STORY about SolidarityPoverty posted on June 26, 2010 by isaac
Little Vancouver
Vancouver contingent a noted part of the G20 protests
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An orderly anti-G20 march through Toronto's downtown suddenly changed as people ran to the top of a street as shouts sounded all around.
Dozens crowded around beleaguered policemen who were standing around three protesters that they had for some reason cornered in front of a large hotel.
The bike cops were ill-prepared to deal with the crowd that did everything from asking them pertinent questioned about those being detailed, to yelling at them how they were part of a corporatized government machine. Said police responded by forcefully pushing protesters back onto the street.
In the centre of the police ring stood three high-profile activists, two of whom were from from No One Is Illegal Vancouver. Police pushed and pulled until they decided to drag those detained away as the angry crowd yelled at them to "Let them go."
A strong Vancouver contingent has been part of the anti-G20 actions in Toronto since Monday. Showing up in groups over the week, dozens of individuals have flown, driven, biked and hitch-hiked into Toronto in solidarity with the actions going on in the east.
The anarchist black bloc moving in formation during the Justice for Our Communities march included Vancouver activists, some of whom had arrived just in time to mask up. Another noted confrontation during the march involved police trying to take banners away from some people, including a number of No One Is Illegal Vancouver activists.
Police in Toronto as well as those that have been imported in for the G20 are not used to handling the scope of protest that is going on. One policeman tried to punch out a No One Is Illegal Toronto activist who was calling for the release of his Vancouver counterparts during the first confrontation of the day. Police have been generally flustered, even when trying to secure sticks and umbrellas from protesters.
As the Justice for Our Communities march turned into a block party and tent city surrounded by cops, organizers promised an increasingly bigger and trans-provincial showing of supporters. Regardless of numbers, one of the strongest showings of individuals has been from Vancouver.
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