Are extraordinary police powers and cuts to people's safety net the G20 plan for the future?
They are sending a message through the Canadian police about how the countries of the G-20 might deal with opposition to their plans. Where thousands of Toronto police turned the downtown core into something resembling martial law, especially so in the area of the Toronto Convention Center which was covered by some archaic act called the Public Works Protection Act. This legislation essentially suspended probable cause, giving police the rights of search and seizure to anyone, anywhere in the area. It removes any right of assembly and much more.
Police would tell people if you don't move immediately, then it's an illegal assembly. In other words, we found out this weekend that there is no right to a freedom of assembly, there is no freedom of speech, as long as the circumstances are such that you can rationalize some extraordinary measures.
Is the Toronto G-20 the shape of things to come, an attack on people's social safety net and living standards, and thousands of police with extraordinary powers?
9 Comments
Bruti79says...Upvote for this, because this G20 was a giant waste of money. All the "big" things they wanted to do got pushed back to Seoul. As for some Canadian law quick facts. In Canada the police can actually arrest you for twenty four hours without charging you. This has been around since I was a kid, and before, because the War Measures act circumvented this, holding people indefinitely. The Public Works Protection act (which has now turned out to be misled by police,) did the same thing in some ways, but people not charged were held to a max of twenty three hours, unless they were charged.
This is a good piece, with some great questions. Some uninformed facts, but a good piece.
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Boise_LibCanada, please stop your government--while you still can!
We are where you are going to, and you won't like it.
thealiThe facebook group page for "Demanding a Public Inquiry into Toronto G20" has over 28 Thousand members.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=135629036463012&v=info
The Rally for a Public Inquiry Concerning the Actions at the G20 have over 2 Thousand confirmed attendees on facebook!
http://bit.ly/8Yip1F
That's amazing and very responsive.
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