http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010 Feed from Gipfelsoli GNU FDL - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html 240 http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9062.html Fri, 08 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000 _By Michele Mandel_ Hundreds of Torontonians detained in mass arrests during the G20 summit have been given the court’s go-ahead to proceed with their multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuits against Toronto and Peel police services, the RCMP and OPP. In a unanimous ruling, the three judges of the Divisional Court overturned a lower court decision last May that refused to allow them to sue as a group. The Divisional Court had surprisingly harsh words for the police if the allegations in the lawsuits are true. “If the appellant’s central allegation is proven, the conduct of the police violated a basic tenet of how police in a free and democratic society are expected to conduct themselves. Their actions, if proven, constitute an egregious breach of the individual liberty interests of ordinary citizens,” Justice Ian Nordheimer wrote on behalf of the panel. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9061.html Mon, 28 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 _By Steve Kupferman_ Toronto’s G20 summit seems like a distant memory, but some of the things that happened during that hectic, violent weekend in June 2010 are still working their way through the court system. Today, Const. Glenn Weddell, the first Toronto police officer to go to trial on criminal charges as a result of his actions during the summit, was acquitted of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. The Star reports that Weddell’s troubles began on June 26th, when he allegedly attacked and broke the shoulder of a man who was with a crowd of protesters in Queen’s Park South. That man, Dorian Barton, claimed that he wasn’t participating in the protest, and that the assault was unprovoked. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9060.html Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000 TORONTO - The two most prolific American rioters in the G20 chaos of 2010 were slapped with the longest sentences meted out — 24 and 20 months respectively for terrorizing police and the public. Kevin Chianella, 21, received the two-year penitentiary term while Joel Bitar, 28, was handed the 20-month term Thursday by Justice Ronald Boivin. Both Americans admitted using Black Bloc tactics — donning masks or disguises and then attacking storefronts and police cars — as they pleaded guilty to various offences. “These were very serious offences that put people in jeopardy and caused chaos in the City of Toronto,” said Boivin. Chianella caused $300,000 worth of damage — the most by any protester — and faced the highest number of offences — 52 charges. The Queens, N.Y., resident got the longer sentence because he swung a bag full of rocks at a police cruiser with Staff-Sgt. Graham Queen trapped inside. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9059.html Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000 An American who admitted to smashing store windows and throwing a stone at a police car during Toronto’s G20 riots was sentenced Monday to seven months in jail. Richard Dean Morano, 23, of Lackawaxen, Penn. admitted to being part of the “black bloc,” a group who violently disrupted peaceful demonstrations while disguised in black clothing and masks, according to an agreed statement of facts. He was also ordered to pay $3,500 in restitution and is banned from Toronto for two years. On June 26, 2010, the “black bloc” group swarmed a police cruiser driven by Staff Sgt. Graham Queen, one of the police cars later set on fire. The officer was trapped in the car while the windows were smashed and he was struck in the back of the head “causing an injury not requiring further medical treatment.” http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9058.html Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000 TORONTO - An American Black Bloc protester who swarmed a police cruiser and trashed several stores in the G20 summit riots should be locked up for 12 to 15 months, a Crown attorney urged Tuesday. Richard Dean Morano admitted he was one of the protesters donning dark disguises and black clothing who engaged in a reign of terror and devastation on June 26, 2010, in downtown Toronto. Toronto Police Staff-Sgt. Graham Queen “was forced to stop his marked police cruiser” near Spadina Ave. and Queen St. W. “because of the violence perpetrated on him and his vehicle,” Crown attorney Liz Nadeau said. She implored the court to imprison Morano for up to 15 months for his five acts of public mischief and one count of mischief endangering the life of employees at a Yonge St. clothing outlet, where the shattered windows threatened the terrified staff. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9056.html Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000 TORONTO - A police officer who arrested a man wearing a bandana around his neck at the tumultuous G20 summit in Toronto three years ago has been found guilty of misconduct — the first such finding arising out of that weekend. A police services tribunal convicted Const. Vincent Wong of unlawfully arresting Jay Wall for being disguised with intent to commit an offence. The charge had alleged Wong, who was on patrol with his co-accused, Const. Blair Begbie, had arrested Wall illegally. In convicting the officer, adjudicator Walter Gonet, a retired judge, found "clear and convincing" evidence that Wong had no reasonable grounds to arrest Wall on Sunday June 27, 2010. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9055.html Sat, 05 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000 *Youri Couture and Guillame Constantineau given six months in custody* Two men have pleaded guilty to smashing store windows, assaulting officers and wearing masks during the G20 protests in Toronto. Youri Couture, 25, and Guillame Constantineau, 32, were each sentenced to six months in custody after pleading guilty to criminal charges Friday in a Montreal court. Police say that on June 26, 2010, Couture threw a long wooden post over a crowd of protesters and into a line of police officers at Queen Street West and John Street. He was also captured on video throwing a rock through the window of a Starbucks on Yonge Street. Couture was wearing a red-and-black bandana over his face during both incidents. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9053.html Fri, 13 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000 A Toronto constable has been found guilty of assault with a weapon after he struck a man with a baton while he was pinned to the ground by several officers during the G20 protests in Toronto in 2010. Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani was convicted Thursday, in the high-profile case of protester Adam Nobody, whose arrest was captured on video while he was kicked, punched and struck in the face with a knee. “The resistance offered by Mr. Nobody was minimal … A police officer is not entitled to use unlimited force to effect arrest,” Ontario Court Justice Louise Botham said in her decision. “I do not believe … that any of the blows struck by the defendant were proportionate or necessary.” The video evidence was “limited but cogent,” the judge said. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9048.html Tue, 16 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 *The story of how councillors endorsed the G20 detention centre has five heroes* _By Jonathan Goldsbie_ It hangs in a frame on the wall of Gord Perks’s office without any context: a rudimentary printout of city council vote GM29.22, dated 3/31/10. There are 26 yea votes and five nay votes recorded on it. And each of the five people responsible for those nays has graced the page with their signature. I’d first heard about the artifact years ago. But now that we were approaching the third anniversary of the G20 – the fallout of which continues to trickle through our justice system – I thought I’d finally ask to see it. On the date the vote took place, March 31, 2010, Toronto city council met in camera from 6:06 to 6:50 pm. In some ways, the debate was like every other: rifts emerged between the downtown and the suburbs, between idealists and pragmatists. http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Ontario_2010/Ontario_2010/9046.html Wed, 03 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Our comrade Dane Rossman is currently locked up at Toronto West Detention Centre in Ontario, Canada. Dane was extradited June 14th, after being held without bail since February 21st at the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence, Arizona. Another comrade, Joel Bitar, is currently free on bail in New York, awaiting the start of his trial in Toronto. They are both facing heavy fines and prison time for their alleged participation in breaking windows during the 2010 G20 in Toronto. They are among five Americans that Canada has sought to extradite for such offenses, along with Kevin Chianella, Quinn McCormic, and Richard Dean Morano. While extradition for vandalism is incredibly rare, it is not entirely unheard-of. In January, a Mexican man was extradited to Houston, Texas for spray-painting “CONQUISTA” on Picasso’s Woman in Red Armchair. And Singapore, which drew international attention in 1994 for caning an American citizen convicted of vandalism, is currently seeking to extradite a British national for his participation in spray-painting a subway car.