So, after all this, still no reason provided why the police confronted the protesters? Strange.
Yea, it's so "strange", lol
It's probably because they want to give the protestors hugs and kisses on behalf of the government who loves protestors.
Ontario refuses to apologize for secret G20 law
The Ontario government is refusing to apologize for its secret G20 law that resulted in hundreds of arrests — but few charges that stuck — despite a damning report on it by former chief justice Roy McMurtry.
As first reported in Thursday’s
Star, the widely respected McMurtry recommended the Public Works Protection Act be repealed because the broad arrest powers it gives police are “beyond troubling.”
He pointed a finger at Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government for failing to properly communicate the so-called secret law the cabinet approved under the PWPA at the request of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, and for wrongly creating the impression police could demand identification or search without warrant anyone coming within five metres of the G20 security fence last June. The restriction applied to areas only inside the security zone.
Community Safety and Corrections Minister Jim Bradley said he agrees with McMurtry that the law went too far but would not apologize, saying any such move must wait until other inquiries into summit security are complete.
“I’m a sports fan and on Monday morning I have different views than I might have had during the action itself,” Bradley told reporters Thursday, again refusing NDP calls for an inquiry into the situation. “Certainly, Justice McMurtry is one who has said that this is not the appropriate law to be used and I agree.”
Bradley promised the government would repeal the law, passed in 1939 to protect things like power plants at Niagara Falls from Nazi sabotage, and replace it with more “specific” laws for protecting courthouses and nuclear power stations.
But any such action will have to wait until after the Oct. 6 provincial election because time is needed to consult with other levels of government, civil liberties groups, citizens and police to strike a “balance” between freedom and security, Bradley added.
Police, including reinforcements from across Canada, arrested 1,105 people and charged 278 in melees on the streets that saw small bands of vandals setting police cars on fire and breaking store windows while interspersed with more peaceful protesters. Hundreds who were arrested were later released or never booked, and most charges have been dropped.
“The problem is the government shrugs,” said New Democrat MPP and justice critic Peter Kormos, calling the report an “indictment” of the McGuinty government and the way it created the impression police had more authority.
“Most police thought they were following the letter of the law. The police were duped as well as the public.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said it feels “vindicated” by the “critical tone” of the report and its recommendations to scrap and replace the PWPA.
But the association’s general counsel Nathalie Des Rosiers told the
Star a full inquiry remains necessary to get to the bottom of why so many peaceful protesters were rounded up, among other things.
Progressive Conservative MPP and community safety critic Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North) said an inquiry would be expensive and the most efficient route is for McGuinty to “come clean” on why his government kept the secret law from the public.
Ontario refuses to apologize for secret G20 law - thestar.com
