G20 Toronto Summit Street Protests – The Street ‘Parade’

Saturday, June 26, 2010. A mob of people wandering down Bay St. merely two hours after the original protest had already passed through. By this time, the main protest which was getting progressively violent was blocks displaced at the Yonge St. and College St. area. It was the original protest that had resulted in the burning of the police vehicle mid-afternoon as well as in the vandalism and breaking of glass windows of corporate offices and private businesses. From what I witnessed, the majority people above were the curious bunch, such as myself – mainly spectators, gawkers and photographers, visiting the locale after the fact when it was safer. The center of the mob, however, at the intersection of Bay St. and King St. did have the spark and excitement of a live protest to it, for we were merely two blocks away from the first burnt vehicle, and thus this area was an epicenter of energy and curiosity. Notice carefully, the BMO Nesbitt Burns logo has also been vandalized!

From my firsthand experience on Saturday afternoon, the police were incredibly well restrained and reserved. In fact in talking to a few officers myself earlier that day, they referred to the protest as the ‘parade’! They were quite relaxed and jovial about having a peaceful movement of people through the downtown core. This was, of course, before a group of individuals started their violent black-bloc tactics.