Having watched the Fifth Estate on CBC on Friday evening, on the G20 demonstrations in Toronto, one cannot help but wonder if we are still living in a democratic society.
The brutality and uncontrolled actions of the police would make one think they were watching the actions of the dictators such as presently going on in the Arab world.
I question who is going to be held accountable for the brutality and suffering of these innocent Canadians.
Murderers and rapists are treated better by police than these, innocent spectators and protesters. 1,100 people were arrested for no apparent reason, the largest number arrested in Canadian history.
They were refused necessary medical care, water, and food for over eight hours. Portable toilets were open to the public with no doors – even the women’s had no door – and innocent women were strip-searched for no reason.
Tear gas and rubber bullets were used on the innocent while the few hoodlums ran free, destroying everything in sight including police cars, and were not apprehended or stopped; left alone to do their damage with the police close by, harassing the innocent.
The photos prove without doubt that innocent people were brutally beaten for no reason while the Toronto chief of police and our Premier Mr. McGuinty stood by watching this happen. How either of them can look in the mirror or sleep at night is beyond me.
One gentleman who worked for the government and had an artificial leg was dragged down the street because he could not stand up quickly enough from a sitting position while his daughter was yelling that he only had one good leg. These cowards, while dragging him down the street, tore off his artificial leg. A book could be written on the atrocities that took place and apparently a film is going to be made by one of the innocent who was jailed.
This entire episode was allowed to happen by our premier acting as a dictator by giving the police uncontrolled power. Both he and the Toronto chief of police should be forced to resign immediately due to their actions and negligence.
The premier and the Toronto chief of police have a legal, moral and ethical responsibility to protect the citizens of Ontario. How then did they let this happen with no public outcry? Do the general public not care?
The innocent have every right to sue, which they are presently doing, and there is no question that they will win. Who will land up paying in cash for this travesty of justice, but the hard working Ontario taxpayers, through no fault of their own.
While our hypocritical politicians throughout the country make a fuss over how our brave Canadian soldiers treat some prisoners who are out to kill them, these same politicians completely ignore how our own citizens were treated by the police.
Why has there not been an uproar about this, or are they also frightened by the police?
One would question how long this repulsive situation can be ignored by the citizens of Canada, as we can no longer say that we live in a free, democratic society.
This episode should be made mandatory watching by all Canadians to see what can happen when an authority is given a free hand. The police who I have known and respected over the years, I cannot believe, would ever act in such an indefensible manner?
Where these other police came from is worth investigating.
Jack Nowack
Parry Sound
P.S. Why this is so upsetting to me, is that as a veteran of World War II, is this what we died and sacrificed for?