Yesterday, as I stood at Queen's Park in Toronto listening to people tell their stories it occurred to me that the behavior of Police didn't even meet the standards of the Geneva Convention. In other words if it had been a war, rather than a economic conference, Chief Bill Blair and other authorities would likely be facing war crimes charges.
Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention reads in part:
"Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity. Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault."Now, keeping that in mind, read the stories of some of the detainees:
Assaults, Threats of Rape and Homophobic Slurs: G20 Journalists Complain About Police
How I Got Arrested and Abused at the G20 in Toronto, Canada
G20 detainees tell stories of arrests, imprisonment
The Story of My Arrest & Detainment - Police strangled me, punched me in head, manhandled me
Even if you don't believe the detainees, even if you think that they are all lying in an effort to make the police look bad, even if you think that it's ok that Chief Blair lied to the people of Toronto and the media about at least two important issues I hope that you will join with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Criminal Lawyers Association, CUPE, the Green Party of Canada, Amnesty International and others in calling for an independent inquiry, which includes all evidence and testimony from everyone involved so that one way or another, the truth can come out.
Without such an inquiry speculation, accusations and conspiracy theories will continue indefinitely and we may never know the truth about any of it.
Posts
2 comments:
It is good to see all these organizations standing up for Canadians, but also somewhat troubling that only one party has done so.
The Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP have all been eerily silent on both the federal and provincial levels. Where's the leadership?
yes, i kept looking for an article on our politicians protesting this gross display of force.
they came prepared for war.
the young woman , a student at Guelph, was arrested as soon as she got off the train and never even got to the rally. what goods did they have on her to do that? all she had on her was a gas mask in case their was a tear gas incident.
i have taken to wearing a gas mask in my community because of all the traffic and toxic fumes.It's not very comfortable but I am trying to make a point since my letters to MPs, MLAs and the police and MOT have done nothing. Nor have my petitions.
If the police had been more tactful, we would have had a wonderful peace march which did occur until the tail end. However, wall to wall police in threatening attire and stances looked absurd and war like.
The police used to be our escorts and protectors during these marches.
Who was in charge of their organizing tactics?
Simply having under clothes policemen in more "hippie" like attire in front and beside and behind the bloc would have allowed them to nab the bloc when they broke.
There should have been undercover agents following the march on the sidewalks as well.
This would not have required thousands of police. They have cell phones to quickly contact each other do they not?
They knew that the bloc strike at corporate establishments so why weren't some of the police positioned outside or near these places?
Why weren't their police in unmarked cars on nearby side streets?
This is such a failure of strategy,it is shocking , astounding!!
Post a Comment