Sunday, June 27, 2010

Day Dawns for G20 Discussion After Night of Protests and Arrests

Photobucket
Police officers on Queen Street West (Toronto) Saturday night. Photograph: The Globe and Mail

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Vigil at detention centre broken up by police; more than 400 arrested Saturday as storefronts vandalized, at least three police cars burned

More than 400 people have been arrested in connection with G20-related protests, and skirmishes between riot police and protesters continued into the early morning Sunday in downtown Toronto, only hours before leaders of the G20 are scheduled to begin their summit.

Police officers, with batons out, were searching bushes around a University of Toronto building near Russell Street and Spadina Avenue, in what appeared to be a major raid. At least two police buses were on the scene, along with more than 10 other police vehicles, mostly unmarked minivans. One bus was a "prisoner bus," a police officer said.

Several dozen police officers were searching trash cans. At least two people were seen with handcuffs on. More than 50 people had been arrested for wielding "street-type weaponry", such as bricks, police said. Some of thopse arrested looked much older than typical university students. The raid was at the Bancroft Building, the Earth Science Centre and the Graduate Students Centre.

After more than 14 hours of sometimes-violent confrontations between protesters and officers, the downtown core was largely quiet; discarded water bottles and plastic zip-tie handcuffs littered streets that had been the scenes of standoffs hours before. >>> Anna Mehler Paperny and Chris Hannay | Sunday, June 27, 2010

G20 Protesters Take to Toronto Streets



Police Cars Ablaze at G20