and march in, followed by a rows of mounted horse units. Then out of nowhere two young guys are pepper sprayed nearby, everyone runs, nothing is said by police, no announcements. People help the guys and pick them up, they don’t know what happened or why.
Up on the steps of a building I see a friend from high school, Derek. We head over, catch up — he came down to see what was happening, but was blocked off from Queen’s Park on all sides. Shortly after some homeless people threw on arm bands and had extending night sticks and tackled people standing around and dragged them behind the dense line of riot cops and dragged them away. Secret under-cover homeless police — oo la la. Still no messages from the police and no violence to be seen except from them. I remember on JackAss when Johnny tried being tasered and peppered sprayed and said the spray was the worst thing he’s ever had done to him and never again, poor dudes on the ground. Nothing happened. So, guess the day was over and police didn’t want the protest getting any bigger (is what we thought). Derek went back to Mississauga and we decided to head home and Simon went to a bar.
PART 2: A Blue Raspberry Slushie and the Lost Tactical Squads — A Saturday night in TO.
Now 9pm. Kate, Ben and I were thirsty and I remembered reading a story about the ice cream truck guy that parked at City Hall at Queen and Bay and how G20 was killing his business, and I like blue raspberry slushies. So down we went, he was up front with his feet on the dashboard. I was very thirsty at this point, so it was great. The streets seemed a little empty, but people were around, walking, going places to eat, taxis and cars driving around. Seemed like the oncoming rain and shut-out from the police killed the protests. We said “All people will talk about is the violence, too bad.” Then things changed around us. It was now just after 9pm, all the violence from earlier in the day was long over and the vandals who committed it, gone. Vans and buses of riot police and tactical teams were swarming. We couldn’t see any protesters, but the streets were filing with cops, cars tried backing away and had to jump the curb, people were getting confused, and no cops were saying anything.
We thought it best to head east and get home right now, who knew what was happening. The guys in green tactical gear were pretty scary and shouting to each other “We’re in the wrong place, go west! Go west!” They got in their vehicles of all kinds (from armored personnel carriers to Budget panel vans), big gas guns, crazy gear. Kate needed a bathroom desperately, nothing was open now and there were quite scary police squads everywhere — now very confusing as to what’s happening. We see two construction workers peeking their heads out of the door of a store. We run over and Kate talks her way into the bathroom. We talk to the guys, it’s confusing, but no signs of violence. The workers wish us well and head back inside.
We’re now at Bay St and King St, trying to head east. The sky opens up and the rain pours on down. Heavy. We see a group marching AWAY from the fence, away from G20, they get blocked in by police, but are then let go and told to move east — great, towards home! It’s a crowd of maybe 200 people, all kinds. Some flags and signs lead the group. The free speech zone was shut down, so I guess there was nowhere else to go. We live in Canada, so before you say that everyone should have gone home, no. Is that the country you want to live in? Where you can’t speak up? One day you’ll have to actually face an issue of injustice that will make you actually stand up and go outside and use your freedom, use your voice — and you’ll be glad you can. Imagine if you couldn’t? What country does that make you think of? So, with no instructions from the surrounding police I ask someone marching in the street and they seem to think it’s back to Allan Gardens Park, perfect! We live there!
PART 3: Tommy Taylor, You’re Under Arrest.
So the three of us follow, on the sidewalk, away from the central group. Occasional clapping on some great slogans chanted. There are regular people on the street watching, who live and work in the area. We get to Front St. continue south to the Esplanade and stop in front of the Novotel. Hrm? Apparently the workers are on strike at Novotel for unfair treatment and some delegates from G20 will be staying there. We are across the street on the sidewalk, in front of The Keg. The marchers sit down and chant “peaceful protest”. And it is. Everyone is calm; it’s actually pretty awesome to see. There are some awful things in this world and when our economic and political leaders gather in one place to decide the world’s solutions and futures (including the government of China), people are going to want to have their voices heard. That’s the Constitution, thankfully.
Then they start singing “Give Peace a Chance”, wow — it’s actually a cliche of a protest! It was a lot of fun, a great thing to witness live instead of stock footage form the 60’s and 70’s when people were changing the way sexuality, gender and ethnicity are treated in North America. Without public protests we would still have slavery and women couldn’t vote. Would you go back and tell those people to go home? No word from police yet, and why would there be? It’s 10:00 at night on Saturday on a small sub-street in Toronto with no traffic tonight. Everyone’s peaceful and out of the way, and only in a number of 200. It actually seemed like just a little whimper from the numbers I saw together earlier, but at least they had heart and spirit. We join in singing “Give Peace a Chance” — how could you not, it felt so great. Then, riot cops show up on the sides of the street. Uh-oh. They’re blocking it off, time to go.
We head towards them to leave; they say “Get Back”, no problem. We turn to leave the other way, more riot cops “Get Back”. Okay, we ask if we can please leave — no response. They haven’t said anything. There are journalists in here, a couple comes out of The Keg and tries to leave, they are told, “It’s too late.” Too late for what they ask, and are told nothing. We ask again (Kate has become quite distraught and upset) if we can please leave and are told, “You should have left when we told you.” Wait, what? When? Everyone is saying the same thing. Then the phone number for legal aid starts making the rounds, people write it on their arms and hands (I already had it on a post-it note). The guy from the Keg can’t believe it. The guy in the wheelchair on his way home is stunned. The confused guy with cerebral palsy is freaking out and scared. A few First Nations people around us say, “Well, this is familiar. Welcome to our club everyone.” A gay couple hugs, in tears. An older lady (the splitting image of Jane Goodall) asks what’s happening. The media with the huge cameras seem at a loss. The riot police have the full gear, shields, helmets, masks down, saying nothing. The leaders of the march ask for a negotiator to get people out of here. No response. They give official media a chance to leave that have badges, but no one else. Not even people who have obvious news camera and photo cameras. Steve Paikin from TVO managed to get out. We all chant, “Let us go!” They begin pulling people out of the sitting crowd and take them away. There was no resisting, they turned around and offered their hands. Then a riot cop with a classic cop mustache announces, “You’re all under arrest. You will all be charged and you cannot leave. ”
We can’t believe we’re about to be arrested. They won’t tell us why we are under arrest, which they legally have to. We were on the sidewalk the whole time. People from the condo above The Keg throw things down at the group. We throw nothing back and a few riot police laughed. The workers in The Keg are all at the window, confused, one of them starts crying and walks away. Everyone is trying to find out why we just can’t go home. Then the riot squads form a half circle around us, shield to shield. People angry, afraid. We were nowhere close to the fence; there was no violence — what was this? People singing a John Lennon song all arrested? Confusing. Upsetting. I want to get out of there with Kate and go home and I can’t. I hate the way this made me feel. I didn’t do anything. Nothing was happening here with these people, whom I was now a part of. Some sat down, many were on dying cell phones trying to call family and friends, some kids trying to call parents and asking to borrow phones, journalists calling their offices for help . . . scary.
The unmoving riot officers had arm badges saying they were from Calgary. Then all at once, they took some pill and took a sip from the tubes attached to their riot gear. It became clear they were a little confused, a supervisor was yelling at them they were in a wrong formation, some of them tripped over each other. I noticed the street was blocked off at both ends, no media anywhere at either end . . . denied access to see what was happening down here. Soon the street was full of buses and paddy wagons and riot cops outnumbered people 5 to 1. Many of the cops behind the semi-circle took off gear and lay down, sweaty on the sidewalk, obviously overworked. One by one, officers would come through the shrinking semi-circle line and take people roughly away. People would turn and offer their hands peacefully, waiting to go.
My new name!
My evidence bag.
I turned and offered my hands, I was handcuffed and made to walk backwards across the street to officers in front of the Novotel. I’m handed over, searched, asked my name — all very peaceful. My arresting officer, Toronto Constable Caesar, asked me if I understood I was being arrested — I said I understood, but I didn’t know why. He paused. “You’re being charged with — ” He stops, talks with someone else, moves me, and says “Mischief”. Another officer comes over with a form and a clipboard, Caesar says “Finally got a clipboard huh?” The officer replies “Yeah, this thing is fucked up.”
Our wristbands.
Here are two videos from some people who were in the condo. Listen to the Rocket Scientist who yells, “You guys are dumb!” then breaks into a Beavis and Butthead laugh. No media was allowed to see what was happening to us, so, here’s what it looked like:
PART 4: Taken on a Ride.
So, handcuffed and waiting around I see cops on the sidewalk lying on their shields, gulping Gatorade. Kate is put into a paddy wagon. I’m brought over to a different one and put in after a young guy. The back of the wagon has two seating areas, divided by a steel wall. There are no lights; the back wall is angled so you have to hunch over. I introduce myself to my fellow prisoner, he does the same. His story is much like mine. 45 minutes later we now have 6 guys on the bench. The last one in is a photojournalist, the officers toss in his evidence bag (with big fancy camera and case). “That’s my camera!” he yells, they laugh and slam the door. The police’s attitude is very relaxed, casual, many smiling and laughing. I overheard many talking about the confusion they faced in the 
day and right now. The other guys tell me they never had their rights read either and were all told different reasons for the arrest, “Disturbing the Peace”, “Obstructing Justice”, and so on. No one clear reason we were all there. I can only make out their silhouettes when they lean forward, no lights.
We can hear the guys on the other side of the truck. One of my 6 guys shouts “Tim?!”, “Yeah?” we hear back. Turns out they went to elementary school together in rural Ontario way back when. The ages of the guys in the truck range from 15-47. The only light that comes in is from tiny circles in the metal doors, the glass is dirty, so we can’t make out too much. We drive for 1 minute and stop. They turn off the truck and leave. The truck behind us backs over and stays put, still on. Our truck now begins to smell of fumes . . . I don’t think this was on purpose, as the drivers seemed confused about where to go, we could make out there were many discussions happening between all kinds of officers outside. But diesel fume headaches started in. After another 10 minutes we drove to a large prisoner transfer bus.
Our bus looked a lot like this.
Everyone couldn’t believe what was happening to us. We all talked about our rights, what phone number to call, where we might be headed. The general thought was the new detention centre they built inside the Toronto Movie Studios at Pape and Eastern. And sure enough, as the bus left the St. Lawrence Market area, we headed east. There was a sense of outrage on the bus, but when we got our phone call and legal counsel, this would be exposed for the farce it was. A girl started getting really wild and screaming — it was a bit much, a few guys laughed, and I heard a “Shut-up” — it was unmistakably Kate, she wasn’t into the girl next to her losing her mind just yet. I called out “I love you!”, another guy jokes “Will you be my prison wife?”
We arrived outside of the wet and dark Toronto Film Studio, with its large gates and armored guards and dozens of police cars and fenced off areas. It was creepy. The buildings were huge and grey with red signs with white numbers on them. It was something from a George Orwell novel. Large spotlight pointing down from posts, in the rain. Our bus was stopped in front of a large garage door to one of the hanger-sized buildings. The door rolls open a light pours out from it. We drive inside.
PART 5: Behind the Grey Door.
As we go in there are rows of cages on left hand side. About 12’x20′ and around 10′ high. They were cages. Chain cages full of people. From what I could see they were all young people in these cages, maybe the young offenders. I have never seen anything like this, only in holocaust films, sci-fi films or pictures of Guantanamo Bay (and no, am I not comparing this to those events, I’m just sharing what came to mind and the only things I can reference it to).
There are skids of bottled water and Gatorade the police are drinking from. The men on the bus are talking about how the police cars were abandoned and no police officers stopped the infamous Black Bloc — learn more about that here.
We all agreed that we were the hundreds of protesters left at the end of the day; long after the violence was done that afternoon. But hey, how do you justify to the people of Canada that we spent 1.2 billion dollars? You arrest all the protesters. We thought we might be held for 24 hours so that the streets would be cleared from people demonstrating their right to free speech. I mean, they closed down the “Free Speech Zone” in a public space, so . . . why were we there? Finally an officer comes on the bus and states “Come forward and give your number”. So one by one we go. Outside we are handed off to a Court Services officer, all with “Special Constable” patches. Some have removed their nametags, others have them still on. Some are Barrie Court Services, some Toronto. I’m given to a shorter female constable who removed my metal cuffs and put me in the plastic binds — she had trouble getting them tight enough. “My gloves are too sweaty” she says, a male officer grabs the tie and pulls them — tight. My wrists are already raw from the cuffs; I say they are too tight. “You’ll live” I’m told. Oh.
She asks where I’m supposed to go, no one really knew. Everyone there seemed a little overworked and confused. Someone told her to make sure I read ‘the sign’. She takes me towards an ominous black corridor — it was this pocket of darkness in this hanger that led to another section. Kate had already disappeared inside it. She stops in front of a sign, which states that all video and audio would be recorded in the cells and could be used as evidence, etc etc. She asked if I understood and I said I did. I was actually happy to read that, in case anything in violation of the law happened to me inside. We walked into the darkness . . .
PART 6: Welcome to Cell Block OL 6 in Detention Level 2 Prisoner #0106, or
Come for the cup of water, stay for the condom-ball.
Inside the former movie studio, I almost can’t believe it. I’ve never seen this outside of movies. It is almost unreal. There are no windows to be had. The cavernous ceiling is 200 ft high, I can barely see it. It makes the warehouse from the end of 
Raiders of the Lost Ark look small. Hanging down to about 15 ft off the ground are rows of intense florescent lights. Dozens of rows as far as I can see in either direction. Over each cell is a small black pod container, a camera. It appears to be a maze made of industrial shelving, construction office trailers, wooden decks and walkways and cages. The cages are roughly 12′ by 20′ and around 10′ high. There is sheet metal on 3 sides; the front side has a sliding door section that locks. Inside each cage is a porto-potty with the door removed, no toilet paper. It reaches close to the ceiling and is about 4’x4′ around. Those potties — bright orange, with an elaborate art deco style molding. A 1.2 billion dollar porto-potty to be sure. I pass rows of the cages with people bleeding, crying slumped on the concrete floor. Huddled, asking to call family, asking for water, asking what the charge is, wanting to know their rights. All the officers were ignoring them and laughing. Laughing at people. I have never seen anything like this.
UPDATE: PHOTOS FROM THE INSIDE
My officer was asking where to take me — no officers knew. One officer tells her “Who knows? This place just got fucked up. Good luck.” She sighs. Finally it’s decided and I’m taken down a row of cages, I see Kate in a cage with about 30 girls, huddled, still wet and in this place (which I just notice is freezing). She smiles — “I love you!” I call to her, I hear “I love you too!” as I’m brought around the corner. I see the girls have no door on their potty, with mostly male officers around them walking by, looking in. We’re near the wall and I see a cage full of about 35 men. “Cell Block OL 6” says a white sign on the cage door. In I go. I recognize some of the guys from the bus and paddy wagon. Hello agains are said. We are still handcuffed with the vinyl ties; I now have a cut on my wrist. I see the guy with the green mohawkish cut — he looks troubled.
Like this, but little bigger with one bench and huge outhouse.
It was now around 2:00am. I’ve been held since 10:30pm, not read my rights, not explained anything, not yet charged,no phone call. And in an overcrowded cell with no access to water. Every guy had to pee; there was a line around the inside of the cell to piss. Trying to pee with your hand cuffed together was horrible . . . but we all managed . . . the outhouse was messy. No toilet paper. So, here we all were. Ages from 16-78. Three German men asked why the guard made a joke about Auschwitz. They were here from Germany, left a bar, got arrested. They said they had no idea Canada was like this; they said the world thought we were free. They said “Poor Canadians, this is shame.”
The camera -- I hope you're getting all this up there.
Stories are exchanged, we all discuss what to say to our lawyers or legal aid when we call. One guy explains how he was working at a music store up at Ossington, left work, saw his buddy across the street gave him the rock and roll horns with his hand, then a cop saw him and said ‘Don’t give the cops the finger!” while running at him and then tackling him. He was bleeding and his clothes ripped. He was shocked. Still thirsty. We ask why we’re in here. “Because you committed a crime,” quips a Barrie Court Services officer — a tall, bald man with one hell of mean streak. It looked ugly. Some officers were laughing and joking at us. I was feeling the crowded cell growing tense and angry. One black, shorter male Toronto Officer came over as we began pleading for an explanation, for water and for some of us to be moved into another cell. He came over and said, “This is wrong. Guys, I’m sorry, this is fucked up. But there’s nothing I can do. This place is just chaos. I’m sorry.” he leaves. Very thirsty.
In police custody for 6 hours now, no water, no anything. We start to get worried. We are still very polite to the guards, “Please, we need water. Please help us. Please help this 16-year-old kid. Please split us up, we can’t even all sit in here.” We look at the camera and beg for help. We can hear people in the other cells yelling and begging for water. We hear a girl “Please! I need my medication! HELP ME!”. I yell “Help that girl, what the hell is going on here!” Other cages begin to yell. I find out later this girl was in my girlfriend’s cell and was way past her medication time. The male officers were laughing in at her and tapping their keys along the bars leering at the girls in wet clothes. Finally two female officers took the girl away. They also had a 17-year-old girl in her cage as well. Still thirsty.
7 hours into custody, the people break. A shout for water breaks into a little riot, all cells yelling water, shaking the cages, and kicking at the doors. People with cracked lips and cracking voices — I’ve been awake for 22 hours now. Luckily a guy in our cell kept a watch. The place is going insane, we are told by guards “We’re working on it!”, some are apologizing, some are obviously lost and confused, others are laughing.
Finally water reaches our cell. They have a blue jug on an office chair, rolling it around with one officer pushing, one with a key, and one holding styrofoam dixie cups. We are told to line up. Many of the men say “Thank-you”. I had to beg for water. BEG FOR WATER. For 9 hours. I hated being made to feel grateful for this tiny sip of water. Many gulped their cup down, some took it slow. “So shut-up now,” said the officer. Well, guess who was starting to get hungry after 8 hours in custody?
An older First Nations man produces a condom and blows it up into a balloon. We all laugh — the water did us good. In fact we all got along really well, making the best of things we could. Quiet guys, big loud guys, punks, well dressed men, journalists, people who were at work, protesters, homeless, gay guys. We all got along, totally united. So, with this condom balloon, we started bouncing it around, like volleyball. We then called it Condom-Ball. The rules were to bounce it with your elbows or legs, and try and catch the tip in your empty dixie cup (as they were tied together, like a volleyball bump already — too easy). Some guys got really into it, some were laughing, some thought it was gross, but funny. We joked about starting a condom-ball league. We’d rent the cages and have teams of 40 guys in each one. I’m looking forward the security footage from our cell — look at these crazy violent protesters . . . . playing games. So, some dude popped the condom with his cuffs, we all jokingly booed him and someone said “Now you’ll have to pay child support, never break the rubber!” Then the First Nations guy pulled out another condom. We cheered. They guy who broke the last one volunteered for blow-up duty. Someone said “When we get out I’m gonna say being in a cell with 40 guys sucked, until we found a condom.” We all laughed our asses off. Soon people tired of the game, as we were wet, crowded and hungry and still didn’t know anything.
PART 7: Awake for 25 Hours, Imprisoned for 10 of them.
It was a weird feeling being locked in a cage like animals. Told by my captors that it was wrong (but also laughed at by others), begging for food and water. Then, down the hall across from my cell I saw this: the bald Barrie officer was dragging in a kid with mild cerebral palsy (I saw him with a friend while they were arrested, he was so scared). He pushed and then they said something to him, his clothes were torn and his eyes red from crying. I guess they wanted his shoes, because he 
struggled to lift his leg (his pants were falling down) when the officer slammed his leg down. “Never mind. Stop being stupid.” He laughed at the kid, as did the other officer. Away they went. Heard a door slam.
The guy who took his girlfriend to the Keg tells us how he told her it would be safe out “The violence was long over, and even the Mayor had said to go and enjoy Toronto.” He called out for his girl, “Trudy!?!”, we hear a “Yeah!? Is that you Sean?” he looks happy and yells “Yeah Baby!” she yells back “It’s over!!!” we all start laughing. Later I find out from Kate that Trudy was in her cell and also yelled, “Just joking!” but he didn’t hear because we were all laughing. The laughs were hard to come by. I was still sick that I begged for water and had been here for 11 hours and I hadn’t done a thing. And that I watched helpless as they roughed up a kid with CP. This was like some sick, twisted social experiment. All handcuffed, we ask “What if we have to shit? No toilet paper!” 45 minutes later they push a few sheets through the fence. “We’re bound, we can’t even wipe!” The male officer says “Figure it out boys”. Laughs. We make a pact that none of us will shit. I find out from Kate that the girls had to make a human wall when using the bathroom and help wipe each other. They also had to beg for toilet paper. Apparently they didn’t think girls needed much for the bathroom. So women asked for tampons or pads, the male guards laughed and said, “That explains your attitudes.”
Haha, cerebral palsy is hilarious. BEG FOR WATER!
People are hungry. We plead to the passing guards for food or an explanation, or to tell us what’s happening — even to split us up so we can lie on the cold concrete. They say we will be processed, interviewed, charged and released in about maybe 3 hours — we can also make a call then to legal aid. And food? “We’re working on it.” We ask the guards how they could be a part of this. Some look guilty as hell, some laugh. We get the attention of Toronto Special Constable White, a short balding man with glasses. He comes to us; we all desperately and calmly explain what’s happening to us. White listens, apologizes, admits that it’s wrong and says, “I’m just a pea in a pod. I can’t help.” So, the old “I’m just following orders”, which followers of human right violators have used for ages. Wrong is wrong, whether it’s your paycheck or not. But hey, this is the G20, blood money for all!
White leaves us, apologizing and saying he’s going to try and help. 10 hours, a sip of water, no food, nothing. The gay couple has curled up on each other trying to sleep and keep warm. The man next me says, “I’m jealous.” I say “Me too.” he says, “I’m starting to look for the cutest guy in here.” I say, “Well, when in prison . . .” We chuckle, but it’s an empty chuckle.
PART 8: “Food” for the disillusioned.
You know what smells? 40 guys who haven’t showered in 30 hours with an open door outhouse and wet socks. I wonder what happened to Ben? Tension is mounting in the cell, some guys are getting wild-eyed. Some are starting to freak out. We’ve been in the cage for 10 hours, crammed together. Finally food arrives in the form of a plastic wrapped dinner roll with a slice of processed cheese in it, and slathered in butter. Everyone digs into their food, devouring them. It’s around 8:30am. One guys asks “Why is there so much butter?”, the officer replies “It’s not butter, it’s margarine.” 
He jokes back “I can’t believe it’s not butter!” Some us laugh, some are too into the sandwich to notice anything else.
I suggest we write a message in the chain ceiling with our dixie cups for the people watching on the camera. We all decide “HELP” is the best option — maybe they’ll do something and at least split us up. A quiet young guy in glasses puts it up. Nicely done. I find out that Kate’s cell (Cell Block OL 5) made a peace symbol and that Ben’s cell block (OL 2) made a chandelier from some danger tape they pulled inside, the cups, and the ends of the plastic handcuffs they chewed off. Fancy. I hope the officers on the other sides of the cameras saw the dangerous people they had. Then two officers arrive and take away the green mohawk guy. We ask about the rest of us and we’re told “Soon.” That’s all. We ask about our rights and Toronto Court Services Special Constable # 99257 says, “We can hold you for as long as it takes to process you.” I ask him “Is that the law? What if it takes four years to process, you can hold us?” He says, “Yes.” I tell him he’s lying. I demand to know his name (his name tag was off) and says “Your fault if you believe me”, looks nervous and quickly leaves. Never gave a name. We were told many times about being processed and we’d reach what they called “the Otherside”. What was there? I don’t know. They said that we’d have to wait again there anyways. What was this Otherside? Someone suggested we’d be turned into cheese slices. I said I would make terrible Soylent Green. A few guys laughed emptily.
PART 9: No Help for a Broken Heart.
We are thirsty again; it’s been 15 hours in police custody. Still 39 guys overcrowded. Getting very scary. Awake for around 30 hours. Had one sip of water and cheese shit-bun. The 16 year old hasn’t been able to call his parents. We yell for someone to help us, to help this 16 year old kid — for someone to do anything, to please help us. We get the attention of black female Toronto Special Constable Ottey, with short hair and glasses. We tell her about the 16 year old, she writes down his information and says she’ll do something about it. I see her several times in the next few hours, ignoring us as we ask for an update. Poor kid. His poor parents. We see officer White a few more times, he always apologizes. They say they are looking for people they suspect of bigger crimes first — an officer comes by and yells “Islam! Is there an Islam in here?” Nope, no one by that name here.
We start losing it a little bit. Saying to every officer, “You know this is wrong, look at us in here!” We hear from the other cells that some only have 20 or 15 guys. Why is this happening? How is this happening? Some guys start screaming, kicking the cage, and shaking it. We can hear this happening all over the place. We yell for help, some cops are laughing, some look devastated and helpless. I’m so thirsty and I’m screaming for water. It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before. A prisoner. Innocent. Screaming at my captors for water. Right then my heart broke.
I looked around at the screaming men, the scared kid, the huddled couple, the disgusted Germans, the confused old man, the First Nations man who didn’t seem surprised at all, the guards laughing, the others dismayed. Thought about the 
peaceful things I saw at the park, the grandmothers with AIDS orphans, Kate taken away in handcuffs, the kid with CP roughed up, begging for water, and my heart simply broke. That’s the only way I can describe it. My beloved country, my city. I looked down at my t-shirt — bright blue with a big white maple leaf and in bold, caps letters below: FREEDOM. I kid you not. I was proud to wear that shirt earlier that day. Now it stung. I was so helpless and empty. For those of you who may not think this sounds like much, or is justified, you weren’t there. People from all walks of life were breaking in that place, including police officers. One guy lost it and went into “Fucking pigs! Fucking giving us swine flu! Fuck you!” I always thought people who said things like this don’t appreciate that the police have a hard job and deal with so much crap. But right then, I got this guy and those people. People who have been victims of the police. Are all bad? No. But they give into their own kind of mob mentality. I saw the blood lust in those Riot Cops’ eyes and the disregard from some of these guards. One man yelled “We are people! We pay your salary through taxes!” The officer yelled, “You don’t paying any fucking taxes, look at you!” The university educated, employed man in awe asked “What the hell do you mean?” He walks away laughing.
We yell and scream, beg and cry out. Eventually officers arrive and say “You’ve been in here too long. Sorry, we’ll move some of you,” and take six guys, then another six. I went with the second six.
PART 10: Meet the New Rat Cage, Just Like the Old Rat Cage.
I’m led down to Cell Block OL 2. Across from us are large sections of industrial shelves and we can see into a deck area where 4 trailers meet, they each have a door. The door I can see says “Booking Room 10” with a red light above it. Cops lean on the railing, laughing, and dancing when people chant slogans from their cells. They think it’s hilarious. Coming on 15 hours in custody. There are already around 15 men in this cell. They tell us some guys got removed a while ago. There are many similar stories in here, and another journalist. There is one guy in an English soccer jersey that tells me he was at a bar, stepped out for a smoke and was arrested. He was a huge soccer fan and was about to miss the big Germany/England match. The 16 year old was now in this cell. Around 10am there was a shift change in officers and we began begging for water again, maybe these guards would help us. I notice the evidence shelves under label OL 6, there are 5 bags — but there were 40 guys in that cell . . . where’s all our stuff?
My mouth was pasty and dry. Some guys mouths were cracked. We were once again ignored and told to wait. More promises of the Otherside. Some try to sleep on the concrete and share the single metal bench. Officers wander the hallways aimlessly, some calling out names, asking each other what happened to certain prisoners — confused. Several officers repeatedly pass our cell asking for the same names and numbers. Why don’t they know where they put anyone? There were hundreds of officers in this place. Why so slow to process? What was the charge? Where is our phone call? I beg for more water. I’m getting dizzy and have been up for 31 hours. The lights never dimmed, no blankets. The majority of everyone I’ve met so far lives in Toronto.
Another cheese sandwich arrives. My mouth was so dry I had trouble swallowing. Some guys used theirs as pillows. One man asks a guard if he has any kids, the guard says he does and so what? The man says that his two kids have no idea where he is and were expecting him two hours ago. The guard writes some info down and says he’ll see what he can do. I’m seeing some spots and getting woozy.
PART 11: Lights Out, Tommy Taylor.
The next thing I know, I’m outside the cell, surrounded by a few guards. An older female guard with short dark hair and glasses is offering me a cup of watered down Tang and instructing my binds be cut. I’m given a second cup of juice and new, looser cuffs. They ask if I’m ok, I’m so confused about why I’m outside the cell and ask “What’s going on?” They ask if I’m alright, and I say “I guess so” then they open the cage and put me back. The guys make room on the bench and sit me down. Asking if I’m ok. “What happened?” I ask with a now splitting headache. “You passed out man!” they tell me. Timber. Over I went, boom to the ground. They yelled to the guards for help, the officers wouldn’t come in to get me so the guys had to pick me up and take me to the door. I was then up on my feet and being given juice . . . so the blanks were now filled in.
I passed out. After begging for water. I passed out and fell over in jail. What was happening to me? No sleep, no water. The men went nuts. “Is this what it takes, a guy passing out! Christ!! What’s wrong with you monsters!” My head kills, they ask for medical attention for me, I second the motion and we’re told “Not right now”. Guys slump to the floor in defeat. The female officer who helped me aids in bringing some watery orange Tang to all the cells. We line up, quietly and broken, for our drink. I find out from Kate that this same female officer broke down and cried with the women at their cell. She was sobbing and apologizing, “This is wrong, you shouldn’t be here. This is all so wrong.” Their own officers couldn’t handle it, she was worn down by the injustices she was being ordered to do. This happened in Toronto.
Across from our cell Special Constable C. Smit, a short white female officer with blonde/brown hair, stands guard. We nicely talk with her through the cage. “Please tell us how you can do this? We are begging for water in here. This guy is only 16 and this guy passed out. Your co-workers laugh. They are joking to us about our rights and laughing at a disabled kid. You know this is wrong, what’s happening?” After too much of this, with tears in her eyes she breaks. “I don’t know anything, no one here knows anything! I’m not even a cop . . .” She then leaves in a hurry. Madness.
PART 12: Live from Cell Block OL 1, it’s Test Their Logik!
So, from out of the blue, in the cage next to ours, a rap starts. About the G8/G20. It’s awesome, and holy hell. It’s the rap from a video I watched about a rap duo appearing at the party supposed to happen Saturday night. And holy hell, those rappers, Test Their Logik are in jail. And now they are singing live in prison. Every cage joining in the chorus “G8, G20, they few, we many!” They do the whole song, the place gets pumped and they finish with everyone singing. Then when it’s over we all clap, yell, cheer and rattle our cages. It was so awesome; it reminded me of when the prisoners hear the opera song in Shawshank Redemption. Brilliant moment for all of us in detention hell. The song is “Crash the Meeting”, see it here:
PART 13: See you in the Parking Lot, Special Constable Milrod.
The “fuck the pigs” guy is loosing his damn mind. A young guy on the new officer shift, with reddish hair and a goatee seems ready for a fight. He says to the guys in our cell “I want to see all you guys outside in the parking lot, then we’ll see what’s what. I’ll take you down.” Wow. He walks away laughing. I inform an actual Toronto Police Officer of what he said and his name. Next we saw Milrod, his nametag was gone and he didn’t look at us or speak to us. It’s on camera Milrod, with 30 witnesses.
The cops are still searching for random names. They claim processing is taking long. One officer says, “We had to arrest 1,000 people, so wait.” We theorize that we’ll be held until just before the legal 24 hours they can hold without charging, which coincides with the end of the G20 Summit. Spirits are broken, guys lying all around. Two are removed for processing and they tell us they are clearing our cell next. Finally. It’s almost 3pm we’re told, when we ask for the time.
The only evidence I can see that it’s the day is a tiny hole 200 feet up with light on the outside. I wonder if anyone knows what happened down at the Novotel or what’s happening in here? We’ve only seen officers — no lawyers, medics or media (other than the ones in cages). It’s getting close to 24 hours in custody. I haven’t slept in 40 hours and new prisoners are being brought in. We’re told they are trying to process the women first, as they are out of room for female prisoners. I find a silver lining in that, hoping Kate might have gone home.
PART 14: Time to rush and time for rain.
So, they tell us they’ve doubled the staff and will be moving quickly. Some guys have pulled their hands out of the plastic cuffs. Some are too tight. Some guys are still in metal cuffs. 22 hours in cuffs. Bloody wrists. My head is in hell, my elbow hurts, and my wrists kill. I pull my one hand finally out. Finally I can stretch my arms, after 22 horrid hours. Rub my wrists, but it stings. I guess I always saw people rub their wrists in movies after removing handcuffs — that’s bull, it hurts too much. The guards don’t care that we’re doing this. Why were we all in handcuffs if we were already locked up?
So, bags of evidence are rushed around as officers call out names, holding photographs of some guys, looking around. They mostly just call numbers. My wrist tag is pretty worn out by now, but I remember my number, 0106. The crazy “fuck the police” guy has exactly 12 stickers on his body with his name. Looks like the police had fun with him. I hear them say “Santos!” That’s Ben’s last name! A few minutes later I see Ben taken down a hallway with his evidence bag. Awesome I think. See you soon buddy!
We’re told we’re being taken straight outside. No processing, no interview, no phone calls. We’re leaving. The officer who was there when we first arrived and made the Auschwitz joke comes back in for his next day of work, sees us and says, “Holy shit, you guys are still here? What the fuck is going on here?” and walks away. A few more guys are taken from our cell, we’re all calling each other brother now, pounding our handcuffed fists and reminding each other of how we’ll stay in touch and to tell everyone what’s happening in here. Then there is a loud steady booming. A rainstorm. The sound fills the entire chasm. Sounds like heavy rain. They finally take the 16-year-old kid.
As time passes I think about what to do when I’m out. Then I hear my name. I almost can’t believe it. 23 hours. Was it over? I answered questions about my date of birth and address. They opened the door and led me away. Around the corner, back through another area to the fabled Otherside.
PART 15: Break on Through to the Otherside.
So, just after the G20 was officially over, just before the legal 24 hours they could hold me, I was being rushed out. Convenient. They found a way to keep 500 legal protesters from their Constitutional rights. In this country. Canada. My shirt feels dirty. When I make it to the Otherside I see signs that let me know I was a Level 2 Detainee and I was heading into Levels 3 & 4.
Inside this hanger, more cages and metal detectors. The L3 area housed small groups of men and women, looking battered, some bleeding. They all made peace signs and told me to tell everyone about them. Down another hall, rows of single person cells. These look like leaders, organizers, many bloody. I see the green mohawk guy. He says “Adios”. I’m then put into another cage with some former cellmates. They tell me not to worry; they are taking us out one by one from here. There is a younger black guy with an awesome baseball cap; an officer asks, “How’d you get to keep that hat?” “Because I look good in it.” he replies smoothly. We all laugh, including the officers. I’m taken out, cuffs cut off and put against a wall to have my photo taken again.
Against the wall I’m told that I was arrested for “breach of peace”, I will not be charged, but if I am arrested for this or a similar crime again, I will be charged and appear in court. Do not join any more protests and assemblies during the G20. “Do you understand these terms?” I said I did. He then said “And the bad news is it’s raining cats and dogs out there. Take him out.” Then, I try to take my jacket from my evidence bag, but am told to head out, don’t stop.
I’m out in the pouring rain, it’s around 9:30pm, still a little light. I’m told to cross the parking lot. There are large gates with a turnstile to the side. GO through the turnstile riot cops tell me. Out I go. A crowd across the street under tarps and umbrellas cheers for me. I see a basket of apples, I eat 4 and gulp a glass of water. Pats on the back. My mind is ablaze, I can’t focus. I don’t see Ben or Kate.
PART 16: Scream.
The detention centre was at Eastern Ave. and Pape. I have no money, no wallet, no phone. My head is aching, my wrists raw, body sore and awake for 43 hours. I walk up Pape to Queen. I have a long walk home to Jarvis/Gerrard. My keys and shoelaces are in a bag. Some people didn’t get their shoes back. Standing in the rain. No shoes. The angry is whelming up inside, my brain is exploding, tears are filling my eyes and I scream and punch the construction wall next to me. How did this happen? Where are my friends? What did I do? Who was in charge in there? I’m crushed, lost and might as have been hit like by a truck.
I make my way finally to a pay phone by a bar. It’s raining and dark. I make a collect call home, Kate answers. She was out around 4pm and told nothing about myself. I have trouble speaking when she asks if I’m okay. I can barely keep it together. I tell her I’m fine. I’m not. She asks if they beat me — I don’t know. I’m standing soaking wet in the rain on a collect call on a payphone with cars whizzing by. It took everything not to fall to my knees. She says take a cab, she’s called my parents and the Legacy’s are worried. Come home. She hasn’t heard from Ben. He’s not answering his phone. I finally hail a cab and fall into it.
PART 17: Homecoming.
I arrive home at 11:00pm. Kate’s waiting outside. We hug and kiss. I’m starving, soaked, thirsty and sore. We go inside, I call my family and my friend Chris. I can’t talk long, I just tell them I’m home and safe. Ben’s mom hasn’t heard from him, he’s not answering his phone. We finally hear from him at 1:00am. They detained him and accused him of being Black Bloc. He was still in a bright yellow shirt from work. Horrible things happened to him and Kate. I peel off my soaking wet Canada Freedom t-shirt. I throw it on the ground and get a lighter. I want to burn it. I don’t. I drink juice, we eat. We’re so sad. Our lives have changed. I was shivering and couldn’t form sentences. A shower. I couldn’t sleep. I had 38 emails. Where are you? My production team for the show I’m directing at SummerWorks wonder where I am, we have things to do. I send brief messages, make a note on facebook. I also notice how many people are raging about the protesters on facebook. Of course, the news is all about burning cop cars and broken windows. Things went exactly as I said when I saw those photos the previous afternoon. Jesus, it worked. Everyone got spoon fed a justification for the 1.2 Billion spent.
NOW:
That’s all true. Think about it. Is this Canada? Do you think this is right? You don’t want to live in a country where this happens. It’s changed my whole outlook and attitude on life. My responsibility to every human being in this world. Plato said, “The Price of Apathy towards public affairs is to be Ruled by Evil Men.” I used that as a tagline for a play I co-wrote and directed in the 2006 Toronto Fringe, called Lifeboat. Back then I felt pretty good that I explored these issues in my theatre work. Now I know it has to be a part of my life. The World needs you. Educate yourself. Your comfort is shame; your looking away kills people. You’re not small. You’re not helpless. You can do something. You have a voice, don’t let them silence you before you even try to speak.
This guy, Dan, was in my cell, he’s gay and was segregated by homophobic police:
Think this is bullshit? Fine, stick with the mainstream media, but look what they say:
Read what happened to others in The Toronto Star.
Read what happened to National Post photographers.
The truth is tough from the violence:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/peaceful-protesters-attacked-arrested-while-cop-car-arsonists-left-alone.html
Or is it like this?
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/blog/oshipeya/3966
Watch an account from a prisoner, jump to 2:20 minutes:
Read all the news you and be your own judge:
http://2010.mediacoop.ca/
Je peux te dire que ce n’est guère faux ..
hai tommy,
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to write down everything that happened to you and for sharing this with the rest of the world Tommy.I agree for the most part Roy, but being a 25 year old, I’m a proud voter. But I also saw what a city full of pats on the back and promoting your friends creates.
bellows in india
So I am actually the 16 year old kid mentioned in this article and I have to say this is a pretty accurate account of what happened during those 20+ hours, condom ball, the short bald officer White. After I left the second cell I was brought to a much smaller one with about 6 other guys one of which was paramedic who claimed he was shot in the throat by a riot police when he was tending to a man who was unconscious and bleeding from the head. Now, several months later, I look back at this day as a learning experience but am also very cheesed at how long the whole process took , and even though my rights were violated I will not be participating in the class action lawsuit against the Toronto police because I just don’t want to waste any more time honestly how many cases have the piggies lost….. anyway I really just wanted to comment on you writing that I was “scared”, I don’t know I just feel like this article makes me out to look really soft, I dunno I don’t want to say you over exaggerated much because it was pretty hectic in there.
Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to write down everything that happened to you and for sharing this with the rest of the world Tommy. It must have been difficult and exhausting for you to relive that nightmare. What an absolutely horrifying and unnecessary ordeal for you and all the other innocent people picked off the streets. It makes me sick to think this could happen in “the land of the free”. Although I do think some police are good-natured and work hard to protect civilians, I despise the ones who use their badge as a means to mistreat and abuse innocent people. Thank you for opening my eyes.
Tommy,
Thanks for taking the time to write this article.
If the public is left with the media and government’s take on what happened and why, then the public will left in the dark. But when citizens such as yourself make the effort to document their abuse at the hands of those supposedly charged with their protection, then we can all become educated in the reality of the situation.
About protests. Protests (i was one, experienced), today dont change nothing. To change, you must enter politics, must enter the system, resist inside to pressure, and never give up. You and some friends, even pretend you dont know each other, lol.
Protests are only to other people pay attention, to media pay attention to some problem, to people start to think.
Thats all. They are necessesary to this. To change, enter politics. Learn real politics – free market is not capitalism for example – Enter the system,
first comment ” They taught their kids to not vote, to not participate in council meetings, to not learn how to talk back to authority, to not join Riding associations. They taught their kids to unwittingly conspire against democratic methods. See, kids under thirty simply don’t vote, ”
Geez, you get the point here. Vote is necessary, but here what you must do. Learn real politics, not utopias that lead to dictatorships. Vote. And most important after that, participate in council meetings, enter politics.
Enter the system, and change it from inside. The bad guys and girls did it, so the good ones, must do it also.
Only thing to do.
It hill be hard, once you enter partys, councils, etc. But resist, have patient.
Only thing to do.
But be careful. If you have “utopia” political ideas, you will support the bad ones.
An educated people in councils is good, un-educated people is very bad.
Enter politics.
Dearest co-patriots seeking the tenacious innovation of freedom to just be left alone…
The solution? Every vote can mean tremendous force of peaceful resistance: blowing those who call us enemies to their knees and beyond.
For this, we want to stay out of and away from all corporate endeavors. Wean off them as you can. Get your mind set in this direction. It’s money the elite mad-haters make from these corporations (whom we feed w/our money). They are the sludge from 2-party slugs… that you may discover is all there is to vote for within your localities… solution? FIND another willing soul, a co-patriot (if not yourself) that you can add his/her name to voting ticket, someone YOU can yourself vote for confidently in handling matters according to the Constitution.
How do we know a co-patriot? It is someone who totally supports our Constitutions and is not shy in saying (and behaving) how they give every waking hour to that pursuit, purpose. Before backing them, before they should be allowed to take the “oath” of office, a form can be presented to them they must sign which says if they deviate at any point during their term then they’re OUT!!! (get it notarized after signed).
ALL the incumbents, with few exceptions, MUST be voted OUT of office. Period. And new fresh outlooks infused into those positions. Best to start locally, nearest where you live.
There has been fascist criminals controlled and driven by secret cults that have taken hold in our government’s ranks- These mentally insane people feed off of mankind’s pain, misery, suffering, death. I am here describing reservedly this situation. They are products of programming, via chemicals, abuse & torture. Manipulated to do things normal folks cannot fathom. Many don’t have what it takes (mentally, emotionally) to accept the truth of what these sickos are capable of. At least you who were detained at this G-20 got a good taste.
These summit protests at this point are only feeding these salivating insane goons by giving them opportunity to PRACTICE their sickening abuses and physical force over others. These situations then get on MSM news (praising the abusers), and which likely are recorded by the miscreants– for their own pleasurable feedback. Similar to after a murderer kills and before leaving takes a “trophy” from its victim to salivate over later on.
Go stealth, keep your human spirit, self-value and meaning intact; work outside and AWAY from the sickening MSM cameras and disinfo scripts (ie: protests) with a vigilance!!! Can you see how it’s all set up for the cameras? And the local nightly news?
Protests as these are not the wisest nor safest path to take.
You just got fired upon, blown away, yes? You, my dear co-patriots, have seen NOTHING compared to what many of our ancestors have and still are experiencing. Waking up is good, but the most vital, imperative thing to consider is keeping yourself in one piece. I mean keeping your health- (mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically— ) and maintain your determination, clear-mindedness, calmness and fearlessness as you’re able.
Do what you must to KEEP your self going…”keep on keepin’ on”… as healthy and CLEAR headed as possible. You are dealing with the sickest of the sick who’ve long hidden in shadows but who are now “feeling” the temperature of the water, as they are incrementally stepping out of their dark, secreted hell-holes.
The ‘Jack Boots’ are nothing more than drones. On Auto-pilot. Chems & chips have been around since 40’s, some claim perfected since 1930’s. Keep that in mind.
Solution? Maintain & build mental acuity. Understand planning is EVERYTHING. Work locally with a fervency- be steadfast. Politically? Seek those candidates who can do the job, who sign the form as stated above with no hesitation. Personally expand out from there.
Learn your Constitutions!!! Know what your legal REALITY is. Make it your night job, eh? Study, learn and never stop. Make it your career. This way, you move thru your warrior training intact, less traumatized–
These mind-controlled black-booted soldiers are paid phenomenal money– some forty-thousand during the G’s. They WANT everyone passive, scared, easy to target and easy to traumatize. The more so, the better for them.
Have you ever heard of what happens in a too crowded chicken coop? If one chic has an injury, the others begin pecking it, eventually to death. This is what these black-booted, robotic, chemically spawned criminals are like. They feed off power, abuse, other’s demise. The more they smell the fear, the more lethal they peck!
Know this! In the 60’s and 70’s the “PLAN” was laid for protesting. Where did this idea come from? Who does this REALLY benefit the most? It was all fluffed up from disinfo programs (all the alpha feds paid by international groups toting drugs) from past programming of MY GENERATION in our histories. It was so COOL, looked & ‘felt’ so cool to protest in the 60’s and 70’s didn’t it? It was suppose to!!! The uglies wrote the play, and they wrote the script. It’s a pre-pared script, none of us need to follow today. Especially our young adults who make up large proportion of protesters. Think “last resort” such as with Greece, Italy… connect to these sources for data, insights. Last resort means go for other means of letting them know we mean business… first.
Protesting results are like dogs in training… sit, bark, roll over, cry, piss, drink, eat…. We’re NOT dogs.
We sit there like lame ducks to be taken off to the gulag? Passive protesting does more harm than it helps our personal situation. We’re sitting ducks for practice shoots. This type protesting wasn’t the people’s idea– it was given to them by tptb… and that generation accepted it, because the MSM made such a cutesy fuss over it. If there are well over a couple million of us, it becomes a whole different ball game. But if there are unknown numbers (scattered pockets) of largely naive young adults (college + ages)… it’s a no-brainer that better to hold productive meetings in the safety of your homes, not out on the streets risking getting your bones broken and skulls cracked JUST FOR BEING OUT AND ABOUT due to curiosity on a G-20 Friday night.
Get your bodies in shape and learn weaponry skills. Who among you are ready to be voted in to office? The corruption has to be hung out to dry for ALL to see… and working locally whets ones skills.
I keep wondering what would have happened to those billions of dollars for the G-20 if no one had shown up? How then would they have justified those figures? The play is staged and we were given our roles & scripts back in 60’s, 70’s. Time to change all that. This ain’t then…
What helped bring our boys home from Nam were NOT those protests! (more propaganda).
Leaked pics & vids of soldiers on the field were getting back to the older generations, (along with the few still good people in Congress), this created huge wave of mutually shared utter rage among established populace, at least here in the states. That generation spoke clearly and loudly. Their “withholding” money made all the difference to the ones promoting the wars then. Enough of the older folks on every social level formed together, threatening, putting hellish heat on the administration. It worked! Enough citizens had had it! Money offered to politicians to get off their rumps and stop that war! Can you believe it? Money– the Achilles heel. It also helped cull the numbers of youth protesting.
Back then, free drugs along with well-paid, ‘political insurgents’ created the incitements and led the youth (like the pied piper) into protesting. It was ALL staged folks. They counted on it then, and they count on youth following same play and script today. WAKE UP. Get smart! The protests are not what worked then (other than military round-up practice for the GOONS), and sure isn’t what will work today. Money– money is what turns their heads. The LACK of it. Unfortunately, today there’s insidious sense of power involved in the equation also.
All you who felt the G-20 event as a practice run– you are right ON! Those in control, a dear friend I know said, are like sharks out in the deep ocean, who surface to feed. That it’s best to think of these elite cultists as you would think of a shark. Not to take it personal… you’re swimming– you have a leg, the shark see’s it moving. It looks like lunch, nothing personal. It’s the same with these creatures. Don’t be going in the water teaching the sharks how yummy your legs are! Stay close to home, family, and keep your sensitivity to what’s always been meaningful to you and your life.
Best to not look for “leaders” (that’s how we got to where we are today!!!) YOU be the leader. Be all that you respect & admire in a leader. UB it. And promote same in others. Respect this in self as much as others. This is not gender specific either. Open to all.
For those who can’t lead, all they need are some good books thrown their way-
Read manuscripts from 50’s, 60’s by same fascist groupies running things now, re: how my generation (your parents, some grandparents) were targeted for mind-control and drug fests. You can thank Kissinger and Rockefeller’s for this. The rock n’ roll music with drugs– was based on heavy cult DRUM-rhythms folks. Strobe lights involved also. It was ALL a set up for “today’s catch”.
I look at my generation (adding & subtracting a decade), and for years it weighed heavily on me how much they all looked and acted alike!!! Geez Louise! What was wrong with them??? I couldn’t figure it out. They talked the same, dressed the same, watched the same movies. And seem to follow the most idiotic imbeciles, or what’s today called “celebrities” known to our race. (Not all did, but much too many for my comfort).
College seemed nothing but mind-control for them. Started out a status thingie. Then became social status, after that became money status, then became power status. (they were brainwashed about climbing up “the ladder”, I saw it as climbing down). At least the ones I knew were a lot more normal before college, after college they grew more and more disconnected to reality. Like in a fog with priorities that never made sense to me. They appeared to have systematically lost inner sense of self, their joy, their creative side… who they really were inside. It just faded out. It also got damn lonely too. I wasn’t “in” to what they were. Power over others? No way– I had my hands full with keeping my own self in check, let alone all those subordinates I personally didn’t have “under” me. :0) Yuk.
I read books on this deliberate programming that still makes my toenails curl. My generation was like slabs of meat stretched out on a carving board, being prepared thru several curing processes… mostly chemical treatments. All the chems they put into the pot– acid, meth, aluminum, pesticides galore, etc… who knew? Very few. The results were staggering. Critical thinking, creative thinking evaporating away, fading out. Zombie-ville. All that seemed to get retained were the statuses– college (I WILL be successful), social (I AM somebody!), money (I’m important), power (If I don’t know it then it ain’t worth knowing!).
And now??? — these same ones (still alive) are in total terror like a deer caught in the headlights. They followed the ‘pied piper’ into a deep pool before learning to swim. Some never followed, some who did- managed to get out before the crisis. But way too many today, are like that deer frozen in the middle of the road as the semi truck bears down upon it. At least here in the states. It’s sad.
BE your own love, your own best friend. Be your own leader. Every one of you. Question! Never lose the ability of questioning everything coming into your sphere of existence. If possible, encourage same in others. That’s what a true Warrior is. Not soldier, but Warrior. One who lives by his innate Wisdom, Insight, Creativity, Sensitivity, Tenacity and Fortitude. There IS an eternal Source. But the real Source from which we’ve all come… never sported a mustache with long hair standing at the podium in a college class-room! An extraordinary, phenomenal Presence is seeded in all of us. Subtly, supportively, acceptingly– for those who seek– this is waiting to be noticed. For those who seek– this is waiting for recognition. The BEST guidance I’ve ever had–on how to be my own leader, truth-detector, friend, BS blaster, and lover.
This post is from my own be-ing & interpretations, do apologize to any who may feel offended. Can only come from my own sense of self and my experiences here. My interpretations are ALWAYS up for being corrected… :0) Viva La Difference’
God be eternally with and guide us all
J.
PS. On another note to all those “you voted them in, now suffer” people, get a grip on reality, if you really believe we the people “choose” our leaders, you are have been brainwashed into believing so, “they” laugh at people like you because they know “mind control” has worked perfectly on you… check out what one of the most powerful men in the world had to say about it…
Quote by: David Rockefeller (AKA RockaFella Bangsta Gangsta)
(1915- ) Internationalist billionaire, CFR kingpin, founder of the Trilateralist Commission, World Order Godfather
Source: Sept. 23, 1994
“This present window of opportunity, during which a truly peaceful and interdependent world order might be built, will not be open for too long – We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.”
AND of course the ever evident quote from a Mr. RottedChild:
“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes the laws.” – Mayer Amschel Rothschild
AND… dun dun duh dah… the infamous RockAFella, “thanks for lying about our real plans, couldn’t have done it without’cha” quote:
Quote by: David Rockefeller
(1915- ) Internationalist billionaire, CFR kingpin, founder of the Trilateralist Commission, World Order Godfather
Date: June 1991 Baden, Germany
Source: Bilderberger Meeting, Baden, Germany
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time
Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended
our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost
forty years.”
“It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world
if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years.
But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a
world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite
and world bankers is surely preferable to the national
auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”
AND yet another gem, these guys are soooo sweet to have warned us (NOT! Many are still asleep!):
William Lyon Mackenzie King – Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the nations laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.
AND sadly of course:
Franklin D. Roosevelt – The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.
Did you read that folks? Idle and Futile? Since Jackson? Was the so-called “Western Free World” every a reality or just a “sound byte” heard on our mind-numbing televisions? Sounds like a Chapter in George Orwell’s 1984 eh? Well it’s not, it’s pure unadulterated TRUTH.
It’s not “ee-lection” folks, it’s “see-lection”, voting and suing is ALL still part of the same broken down system they designed, it was created to fail because they believe “out of chaos comes order” OR “problem, solution, action” OR “novus ordo seclorum”, new secular (world) order OR “war is peace” come on folks… fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! Don’t be fooled again! Wake-up, you’ve been hypnotized and mezmerized long enough haven’t you? Stand for something, or fall for anything…
AND very last but most certainly not the least (and my personal fave from Dave):
David Rockefeller writes on pages 404 and 405 of his memoirs:
“The anti-Rockefeller focus of these otherwise incompatible political positions
[across the political spectrum] owes much to Populism. ‘Populists’ believe in
conspiracies, and one of the most enduring is that a secret group of international
bankers and capitalists, and their minions, control the world’s economy. Because of
my name and prominence as the head of the Chase for many years, I have earned
the distinction of ‘conspirator in chief’ from some of these people….Some even believe
we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States,
characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others
around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure –
one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”
Pride before the fall, tis music to my ears.
~Light Dawning~
Wow, very well written and I’m certain experimentally true. I am saddened and amazed by this story, yet at the same time, very much of the mind of the First Nation’s man, “welcome to our world” O’ye of the delusional land of the free! Congrats! You have officially been awakened and are out of the illusory “matrix” that “all is well” and “peace is war”. The illusion of freedom, peace, hope and change have blinded you long enough, it is time you arise from your deadened sleep and smell the fresh burning air, the filthy stench of lies are everywhere – hidden from you for your own “safety” and greater good of “national” what again? Not only have we FN’s people been accustomed to the blatant abuses of our civil liberties (since our ancestors were slaughtered by the luciferean regime currently in power), but it sounds as though your German co-prisoners were all too familiar with this type of police brutality and merely sighed as if to say, “Here we go again.”
In my view, this is what happend to all of you, and to think Taylor, you had to go out 3 times before you were finally “gagged, bagged & tagged” :/ Don’t fret though, without this experience, you would still be calling us “protesters” foolish and calling “them” heroes – In my view, it’s a bad thing that became a good thing.
Aristotle, Conspiracy quotes:
The three aims of the tyrant are, one, the humiliation of his subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire against anybody; two, the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant is not to be overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another — and this is the reason why tyrants are at war with the good; they are under the idea that their power is endangered by them, not only because they will not be ruled despotically, but also because they are too loyal to one another and to other men, and do not inform against one another or against other men — three, the tyrant desires that all his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny if they are powerless.
Quite frankly, you should be thankful that you are now privy to information FN’s (and any enslaved populace could testify to) have known for centuries and are now “enlightened” to the reality of life on planet Earth. There are 2 classes on Earth, the “Rulers’ and the “Slaves”, I have a question for you Taylor (and audience), to which group do you believe ‘we’ the huddled taxed masses belong? Time to take the red pill folks… before it’s too late. Whoever said “you can’t go home anymore”, wasn’t kidding around eh? All good conspiracies are just that, “good lies”, oxymoron I know, but true none the less, every since Arnie’s movie “True Lies” I’ve known something was “rotten” in the state of Denmark and it wasn’t just their cheese. So, we discover upon our awakening that all this time it was hidden in plain sight, right in our faces and directly under our noses, it has been for millennia and will continue to be until that “Day” comes when it will exposed for what it is – a counterfeit existence destined to be destroyed. Who said, “the truth shall set you free” again? Oh yah right, Jesus Christ, He wasn’t kiddin’ around was He 😉
J. Edgar Hoover Conspiracy Quotes:
“We must now face the harsh truth that the objectives of communism are being steadily advanced because many of us do not recognize the means used to advance them. … The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst.” – (you can insert “human” after the word mind up there, cause it’s really hard to face the truth about “It” but once you do, you will find it was worth it in the end).
Taylor, (and all those reading this) once you begin to research the UN’s “Agenda 21” program, you will “know of” and understand the “purpose” of what is called the “Eugenics” movement. You will finally be able to answer the ever eluding question “why”, but more vitally, you will know “how”. All these horrible things happend to you (and your co-captives) by design dear Taylor, you and all those with you were part of a massive “social” experiment for the T-dot. Please don’t fret though, one day soon, we will “all” enter into (rather are already in) this scientific military dictatorship you partially experienced and worst of all, this is only the beginning.
It also just further proves that make-shift ‘FEMAcamps’ (named respectively within one’s own country) and “cages” of this nature are being “beta” tested (used) all over the world to “investigate” how much dissidence and revolt there really is going to be and what force is necessary and required for “containment”. Once “they” have established their “New Old World Order” (ingeniously re-packaged as “new and improved” but really just the same ol’ deadly evil stuff used with the Pharoahs of ancient Egypt) and what “measures” will need to be in place to “stop dissidence” in any way, shape or form from occurring, the global banks will take over the world and we will all be slaves to the trillions of debt they created out of fiat thin air.
I believe the German equivalent (which was sarcastically referred to by a “system” minion during your detention) is valid enough evidence for all those currently reading these words that “this is no joke, these guys really will do this to all of us some day”. They serve the “system” not the people, remember that folks, because those who will not serve will end up in camps alongside us because they have been warned. Traitors are treated all the same. Remember that all you shills of the system, in the endgame, you’re just a pawn like us…
Here are a list of a few things you may want to explore if you dare to know some of the “TRUTH”, I am merely scratching the surface but as a witness of the Almighty Yah and a watchmen at His gates, I can lead you to the Water, but I cannot make you drink…
1. Agenda 21 – Maurice Strong (Canada’s equivalent to Henry Kissenger – diabolical spawns of hell?)
2. Georgia Guidestones – Masonic sacred geometry symbol on the stone trumpeting that, “World population should be maintained at 500,000,000” (that’s 90% population reductions from today’s estimates! :/ (ps. google “masonicsymbols”, tons of info. pours out of it on ancient egyptian and pagan/babylonian rituals of human sacrifice etc…)
3. Jesuit Order of Jesus – Read especially their solemn oath :/ (now these guys are demons; boiling dissendents and death oath for betrayal of their unholy brotherhood?” You can throw illuminati around for some interesting tidbits but don’t get stuck on it, remember everything is a “scam”, you have to “seek out the truth” to find it.)
4. Chem trails – Barium and other chemicals block out the sun and trap heat and toxic gases in our atmosphere (Climate change is a natural occurrence on Earth, spraying chemicals in the air with planes under the guise of “geoweather engineering” is not)
5. Lucis Trust (Formerly Lucifer Publishing) – Host of “how to depopulate the world” and other books from practicing “luciferean worshippers” NOT to be confused with “satanists” cause these guys do believe in God and the devil but choose to worship the satan via his anti-Christ Pope and Papal Rising Roman Empire
6. Atlas Shrugged – Lucifer’s plan for anti-Christ One World Leader, One govt, One religion, One global currency New Old World Order ruling class vs enslaved masses (now this is seriously no joke, ruling elite channel demons before their meetingsslashorgeez, wth?)
7. Aleister Crowley – The most evil man on earth (Do as thou wilt decree sounds like satan talking? Tarot cards & fortune telling actually the channeling of demons from other dimensions? This guy is seriously burning in hell if he didn’t repent – I can almost confidently say that he probably “did not”, after reading some of his writings, it sounded as though he couldn’t wait to be in hell with satan)
8. KJV 1600 Bible “Book of Revelation” (Watch and let him who has an ear hear.)
9. Carbon Dioxide attack on human life China style one-child policy “good for the earth” propaganda – All life on earth is dated via it’s carbon print, hence eliminating or reducing the “carbon print” of something actually equates to “disposing of or killing it”.
10. Just because you don’t believe there is a spiritual war going on does not make it un true, there is a war and those in the highest echelons of corporate powerhouses (monarchies are the ruling class feeding off the rest of us) know this, it’s time you got up to speed with what’s been going on for the last 6000 years! Be edified, then edify – God said His people perished for lack of knowledge, get knowledge and unlock the mysteries to the universe, one key and one door at a time.
Hope this helps, and I pray you ALL repent and receive Jesus of Nazareth as your Lord & Saviour today, for today is the Day of Salvation, in His Name, Amen.
~Light is Dawning~
Yes, ‘Freedom fighter’ rams do have horns and they do fight !
As a Farm Reared person let me also tell you that a ram will only ‘butt horns’ when he thinks the odds are equal. Once the weaker of the pair realize their situation, they will immediately break off the engagement and back off to avoid injury. However sheep, contrary to popular opinion, do have some intelligence !
What you are apparently advocating is meeting force with force !
This is not a rational or sensible position aside form the ethics of the situation. On one side there is a range of State Forces, most specialized and armed to the teeth with the very best of modern weaponry, and as the account showed, well motivated to do whatever is required of them on State orders.
And on the other side opposing these forces are……….. ?
These special forces are trained and psyched up to respond 24/7 to riot situations, when they are not dealing with these actual riot situations they are in intensive training preparing for them. Backing up these forces and available to them are even more specialized heavy duty better units trained to Special Forces Army standards.
As if all of this this were not enough these paramilitary police are then supported and have available to them these specialized Army Special Force Units and their utilities. Only a completely irresponsible and politically illiterate clown could advocate taking these forces with any kind of force.
If any individual protester in this situations, or groups, were stupid enough to resort to the use of firearms against State forces, the resulting massacre would make Sharpville or Kent State look like a Teddy Bears Picnic !
What is more in this event there would be little sympathy Nationally or World Wide for those who provoked this response !
What is left in these protests ? As one protester has posted, “….Maybe now you understand why people torch cop cars when there’s an opportunity?….”
There is every indication that these cars were left unprotected just to be set on fire and give the authorities the best anti-protester optics the authorities could ask for as sound bites and snapshots for the TV News and other media.
Who the hell pays for the damaged cars but the tax-payers and do anyone think that this message is not registering with thinking viewers in Canada and elsewhere in the world ? The very people in fact that need to be engaged and part of the debate are alienated from it, by the very tactics of the protest.!
This activity may lead to a ‘feel good’ factor with some protestors but all it really achieves is to put a new and more comfortable car under the Police. I can well imagine the officer in charge of the carpool selecting their problem or worst cars for burning!
Armed physical force is not an option, the deployment of State forces on the scale described cannot be effectively opposed, the State holds most of the cards and all that is left is protest for the sake of protest; a waste of energy and resources. Aside from presenting a useful and realistic live training exercise for the special police forces little else is achieved.
Not alone do these sterile International Protests achieve little or nothing in political terms, the stupidity of some protesters resorting to damage to property is creating a climate of acceptability for the deployment and actions of State Forces.
The Class Action Legal Avenue for rights restrictions has the potential to deliver the goods. Ireland has a similar Common Law System to Canada. In the early nineties in Ireland Free legal Aid was completely inadequate, the head of the board, now a Superior Court Judge resigned but did little else! The usual protesters picketed and protested and the usual special interest groups issued statements without effect.
In F. v The Legal Aid Board a woman who left school at fourteen years of age and with low reading skills took a Superior Court Constitutional Action, claiming that Free Legal Aid as administered was unlawful. She did this in person before a High Court Judge. Result, a finding on her favor, ten million extra pounds of immediate State Funding for Legal Aid and seventeen new Free Legal Aid centers provided.
The only effective means that a force such as described can be effectively taken on is by all the victims combining in a Class Action. That detracts nothing from the politics of protest as advocated by ‘freedom fighter,’ these can still continue with the same sterile result while a Class Action as advocated could produce a Canadian Waking and Earth Shaking result !
It’s one thing that innocent people were rounded up and detained. That was shameful enough, frankly, and should not have happened.
But worse still the detainees were treated even worse than those convicted of murder. We don’t starve our criminals in Canada; we don’t withhold water from them. (We don’t stack them up awkwardly and point at their genitals and laugh, either.)
More important than the abuse itself, it sends the wrong message. What logical conclusions can the victims of these atrocities draw from this? Think about it.
“Killing someone leads to better conditions than peacefully submitting to detention.”*
Is that *really* the take-away point police want detainees to have? I suspect not, and I am hopeful that all detainees will be treated with due respect in accordance with the law in the future. The way we are headed leads only to bad things.
People,
Talking about this stuff on here will have zero effect on the Harper gov’t, the police, the McGuinty gov’t, the media, or anyone else, unless it gives rise to ideas for effective action.
Daniel Sheehan has it absolutely right! He hit the nail on the head when he said people need to sue, and they need to band together and pool resources to meet the costs of suing. Concerned lawyers & law students need to provide pro bono services, people need to join class action suits and pitch in for expenses. There’s so much video available. People who can document unreasonable arrest, especially those who were not part of the protest and who were hemmed in when they were trying to go about their business, need to file suit for damages. These lawsuits are the only thing that will send a direct message to the perpetrators that they’ll have to pay attention to.
Here’s how these lawsuits will make a huge difference. Individual officers caught on tape performing illegal acts need to be named in the relevant suit, possibly as a J. Doe initially, since they may be disguised by their riot gear. Once the suit is filed, though, the lawyer has power of discovery, and he can subpoena records and witnesses from the police divisions & departments involved. Believe me . . . once a division chief finds himself facing contempt of court issues if he refuses to turn over the names of his officers, and once individual officers find themselves facing an appearance as a defendant, and possible exposure as thugs- they’ll really think twice about going around again bashing heads for their masters.
1st they came for the protesters, and I was not a protester,
so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the sports fans, and I was not a sports fan,
so I did not speak out.
Then the came for the “religious”, and I was not “religious”,
so I did not speak out.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out!
attn: Roy Berger
You make a few good points, I must say, but, what does anything you say have to do with innocent people being tortured in TO. Canada? Did you even read this article? Your points are great but they seem to have nothing to do with the point of this article.
Please Sir, next time you have a comment, keep it on topic…
It makes me sick that any of this happened in a so-called “free” country like Canada. It really says something when the government will send a hired “Darth Vader” looking police force to torture innocent journalists so that they will not cover/expose these events in the future. You have to wonder why they don’t want their Global Government meetings covered by regular journalists…!!!
peace??
N.P.S.
Guys…
What you must realize is voting will not change anything. The voting process is just so us folks can feel better about having a say in politics. It doesn’t mean anything as all elections are fixed. The elite will “vote” in the party they want. That’s what the G8 and G20 meetings are all about.
It’s all about global governance and controlling the masses.
FreedomFighter wrote “why not spend a year preparing then on the anniversary of this injustice, going out and sending a message that they have no choice but to listen to ”
The answer to that is you would stand a very good chance of getting caught prior to putting your plan in place. CSIS monitors everything. The “sheeple” don’t get up in arms about it, because CSIS and the RCMP seem to be pretty discrete about it, to the point even of allowing the Air India disaster to happen (though the final report blames that more on incompetence, see http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/17/air-india017.html ). But if Harper wants some show terrorists rounded up for political reasons, you don’t want to be at the top of the “most terroristy people we’re watching” list. Be very suspicious of anyone offering you a great deal on bulk fertilizer.
This is why if you’re considering a violent response, one of the few avenues that might work is spontaneous black bloc tactics ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc ), but anyone doing that must be aware that members of any such group which spontaneously assembles may be police. The higher the profile of the event, the greater the likelihood, approaching certainty at anything g8/g20 level. And don’t expect any support from the sheeple, they’re still at a point where they will baaa angrily at you if you do this. And until there are thousands who adopt this method, it will look like little more than the band of hooligans they’re usually characterized as, and will be more prone to having their actions directed by undercover cops (“Hey, look at those mysteriously yet conveniently abandoned police cars, why don’t we trash those?”).
If you get caught planning as you suggest, you will be in big trouble, the media will misrepresent you, and the sheeple will all be very happy you were caught. You will achieve nothing other than ruining your life and serving as a show terrorist for Harper. Probably not what you have in mind.
Just read Tommy Taylors account here in Ireland and it is frightening. Will it make any great difference to public perceptions ? I doubt it ! However it is great that there is a coherent, cogent account of what happened and it should make for sober reading for all concerned in these issues.
I was involved with Sinn Fein here all the way from a street protest party excluded from power right through to seeing our party share Regional Government in the Northern part of Ireland and having a significant presence in the Southern Irish Parliament. I was also on the Party National Exectuive for most of a decade and have seen and made politics from the inside out and top down as well as street level up. Because of this and my experience of Irish Street politics my comments may carry a little more weight than the usual observations.
1) While this mass citizen arrest took place during and arising from the summit meeting protests, it is perfectly obvious that far more is involved here than mere optics of justifying costs. Anyone farmilar with accounts of the round up of Citizens in Chile after the overthrow of the Democratic Government there and the imposition of a Military Dictatorship can immediately identify the parallels in the detention procedures.
2) The police cars abandoned for burning etc, the presence of large numbers of specially equipped forces apparently tasked for specific purposed, the transport, the prepared cages etc. indicates a more than a reaction to a protest situation. Rather it points to a ‘dry run’ training exercise using the cover of the summit protest and the fact that ‘subjects’ would be readily available to implement and try out other agenda.
3) With regard to the cages and facilities provided, any low ranking Red Cross Administrator setting up a temporary facilities to cater for holding a few hundred people to a few thousand will give immediate concern to water, food, sanitation and shelter and medical first aid in that order. It is not rocket science, the UN, every First World Government , The Red Cross and most large international Charitable Welfare Agencies have ready plans for these facilities, most in fact use the similar standardized plans that had their genesis in post WW2 refugee camps and the lessons learned there by the Allies and later the adopted by the NATO forces.
4) The cages, the layout, the provision of cameras etc all indicates careful planning and preparation. Water was available as were disposable cups, it just was not issued in the amounts required, basic food was available, it was deliberately withheld, the holding pens were secure, yet people were unnecessary held in plastic or steel handcuffs even though these added little to the security factor.
5) Rationing toilet paper is another indication of what was afoot here as were the deliberate withholding of women’s specific sanitation needs : I remember decades ago, reading a translation from a CIA inspired manual used by the Shaw of Irans forces where all these things came under the title ‘ Denigrating The Captives Self Esteem’ ! Nothing new in this treatment of young women, the same tactic was also used to attempt to demoralize and break women political prisoners in Armagh Jail during the early eighties.
6) This whole scenario as documented by Tommy seems geared as a large scale exercise using the availability of ‘protesting human resources’ for a mass arrest to access the psychological reaction of confined masses to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment and denial of basic Civil Rights.
As such the Authorities will be accessing a) ease of arrest, b) docileability during transport, c) acceptability of confinement, d) reaction to various depravations , etc.
7) If as I suspect this was a large scale, Government sanctioned experiment, then this posting and others in face book etc will be a continuing part of the same exercise. In my experience many there will not protest or put themselves in harms way again, a few will cross the line and accept that violence against the authorities is necessary and the seasoned protesters will continue to protest with as much or as little impact as the protest giving rise to this had.
8) No one individual or small group of individuals can effectively counter the deployment of State resources on the scale described. However if a special grouping were formed with all that were arbitrary arrested combining to bring a Legal Class Action against the Canadian State, for deliberate and willful abuse of their freedoms, then this would immediately stymie this State activity and bring the Human Rights bulldozer to a standstill ! It could also be used to smoke out and expose the hidden hands and agencies involved in these things.
9) I have spend decades of my life fighting for Left Wing causes and I still do. However I have long reached the view that there is a far bigger picture and more vital battle now to be fought for Basic Human Rights and to checkmate the State Juggernauts, while people still have some freedom to act and before it is too late. As an individual I did a hunger and thirst strike in jail against arbitrary arrest. I was in poor health at the time, after days of this I was placed on Hourly Hospital Watch and then released. I was never again re-arrested under this same act. Individuals are not powerless and neither are empowered class action groups as the Unites States experience has shown.
10) We, in the Western World, where human rights and progressive politics are concerned, are now where citizens were in Early Thirties Germany were. The time to act is finite and a Legal Class Action in Canada is as good a place as any other to start the checkmate to the State!
I’m angry to read yet another account of how innocent people are abused and brutalised by the “authorities”. Obviously “leaders” and their tools the police aren’t interested in the welfare of the people and have no interest in listening to their points of view. Some bloggers call us “sheeple”, due to our apathy and willingness to go with the flow and be herded. But rams have horns. And they have these horns so they can let predators know to stay the F#$K away! So we should do likewise in the face of these blatant violations of constitutional rights. Instead of apathy or a useless attempt at a lawsuit, why not spend a year preparing, then on the anniversary of this injustice, going out and sending a message that they have no choice but to listen to: dealing to as many of these scumbag tyrants as possible on that day. And The People will have spoken, and hopefully those who will replace the evil scumbags will do their job fearfully and with our welfare and our rights always at the forefront of their minds, knowing that The People are prepared to speak again if necessary.
What an amazing account of your ordeal. I really really hope all Canadians rally together on July 10 to show our country that we will not stand for our freedoms being revoked from under our feet unknowingly by passing secret laws which basically immune law enforcement from not being held accountable for violating human rights. I hope you don’t mind, but I have copied and pasted in my facebook status your words from “The world needs you…” and onward…very poignant and eloquently spoken. I live in Montreal and have cried several times watching various videos people have taken from that weekend. I really hope Canadians do not turn away and leave it only to Torontonians to try to fight this issue, it affects us all, and we are all in this together.
Sounds a lot like the way things are handled by the police in San Diego, CA. My heart broke reading this story, as I have experienced injustice myself and understand very well the utterly helpless feelings of desperation described here. I have seen the disabled, weak, mentally challenged and poor victimized by a legal/justice system that is sworn to protect their rights. My heart goes out to all of those involved in this horrible event in Toronto, and my prayers indeed follow you.
“Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth
And love has always won. There may be tyrants and
Murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible,
But in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.”
–Gandhi
My very heartfelt regards,
Lorrie in southern California, USA
Thank you for producing your story and in the way you did. That’s some important stone you’ve dropped to start the rippling. May caring and civility prevail.
If you have a story like Tommy’s to share, or any incident with police over stepping their powers, we want to hear from you. Please visit:
http://www.g20justice.com
We are working diligently to build a comprehensive and interactive timeline of all the events that occurred so that the real criminals (over baring police) can be identified!
Hey Tommy, I was also in OL – 6 (the first dude you met in the paddy wagon, the guy with the watch and lighter, saw you running home in the rain from my cab). Nice recounting; I don’t have much to add. But it should be known that you, singly, were one of the guys responsible for maintaining some shred of sanity in that pen. Honestly, if it wasn’t for your affability and good humour (and, perhaps more satisfying, your powerful crashing into the cage walls, your loud and just demands to “seperate us… help that girl… WATER!!!!!!”) I dont think we could have managed as well as we did in that Hell. Thanks man.
condom ball 4 life.
So you’ve been brutalized by the police…
Maybe now you understand why people torch cop cars when there’s an opportunity?
Canadians are discovering that being polite and singing “give peace a chance” really isn’t a viable response to tyranny.
The Tourism Board wants to hear about some of the good times you had in Toronto for their new website campaign. Let them know what u think:
http://www.torontotourismboard.com/
I’m sorry that you had to go through that. It’s become evident that we’re powerless as individuals, and even in numbers. I fear that even with as much press possible that this will blow over and move on to the next tragedy. The powers that be are slowly fucking us and our world, and until all the baby boomers die I don’t see a bright future ahead.
I can see how a new party could help, one based upon the traditional conservative values which Harper has betrayed. Traditional conservatives believe in fiscal responsibility, while Harper has run this country deeply into debt. And what about smaller government, no action on that front. And ask yourself, is it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion now than it was before Harper came to power? Or has that progressed about as much as restoring religion to its rightful place as a central pillar of our communities? There has been no progress whatsoever.
Harper and his so called ‘Conservatives’ have betrayed conservatives and do not deserve their support. Instead a new party must emerge, a party founded on a Contract with Canada which clearly and in writing pledges to pursue the ideals of conservatism not just while campaigning to be elected, but diligently and purposefully through to expression as the law of the land. No more empty promises!
But if anyone suggests that we need a new left leaning party to further split the left and keep the Conservatives in power for who knows how long, please kindly set them down, give them a nice cup of tea, and gently explain in terms they can understand why this would be a very bad idea.
Need to find out if all the videos from the inside can be released to people’s lawyers.
Need to find out if all the videos from all the police cameras everywhere in Toronto, will be released for an inquiry.
Greetings to all and thanks for the great comments. As you can see from the name I am not Canadian, I am here only for a couple of months and would be leaving soon. I have to tell that I am in shock of the terror and oppression I have seen around the G20 in the streets, while walking with comrades in the marches, while reading the non-mainstream media (and very disgusted by the mainstream one to the point I don’t even want to watch their hypocrite news anymore).
But aside my frustration, I believe it is the moment to act strategically. For too long, the system has made people think you need not to participate, you need not to be active. And even if you get angry it is enough that you write in these underground, alternative media. I believe one message that comes strong out of this very infuriating, but also important story is that writing, singing, dancing is not enough.
The political system, as it is, gives you not much hope: it is hard to see the dividing line between the parties not just about G20, but about everything: how do you distribute, how do you make sure people live a life of dignity, how do you play justice and peace politics etc. There are other alternatives. We need to get organised and it is has to bee as soon as possible. We need a political alternative that has to come from people, from their struggles and their sufferings of every day. That can be possible only if we get together, all the angry, frustrated, infuriated, hopeful people that another world is possible and yes ‘another Canada is possible’. One needs not to wait from the existing political parties, we can make our own politics and with that change the reality.
Maybe the G20 was a good thing after all as it woke up so many people from the illusions of the country they were living in. That suffering and anger of people in the detention centres, in the streets, in their homes and jobs should not be wasted.
Soon, many of us will join the Workers’ Assembly taking place in mid July in Toronto. Different groups are coming together thinking a political alternative. I hope many more than last time will join. It will be my last meeting since I will have to leave, but I am hopeful that a new movement is emerging and there is hope in Canada and elsewhere in the world.
In solidarity,
Edlira
Tommy, I’m a suburban Dad from Newmarket. I’ve never been to a protest.
It breaks my heart that this happened to you, but it makes me sick to think that it was done by our police. What makes me so mad I can’t think: The police did this to you in the name of my security.
What happened to you was wrong, but worse, it was pointless. I hope you and Kate can get enough energy, and enough hope, that you can launch a lawsuit. I hope our society is just enough that in the long run, something good will come of this.
P.S. I agree with Mr Harold about the tyrant. He wins because *just enough* people don’t want him. Split the votes of the majority between the Liberals, the NDP & the Green Party, and the Conservatives (badly named I might add) get the win.
Thanks for this, Tommy.
People like me find it harder to vote when we’ve never actually been represented despite voting in the past. I vote, and I am not represented. Governments are elected for promises offered, and those promises are not kept. Police are paid to protect citizens, but protect only the political leaders. This is not indicative of a bright future with equality and justice and all those other nice things. It’s indicative of a system of governance that has become too complex and rigid to serve its citizens.
I reckon it’s taking more and more energy to keep up the facade of democracy. And this past weekend is a clear signal that the facade is gonna drop. I’m trying to keep to the optimistic side of realism here, but our leadership and police are making it really difficult.
Are there any good cops? It’s interesting in this account that there were several cops who knew what was going on was wrong and expressed sympathy, but when the ‘good’ cops go along with the bad ones, what is that goodness really worth? How long can a person of conscience and principle stay in a job like that and remain a person of conscience and principle? Apparently not long enough to become chief of police:
http://www.infowars.com/toronto-police-chief-lies-again-to-frame-protesters/
The whole system is rotten from the top down, and one almost feels sorry for police who do retain some sense of decency. Almost. The cop who said “What do they think this is, Auschwitz?” might have thought he was joking, but really was only commenting on degree. By degree, the Nazi death camps were stratospherically worse. How many degrees does it take before we should regard people who say apologetically “I’m just following orders” while violating the rights of their fellow citizens as the same scum who take open delight in violating the rights of their fellow citizens? In some ways they’re worse than the happy sociopaths who’ve found a place in Police Chief Bill Blair’s force, because *they know better*.
Are there any good cops? Can there be given the way things are? If Blair was fired, would his replacement be any better? I hesitate to believe that there is no hope, but I don’t see from whence change can come given current structures and political currents. I suppose I should take comfort in the fact that someone who went through that experience can close with “You’re not small. You’re not helpless. You can do something. You have a voice, don’t let them silence you before you even try to speak.” But sadly, I have the feeling that we can speak all we want and it won’t change anything, because they no longer feel that they have to listen.
Thomas Jefferson may have been right when he wrote: “And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
But I really don’t think we’re up for it. We still want to believe that it’s effective to march through the streets chanting “Hey, hey, ho ho, corporatist oppression has got to go” and singing “Give peace a chance”. Well, who doesn’t love a parade, so why not? Blow off some steam in a peaceful manner, and take comfort that in a protest of many tens of thousands, the police are likely only to abuse a few hundred. Everybody else had a good time. Well, except maybe this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXIE2uOdnkQ
He found himself locked out of the Eaton Centre and unable to shop. Poor fellow. The Toronto Police should change their motto from ‘To Serve and Protect’ to ‘To Command and Control’, because that’s what they did, and at least as effectively as the state police of any communist bloc country during the days of the Soviet Union, and using many of the same techniques. But closing a major shopping mall? It’s like they forgot for a moment who it is they serve.
I agree for the most part Roy, but being a 25 year old, I’m a proud voter. But I also saw what a city full of pats on the back and promoting your friends creates. I watched my Dad work for the city of ottawa as a roadcrew member for years, passed up by his superiors because he was better than them in all ways, and so they promote their friends rather than those that work hard. I watched as he retired, his boss barely five years older than me now, doesn’t know how to even organize a shift of snow plows.
Our parents didn’t fail us, because in many families (not all, but many), our parents didn’t raise us. We’re left to watch for ourselves on TV the spread of democracy by gunfire and bombs. By payouts and lobbyists. And recently, we watch the spread of tyranny in Canada by handshake and smug grin. Yes, that’s right, I’m calling him a tyrant. Because it’s not Obama that organized that 1.2 billion dollar fuckup. It’s not North Korea in collusion with China. It wasn’t goddamn Britain or Germany or the goddamn Australians. And even the opposition balked (meekly, it seems) at the goddamn spending of this money – they knew what was on that bill before our prisoners did after all. But did anyone Stop it? Did any of those cops stop it? And all that “I don’t know what’s going on” crap? Yeah the nazi’s said the same thing. And while we didn’t burn any of our protestors, we may as well have.
People will make the mistake of asking “why did this happen”. You know why: you voted in an increasingly conservative and ignorant federal government Twice, which only concerns itself with making money for the businesses it’s attached to, and writing off the rights of other people. We knew that in their first term, and we are guilty of spreading this tyranny in their second. But what should really be asked is “why did I let this happen?” Think about it: why did you not stand up and fight against injustice? Why did you allow the crap “better X than Y” to become truth to you? And why for the love of Gods did you let a 16 year old child be jailed like a japanese detainee in World War 2? Are Canadians that ignorant? Are we that complacent? “Hey, better tham then me!” should be our new national motto I guess eh? I’m actually weeping, me, the tough-guy outta everyone I know. And why? Because Canada died on the day of the G20 meet. I don’t live in Canada anymore. I live in the tyrant state of the Conservative Party of Canada. And say what you want, this has never happened before under Liberal or other leadership. There’s a reason for that, but I won’t get into politics here. Suffice it to say, there needs to be a class action law suit, against all involved police forces and against the Federal Government of the state of the Conservative Party of Canada (as it will know be refered to, because I’m not gonna lie and call this place Canada anymore). And finally, that class action law suit should seek, in its damages, the destruction of those human pens, those devices of fear and torture, and the victims should be the destroyers. Let them have their catharsis, and let them know they are doing good for future generations to prevent that kind of abuse of our Constitutional Right (what litlte we have in this new country) and our persons.
You may not any of you be fighters. But if you don’t learn to fight now, you won’t know how to defend yourselves in the future.
Black Bloc Vs Manifest Destiny of Canada
Fantastic journal, Tommy Taylor. The country is shocked a riot broke out. The Black Bloc is us/you. The Black Bloc, the thousands of protesters, the violence at the G-20, the fence, the diversity of tactics – that’s all the fault of the grown ups. I think they’re to blame. They’ve helped create a democratic inequity. They taught their kids to not vote, to not participate in council meetings, to not learn how to talk back to authority, to not join Riding associations. They taught their kids to unwittingly conspire against democratic methods. See, kids under thirty simply don’t vote, 80% of them don’t vote. In fact hardly 60% of the entire population voted and it’s a phenomenon that’s spreading throughout the Western world. I don’t know exactly how we filtered democracy out of our children’s lives, how we deal with it in schools and at the kitchen table is a mystery. We taught them language, reading, how to find work, how to ride a bike, how to cook a meal but you didn’t teach them how to be a normal citizen. This action of not voting creates a massive political cleavage between desire and reality. It is an unsympathetic ghetto creating an imbalance that is without just order, clear thought or any sort of mutual harmony. Voting and democratic participation is the fishing rod that is a significant part of what creates the path to a future that isn’t scary, that doesn’t have five billion dollars worth of prisons on the horizon, that doesn’t have to worry about agents of influence because the agents of influence should be a greater percentage of the population being active in the Canadian landscape. What is your idea of the manifest destiny of Canada?
Roy Berger