G20 Toronto - Tories blocking public inquiry and other news

The Vanity Press: Same Verse, Same as the First Verse
Well, one thing at least seems to be functioning as normal around these parts: something's gone seriously wrong, and the federal government doesn't want anyone to find out what it was.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are filibustering to block opposition efforts to launch hearings on policing at the Toronto G20 summit, accusing political rivals of seeking a platform to build sympathy for “thugs and hooligans” who rioted there.

It's not only them, of course: from Dalton McGuinty's blitherings about a "silent majority" to David Miller's obfuscation and excuses, all of the officials are doing everything they can to stop people talking about the largest mass arrest in Canadian history, one that seems to have resulted in few or no arrests of the actual Black Bloc vandals.
... read more at the top link.

G20 Canada's Most Wanted - Call John Walsh!!

CathiefromCanada: Great Line of the Day

G20 Toronto - City council shames themselves and the city by commending the brutal, illegal and inappropriate police work

City council commends “outstanding” police G20 work - thestar.com
The worst of the bunch was mayoral candidate Rob Ford who said that there should be no review of the police actions at all:

“I don’t think there should be an inquiry or review,” of police
actions, “none whatsoever,” Ford said.

“Our police force was more than polite, more than accommodating

with the protesters,” in the face of taunts and worse, he added.

“If I was chief, I would have moved in Saturday afternoon and

cleaned house,” instead of waiting until Sunday to make mass arrests,
Ford said. “I think our police were too nice. I would have had a
zero-tolerance approach,” he said, adding he realizes councillors can’t
tell the police chief what to do.

Summary of police actions (that the council just commended):

Saturday - police were ordered to stand down and allow about 100 vandals smash windows and burn police cars, and to let the cars continue to burn for a long period of time; basically allowing unchecked property damage into the thousands if not millions of dollars, and to allow the safety of the public to be threatened by allowing police cars to burn for long periods of time.

Saturday & Sunday - after the vandalism, the police brutally assaulted hundreds of innocent, peaceful demonstrators and illegally arrested and detained them. While detained, many were not allowed a phone call, water, or food or medical assistance. They also robbed these people of personal property.

It's time to re-think re-electing any of these blind fools on the council come Fall.

UPDATE SEPT 1, 2010
Here is a list of the councillors who voted in favour of "To commend the outstanding work of Chief Bill Blair, the Toronto Police Service and the Police Officers working during the G20 Summit in Toronto (MM51.10)": Ainslie, Ashton, Augimeri, Carroll, Cho, De Baeremaeker, Del Grande, Feldman, Filion, Ford, Grimes, Hall, Heaps, Holyday, Jenkins, Kelly, Lee, Lindsay Luby (Chair), Mammoliti, Milczyn, Miller, Minnan-Wong, Moeser, Moscoe, Nunziata, Ootes, Palacio, Pantalone, Parker, Perruzza, Rae, Saundercook, Shiner, Stintz, Thompson, Walker

Further reading:

Toronto
Council Votes to Silence Dissent

Clowns
to the Left & Jokers to the Right: the G20, the Police & Civic
Democracy

Sorry Fillibluster, your comment was eaten by Blogger errors.

Here it is:
"I have emailed my city councillor expressing my dismay at this shameful
endorsement of brutality. I would urge anyone who live in Toronto to do
the same. All city council emails are here:"
http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp

G20 Toronto - "a clear order from the command centre saying 'Do not engage'

We know now that the vandalism on Sat. June 26th in downtown Toronto could have easily been stopped.
We also know now that the police were ordered to let it happen.
... As downtown Toronto witnessed burning police cars and a small group of thugs on a rampage, a police source tells me the only thing that stopped the officers from doing that was an order telling them not to. They tell me they could have rounded up all, or most of them, in no time.

I have had several frontline police officers tell me they were told not to get involved. But even before that decision was made, says one insider, there was mass confusion and indecision.

"The orders went from engage to, no, don't engage to engage to, no, don't engage,' " said an officer. "It was an absolute shambles. Everyone was talking over each other on the radio. Nobody seemed to know what to do. It was just a mess."

The officer said that eventually there was "a clear order from the command centre saying 'Do not engage' "
...
So who made that order?

Was it Chief Bill Blair? Mayor David Miller? Prime Minister Stephen Harper? Somebody else?

The inevitable inquiry, separate from the announced internal police review, will have to address this and a whole lot of other things. For example, why were a record 1,000 arrests made a day after the actual incident where very few arrests were made during it?...

Perhaps it was some sort of public relations move to support the excessive security budget.

More news, videos, first-hand evidence on this issue at these two posts:

June 27 - G20 Protest in Toronto - Police stood by and did nothing while damage was being done

June 28 - G20 Protest in Toronto - Police stood by and did nothing while damage was being done. Part 2

G20 Protest in Toronto - Police stood by and did nothing while damage was being done. Part 2

Here is some video footage of what was being mentioned in the this post:
http://drivingtheporcelainbus.blogspot.com/2010/06/g20-protest-in-toronto-police-stood-by.html
There are 3 videos.
In part one, the vandals are in the background smashing windows, and you can see the police are standing a couple of blocks away on a side street not doing anything. And there are some other people milling around but not vandalizing, but watching the vandals.
In parts 2 and 3 you can see more police showing up on the side street and they eventually begin to head down an alleyway. Meanwhile, a lot of vandalism has been allowed to happen un-checked.

Video Part One
Video Part Two
Video Party Three

Why were there no police marching along beside the protesters or spread out along the route (which is normal practice in Toronto)? If they had done this, they would have been able to stop the vandalism on the spot and nab those responsible. Who convinced the police that they should abandon tried and true practices and be afraid of the peaceful protesters (thus allowing the few vandals free reign)? Why did the police then take revenge on the innocent peaceful protesters (because they missed their chance to stop and arrest the vandals) for the rest of the weekend by beating and arresting them?

UPDATE
And, there is this video from a photo journalist who actually followed the black block for 1.5 hours and said that there were no police around during their rampage of vandalism. They even smashed windows at the police station on College without being stopped! Curious.
G20 Toronto Black Block Get Green Light To Rampage?
(Thanks Fionna!)