500 held as protest turns violent
Source: Agencies |
June 28, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE raided a building at the University of Toronto yesterday in a bid to quell further violence at the global economic summit after youths had rampaged through the city, smashing windows and torching police cars on Saturday night.
Police have arrested more than 500 demonstrators, many of whom were hauled away in plastic handcuffs and taken to a temporary holding center constructed for the summit.
Thousands of police in riot gear formed cordons to prevent anti-globalization demonstrators from breaching the steel and concrete security fence surrounding the Group of 20 summit site.
Toronto Police Sergeant Tim Burrows said police made at least 50 arrests in the raid on a building on the campus of the University of Toronto yesterday morning where they seized "street-type weaponry" such as bricks, sticks and rocks.
"We think we put a dent in their numbers with this and with the arrests that happened overnight," Burrows said.
The disorder and vandalism occurred just blocks from where United States President Barack Obama and other world leaders were meeting and staying.
"What we saw yesterday is a bunch of thugs that pretend to have a difference of opinion with policies and instead choose violence to express those so-called differences of opinion," Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief spokesman Dimitri Soudas said.
The streets of downtown Toronto were quiet at daylight, but Burrows said a protesters gathered yesterday morning at a park about 4 kilometers east of where the leaders are meeting.
Police went into the crowd and made some arrests.
Burrows said many of the violent protesters were Canadian. He added that authorities had known of their plans for some time.
"We're not sure we have the leaders, but we have a large proportion of those people and the people who decided they wanted to be influenced by these violent protesters and join with their cause," Burrows said. "A lot of them were home grown. There's a lot of Canadian talent in the group."
Saturday's protests began with a peaceful march, but black-clad demonstrators broke off from the crowd and began torching police cars and smashing shop windows.
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said the goal of the militant protesters was to draw police away from the security perimeter so fellow protesters could attempt to disrupt the meeting.
Police have arrested more than 500 demonstrators, many of whom were hauled away in plastic handcuffs and taken to a temporary holding center constructed for the summit.
Thousands of police in riot gear formed cordons to prevent anti-globalization demonstrators from breaching the steel and concrete security fence surrounding the Group of 20 summit site.
Toronto Police Sergeant Tim Burrows said police made at least 50 arrests in the raid on a building on the campus of the University of Toronto yesterday morning where they seized "street-type weaponry" such as bricks, sticks and rocks.
"We think we put a dent in their numbers with this and with the arrests that happened overnight," Burrows said.
The disorder and vandalism occurred just blocks from where United States President Barack Obama and other world leaders were meeting and staying.
"What we saw yesterday is a bunch of thugs that pretend to have a difference of opinion with policies and instead choose violence to express those so-called differences of opinion," Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief spokesman Dimitri Soudas said.
The streets of downtown Toronto were quiet at daylight, but Burrows said a protesters gathered yesterday morning at a park about 4 kilometers east of where the leaders are meeting.
Police went into the crowd and made some arrests.
Burrows said many of the violent protesters were Canadian. He added that authorities had known of their plans for some time.
"We're not sure we have the leaders, but we have a large proportion of those people and the people who decided they wanted to be influenced by these violent protesters and join with their cause," Burrows said. "A lot of them were home grown. There's a lot of Canadian talent in the group."
Saturday's protests began with a peaceful march, but black-clad demonstrators broke off from the crowd and began torching police cars and smashing shop windows.
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said the goal of the militant protesters was to draw police away from the security perimeter so fellow protesters could attempt to disrupt the meeting.
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