G20 Protests, Toronto
It was the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. While approximately one thousand people were officially booked and locked up, thousands of others were assaulted, searched, handcuffed and then released without charges by police during the June 2010 G20 summits in Toronto. As of October 2010, only 303 people had been charged with offences related to the G20 protests. The majority of those individuals have since had their charges dropped.
While approximately 10 000 people participated in peaceful and legal protests on Saturday, June 26th, 2010, the day was marred by the violent actions of approximately 70 people who broke away from the main demonstration march. The small group of protestors used Black-Bloc tactics to carry out a rampage of vandalism throughout Toronto's downtown core, leaving a number of banks and corporate chain storefronts damaged and four abandoned police cruisers burned.
As the smoke dissipated over the Toronto skyline, many were left with an enormous feeling of confusion over what had just happened to their city and a sense of grief over the desecration of their civil liberties and freedom.
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