Torontonians Stand Together to Denounce Police Violence Against Supporters of Palestine
Police on horseback riding into the
crowd on March 30.
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition held an emergency press conference at Toronto Police headquarters on April 1 to denounce the brutal police violence and arrests at the Land Day action on March 30. In an Instagram post on April 2, PYM pointed out that the police do not keep people safe but "exist to protect the interests of the state and elite" and that the Toronto police are openly brutalizing pro-Palestinian families and community members in an attempt to suppress and silence all those who are protesting the Israeli Zionist genocide in Gaza. The statement ends with the declaration "Community keeps us safe. We keep us safe. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced! We will continue to fill the streets of Toronto until we see an end to this genocide, and until we see a free Palestine."
Several people were arrested and others injured when Toronto police, on horseback, on bicycles and on foot, created a provocation and then launched an unprovoked attack. Over 1,000 demonstrators had marched from Yonge and Dundas to east Toronto with no incidents. As is always the case, the march was led by a truck with loudspeakers to facilitate speeches and for organizers to direct the march and keep everyone safe. At the intersection of Parliament and Gerrard the march was stopped by a line of police officers and vehicles, blocked from moving for more than an hour and a half. At some point police surrounded the truck, forcibly pulled a woman off the bed of the truck and detained the driver. The driver has been charged under the Highway Traffic Act with stunt driving! Several other people, including a person just passing by on the street, were assaulted by police and detained. Police announced that charges of assaulting a peace office with a weapon have been laid against two young women, one accused of throwing horse manure at police, the other of hitting an officer with a flagpole. Police on foot pushed people over while police on horseback rode through the crowd which included small children, elderly people and people with disabilities. Several people were injured.
Trucks, some pulling large flatbed trailers, are regularly used in Toronto parades and demonstrations including the Pride Parade, Santa Claus Parade, Labour Day, religious events and others. A truck has been used to lead the demonstrations in support of the Palestinian resistance every week since October 9, with police present at every event. A rally organizer reported that a police officer okayed the truck setup at the start of the rally on March 30. Organizers have complied with police orders to stop using a trailer platform behind the truck. Still, more than three hours into the march, police chose to violently arrest the driver and others.
City Councillors reported publicly that they had heard from hundreds of city residents concerned about the unprovoked police violence on March 30 and spoke against the police actions. Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw released a self-serving statement that neither addressed the concerns of citizens nor the role played by the police to attack those who both defend the Palestinians and hold Israel to account for its genocidal crimes. This is to say nothing about the role of Toronto police to abet violations of international law, namely real estate sales events of stolen Palestinian lands. Furthermore, on April 4 Deputy Chief Lauren Pogue with the Toronto Police Service community safety command, claimed to reporters that police have been seeing the "same individuals" who have been acting as agitators "consistently" and are becoming "increasingly confrontational and violent." In fact, activists, who are disciplined and organized, have documented that police instructions to demonstrators are arbitrary and inconsistent; that instigation of violence has only been from the Zionists attacking those who stand with Palestine or the police themselves; that it is the police who have undercover agents provocateurs in the protests, of whom the movement is aware.
The police attack on March 30 is a further escalation of state attacks aimed at dividing the people and portraying supporters of the Palestinian resistance as violent. It goes alongside the disinformation campaign of the Canadian government to cover up its material and political support for the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. The world condemns Israel's crimes and the role of the U.S., Canada and others in doing everything in their power to block the worldwide mass movement from achieving its aim of ending the occupation, for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid and for the creation of conditions for the Palestinian people to establish their state without foreign interference.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 26 - April 15, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS542616.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca