Vandals mar summit protests in Toronto

[alienlovechild 75]

TORONTO – Black-clad demonstrators broke off from a crowd of peaceful demonstrators protesting a global economic summit in Toronto, torching police cruisers and smashing windows with baseball bats and hammers.

Police with shields and clubs earlier pushed back another small group of demonstrators who tried to head south toward the security fence surrounding the perimeter of the Group of 20 summit site. Some demonstrators hurled bottles at police.

"This isn't our Toronto and my response is anger," Toronto Mayor David Miller told CP24 television. "Every Torontonian should be outraged by this."

The roving band of protesters in black balaclavas shattered shop windows for blocks, including at police headquarters, then shed some of their black clothes, revealing other garments, and continued to rampage through downtown Toronto.

Protesters torched at least two police cruisers in different parts of the city, including one in the heart of the city's financial district.

Dozens of police officers later boxed in a number of protesters from both sides of a street in a shopping district. The protesters encouraged the media to film it and they sang 'O Canada', Canada's national anthem, before being allowed to disperse.

As of Saturday afternoon, 40 summit-related arrests had been since June 18, police said, with security being provided by an estimated 19,000 law enforcement officers drawn from all regions of Canada. The security costs are estimated at more than US$900 million.

Saturday's protest march, sponsored by labor unions and dubbed family friendly, was the largest demonstration planned during the weekend summits. Its organizers had hoped to draw a crowd of 10,000, but only about half that number turned out on what was a rainy day.

Toronto Police Sgt. Tim Burrows said before Saturday's protest that authorities were pleased by the demonstrators' orderly behavior. Hundreds of protesters moved through Toronto's streets Friday, but police in riot gear intercepted them, preventing them from getting near the summit security zone downtown.

Ontario's provincial government quietly passed a regulation earlier this month allowing police to arrest anyone who refuses to show identification or submit to searches if they come within five meters (five yards) of a security fence.

Previous global summit protests have turned violent. In 1999, 50,000 protesters shut down World Trade Organization sessions in Seattle as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. There were some 600 arrests and $3 million in property damage. One man died after clashes with police at a G-20 meeting held in London in April 2009.

At the September G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, police fired canisters of pepper spray and smoke and rubber bullets at marchers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100626/ap_on_re_ca/cn_world_summit_protests

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

It'll take several washings for the cops to get rid of that patchouli stink in their riot gear.

[Fandango 1,439]

It'll take several washings for the cops to get rid of that patchouli stink in their riot gear.

I Rich