Toronto Police Chief Lies Again To Frame Protesters

Deadly cache of weapons to be used by G20 terrorists were in fact foam-covered toys seized from man on his way to a fantasy role-playing event

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, July 1, 2010

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has been caught lying again in an effort to justify the brutal police response metered out against G20 protesters and journalists this past weekend, after it emerged that weapons he presented to the media as evidence of criminals planning to wreak havoc on the city were in fact toys seized from a man who was on his way to a fantasy role-playing game and had nothing to do with the G20 summit.

“Brian Barrett was shocked to go online Tuesday and see a photo gallery showing toy weapons seized from him while en route to Mississauga for a fantasy role-playing game,” reports the Toronto Sun.

Police Chief Blair had presented the hand-made scale armour, cushion-tipped arrows and hockey-taped shields as weapons “seized from criminals” who were planning violence at the G20.

“Some of the things that are related are these arrows with devices tied on to them so that they could pour gas on them, ignite them and shoot them at us,” Blair said. “That was seized from criminals.”

Brian Barrett handles some of fake and harmless homemade weapons. He saw his “toys” displayed prominently at a press conference Tuesday where police claimed the ends were wrapped and ready to be doused with gas. (VERONICA HENRI/Toronto Sun)

Blair was knowingly lying to the media and the public. The toys were seized from Barrett after he was pushed down by cops and forced at gunpoint to consent to a search on his way to attending a role-playing game called Amtgard. The items had all been amended so as to make them safe for children, yet Blair later told the media they represented a deadly cache of weapons set to be used by G20 protesters.

“I woke up yesterday morning and I had players as far as Texas leaving me messages on my voicemail saying, ‘Dude, all of your stuff is on TV, they’re saying it’s all terrorist weapons,’” Barrett said.

Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash attempted a lame apology to cover-up for the fact that the police were framing peaceful G20 protesters as violent terrorists in an effort to justify the brutal police crackdown in the city, claiming the weapons had not been properly examined before they were put on display. How police officers with any basic knowledge of weaponry couldn’t distinguish real weapons from toys that were covered in foam and were “safe enough for 13-year-old and 14-year-old kids to play with,” is irrational.

Blair has been caught in two examples of mass public deception in the space of a week. Before the G20 protests began, he claimed a secret law had been passed that allowed cops in Toronto to arrest individuals who refused to identify themselves. Throughout the weekend reports flooded in of protesters and even citizens of Toronto who were merely passers by being stopped outside the security perimeter and questioned by police under the amended law.

It later emerged that the so-called “Public Works Act” had never been passed, “The Ontario government did not pass a secret law that gave police additional power to arrest people during the G20 summit in Toronto,” said Laura Blondeau, a spokeswoman for Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci.

Those that were arrested under this fake law, people like activist Charlie Veitch, have very strong legal cases against Blair and the Toronto police for wrongful arrest. Claims on behalf of Blondeau that no one was arrested under the fake law are manifestly false.

Blair is under intense pressure following allegations that police threatened to gang-rape women who were arrested at the event. Journalist Amy Miller described how numerous women were strip-searched by male officers and that one severely traumatized woman was sexually molested by police who stuck their fingers up her vagina, which is classified as rape.

“I was told I was going to be gang banged. I was told that I was never going to want to act as a journalist again by making sure I was going to be repeatedly raped while I was in jail,” said Miller.

Brutal police attacks on peaceful protesters are routinely preceded by scenes of anarchists destroying private property with no police interference. Indeed, a growing body of evidencepoints to the fact that the anarchists who set a police car on fire and also smashed shop windows were in fact undercover police officers. This is a routine occurrence at global summits, where cops dress up as anarchists and cause mayhem in order to justify a police crackdown on legitimate demonstrators.

Amnesty international has called for a full public inquiry into policing methods employed at the summit after numerous innocent people and journalists were brutally beaten by riot cops.

 

‘Nerd’ shocked his toys in G20 weapons cache

Fantasy role playing weapons put next to weapons seized during summit

By TAMARA CHERRY, TORONTO SUN

Last Updated: June 30, 2010 7:18pm

Brian Barrett handles some of fake and harmless homemade weapons. He saw his “toys” displayed prominently at a press conference Tuesday where police claimed the ends were wrapped and ready to be doused with gas. (VERONICA HENRI/Toronto Sun)

Police are living in a fantasy world if they think arrows on display Tuesday had anything to do with the weekend G20 violence, a Whitby man said Wednesday.

Brian Barrett was shocked to go online Tuesday and see a photo gallery showing toy weapons seized from him while en route to Mississauga for a fantasy role-playing game.

His hand-made scale armour, cushion-tipped arrows and hockey-taped shields were among the items Toronto Police chief Bill Blair said were “seized from criminals” who wreaked havoc on the city Saturday.

They weren’t the only misleading items on display during a Tuesday press conference.

When Blair was asked about a chainsaw and crossbow, he agreed they had been seized from a man near The Esplanade in an incident unrelated to the G20 summit.

“Some of the things that are related are these arrows with devices tied on to them so that they could pour gas on them, ignite them and shoot them at us,” Blair said. “That was seized from criminals.”

Not so, said Barrett, “champion of Twilight Peak” and weapons safety officer for a 15th century role-playing game called Amtgard.

Barrett was passing through Union Station from Whitby, clad in his 85-pound scale armour, when he was “thrown into a bench” and held at gunpoint while officers dumped out his backpack — also on display Tuesday — and rifled through its contents, he said.

Among the items taken from him after more than an hour of detention were his armour, two shields, a round buckler, foam maces, a foam flail and five arrows that had their points taken off and padded “so that they’re safe enough for 13-year-old and 14-year-old kids to play with.”

Given the sensitivity of the weekend, police confiscated the items and told Barrett he could retrieve them from a warehouse on Tuesday.

“I woke up yesterday morning and I had players as far as Texas leaving me messages on my voicemail saying, ‘Dude, all of your stuff is on TV, they’re saying it’s all terrorist weapons,’” Barrett said.

“There’s a big stigma that I’m a nerd, I’m going outside dressed as a knight from the 15th century, wearing authentic armour and carrying foam weapons and shields,” Barrett said. “Now I’m going to have to deal with the stigma of being the violent nerdy guy who’s going to go around and break windows and smash banks because he’s angry at the government.”

Asked why the items were displayed, Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said, “If there were things there that were not connected with the summit, they should not have been there. There was no intent to mislead anyone, but if people feel that they were, then I would apologize.”

By the time Blair arrived at the press conference, the property had been laid out and the chief “didn’t have a chance to look at all the property,” Pugash said.

“I’m probably, fairly certain that the property people weren’t in a position to go through each item and that’s unfortunate,” Pugash said. “It doesn’t diminish for a second the destruction we saw by people who came here apparently determined to create as much damage as they possibly could.”

 

Police questioning in G20 zone leads to complaints

Police question three men passing through the G20 security zone on June 24, 2010. (Ian Munroe/CTV.ca)

 

A regulation was passed allowing police to ask for identification of anyone passing through the security zone from June 14 – June 28. (Ian Munroe/CTV.ca)

Updated: Thu Jun. 24 2010 9:23:02 PM
CTV.ca News Staff

There were signs of mounting tension between police and protesters Thursday afternoon as uniformed officers continued to question people walking through Toronto’s so-called security zone ahead of the G20 summit.

With the city on high alert as world leaders start to arrive, police have had some serious concerns.

On Thursday afternoon, police arrested the driver of a suspicious vehicle and confiscated weapons including a chainsaw, sledge hammer and crossbow. They also laid charges against a second person in an explosives investigation that was announced Wednesday.

Also on Thursday, about 1,000 protesters marched in support of native rights, gathering at Queen’s Park, located just blocks north of the G20 security zone. Police were also hearing reports that another group of demonstrators would attempt breach the security fence surrounding the G20 summit venue. That protest never materialized.

But as the street activity ramps up in advance of the summit, some protesters expressed surprise at the extra scrutiny of their movements.

A group of young men who had been at a community mobilization meeting said police went too far, pulling them aside for questioning while ignoring the two white men and Asian girl they were walking with.

"It was a complete case of racial profiling," said Navyug Gill, one of the men questioned.

The three men, one of whom was sporting a T-shirt that says "G20 child care," were approached by five police officers as they walked west on Front Street towards University Avenue.

They were stopped on their way to a meeting about protest action, Gill said. Police immediately questioned one man about his T-shirt.

"They asked our names, demanded ID and asked if we were afraid to give them our ID," he told CTV.ca. "We were afraid. We didn’t know what they wanted to do with us so we complied."

He said police took notes and called headquarters to verify their identities.

"We told them we’re here to protest against the G20 and we’re walking on our streets in our city."

Const. Tim Garland, spokesperson for the Integrated Security Unit, said a regulation had passed giving police authority to question anybody coming into the restricted zone from June 14 until June 28, the day after the summits are scheduled to end.

G20 security points start at Lake Shore Boulevard to the south, north to King Street, east to Yonge Street and reach west to Spadina Avenue.

"If you’re in that zone you’re going to be challenged," he told CTV.ca.

"To accuse the police of racial profiling is unfair and certainly not the way we’re operating," he continued. "If you’re going to be wearing a T-shirt with an anarchist slogan, it’s going to catch the attention of police. It’s common sense."

But Gill says while he and his friends disapprove of the high-profile government summits, the T-shirt did not have an anarchist message.

He said the man wearing the shirt was a volunteer who was tasked with approaching families at rallies to make sure they had enough sunscreen and juice for their young children.

Gill said these kinds of encounters with authorities "create mistrust between police and the public."

 

G20: ID checks under fire

Reported by Paola Loriggio on Friday, June 25, 2010

File status: REPORTED FILE

Catharine Tunnacliffe was nowhere near the G20 security zone when police stopped her Wednesday morning and asked for identification.

Tunnacliffe, who manages the political science department at the University of Toronto, was cycling to work on Wellesley St. W., more than two kilometres north of the designated “Traffic Zone” where everyone must show ID.

She heard a whistle, then an officer screaming at her to get off the bike and show her driver’s licence. She refused.

“There was definitely a look of confusion and uncertainty when I told him I said I didn’t have a driver’s licence and didn’t have to show ID,” Tunnacliffe said in an email. The Highway Traffic Act states that cyclists only need to give their name and address.

Tunnacliffe said the officer’s belligerent approach — and his refusal to say why she’d been stopped — made her “seriously pissy.”

“It’s the kind of thing where if they’d given me a smile and a friendly wave, called me ‘ma’am,’ and asked me if I minded terribly telling them what my business was at the university, I would have been only too happy to oblige.”

Toronto Police Sgt. Tim Burrows, spokesman for the G8-G20 Integrated Security Unit, said there’s no way to tell whether Tunnacliffe was stopped as part of summit-related security, or just regular policing duties.

Officers should use common sense in dealing with the public, especially when the situation “doesn’t seem nefarious,” he said.

But the checks aren’t arbitrary, Burrows said. Everyone wishing to cross into the security zone will be questioned and searched. “We do respect people’s rights, but we also have to think about public safety.”

Businesses and residents in the core, along with civil liberties groups, continue to oppose “Fortress Toronto” — a mix of fences, checkpoints and security forces officially spanning from King St. W. to Lake Shore Blvd. between Spadina Ave. and Yonge St., but seemingly spreading through much of downtown.

Yesterday OpenFile reported on the existence of new regulations that require people who come within five metres of the security area to give police their name and state the purpose of their visit.

But there has been no explanation for the seemingly arbitrary ID checks that have been occurring elsewhere in the city.

Police “are supposed to act in a way that is proportionate and reasonable,” says Nathalie Des Rosiers, executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

“At this stage, there have been no incidents of violence, so they should be far less difficult.”

Photographer Michael Willems says police interrogated him this week after he snapped pictures of officers while on an unrelated assignment downtown.

They told him only “legitimate” photographers could take pictures, and demanded to see his shots, Willems wrote in a blog post.

“The officers were courteous, but they were wrong — very wrong,” he wrote.

Others complain about the amount of identification needed to enter the security zone.

“Not everyone has two pieces of ID,” says Des Rosiers of the CCLA.

But even those who object to the measures are likely to accept them, rather than put up a fight, she said.

“It is difficult for individual citizens to negotiate with the police. We tend to obey and comply.

“That is the reason why NGOs, groups of protection for the rights of citizens, must ask questions of the police to ensure that they are operating within the law. The individual citizen is not in a position to do this.”

 

The Toronto G20 Riot Fraud: Undercover Police engaged in Purposeful Provocation

Terry Burrows
Global Research
July 1, 2010

Toronto is right now in the midst of a massive government / media propaganda fraud. As events unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear that the ‘Black Bloc’ are undercover police operatives engaged in purposeful provocations to eclipse and invalidate legitimate G20 citizen protest by starting a riot. Government agents have been caught doing this before in Canada.

Montebello 2007 Riot Prevented – Identical Boots Exposed Undercover Police Provocateurs

At the ‘Security and Prosperity Partnership’ meeting protests at Montebello Quebec on August 20, 2007, a Quebec union leader caught and outed three masked undercover Quebec Provincial Police operatives dressed as ‘black bloc’ protestors about to start a riot by throwing rocks at the security police. See the following videos documenting this event.

Stop SPP Protest – Union Leader stops provocateurs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow

Evidence — Police provoke Violence at SPP protest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCRsj06wT64&NR=1

The operation was exposed by the following picture of the undercover police wearing combat boots identical to those of the security police arresting them.

(Provocateurs in Montebello wear the same shoes as the Quebec policemen who arrest them!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emiliep/1206638928/

CBC Report at Montebello 2007

See the distinctive yellow dots on the thick corrugated soles of the boots which are the giveaway.

The Quebec Provincial Police were then forced after three days of  public outrage to admit that these three men were indeed their officers operating undercover.

Fast Forward to the Toronto 2010 G20 Protest Riot

On Saturday June 26, 2010, the Globe and Mail published on their website a number of photographs taken at the afternoon riot in downtown Toronto precipitated by the ‘black bloc.’

Using these photos, I am going to show you that once again, the ‘black bloc’ provocateurs and the armoured police are wearing the exact same shoes.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/g20-day-of-protest/article1619712/

Thanks to the Globe and Mail for these very helpful photos.

Starbucks Vandalised

Here an operative throws a metal chair through a Starbucks window. This man’s physique doesn’t look like a seedy ‘anarchist’ to me. Rather, this is the fit strong body of a trained soldier – somebody who puts in a lot of regular gym time. He is also wearing what is really a uniform and rather specialized equipment on his forearm and possibly his hip. Unfortunately in this picture we cannot see the shoes being worn. But we certainly can in the picture that follows, and this is where it gets interesting.

The Provocateurs’ Combat Boots

Below another operative throws what appears to be a rock at another Starbucks window.

Take a close look at the upturned boot.

This is a brand new (? recently issued) very distinctive deep black colour combat boot. Note as at Montebello, the special thick heavy corrugated soles plus what appears to be some reinforcement of the upper forefoot area. Also note the mismatched black and white socks. Is this a recognition code to their uniformed colleagues? The nice heavy shiny new belt also appears to be part of a uniform.

Here is another ‘black bloc’ operative stomping on the roof of a Toronto Police car. Where are the police? He is obviously being “allowed” to trash the vehicle to create what will become the signature media images of the event – burning police cars in Toronto. But stamping on shattered glass and plastic is pretty hard on your shoes.

But his shoes can obviously take it because he is wearing the same brand new distinctive black combat boots as the Starbucks rock throwing provocateur above (go to the Globe and Mail url to see the higher resolution original photo). Note the same thick soles with the deep corrugations visible in an enlargement as a scalloping of the front bottom outer edge of the uplifted left shoe.

The Armoured Police Boots – They Are The Same Shoes!

Now check the uniformed armoured police boots. Note once again the thick heavy corrugated soles and deep black colour.

Here is one in close-up. It is clearly the same boot as the ‘black bloc’ provocateurs are wearing. It too is brand new and shiny as in recently issued for today’s duty.

Here are more of the armoured police boots.

Below is yet a closer view of the armoured police boots. This picture shows the upper part of the shoes more clearly. The police are also wearing what appears to be an additional protective spat module which is strapped on over the shoe’s upper front forefoot area. This looks like an extra equipment add-on to, and not an integral part of, the ‘civilian’ version of the shoe, which is otherwise identical to the police shoes in design, features and colour.

And in close-up

Canadian “Bureaucratic Economizing” Exposes The Fraud

That the ‘black bloc’ provocateurs and the uniformed armoured police are wearing in Toronto (as at Montebello) the identical government issued combat boots, has at least one positive aspect. It looks as if someone in the procurement bureaucracy was at least trying to do some economizing in the spending of the one billion dollars that this G20 fiasco has wrested from the taxpayers. Very sensibly, these bureaucrats wanted to provide the same sturdy combat boots for both the uniformed police officers as well as the undercover ones. How wonderfully Canadian.

But this endearing Hobbit-like practicality has also given the game away. The ‘black bloc,’ if they ever existed as an independent entity, have clearly been thoroughly infiltrated by undercover government agents. In classic covert counterinsurgency strategy these agents manipulate the group to commit violent acts which play directly into hidden government controllers’ hands. These controllers manipulate public opinion from behind the scenes through the commission of false flag acts of violence (these are acts falsely blamed on scapegoats other than those concealed perpetrators who are actually responsible.) The psychological operation (psyop) is then accomplished through the propaganda fulminations of the completely controlled and complicit mass media. As in so many similar situations in so many other countries in the past, the goal of this combination of violent acts and lying media propaganda is to invalidate any legitimate citizen protest of the many immoral acts being wreaked upon the peoples of the world by our governments. The techniques of imperial control which have been used so successfully overseas are now being fully deployed against the people at home. Deployed against us. As far as our war-addicted governments are concerned, we are all insurgents now.

 

But We Canadians Can Stop the G20 Fraud in Its Tracks

As this G20 protest riot fraud continues to unfold, please use your eyes and your cameras to pay attention to small details, like everybody’s shoes! As more and more people wake up from the deceptions being perpetrated upon them, more inconsistencies in the official propaganda story will be noticed.

Evidence will tumble forward to expose the whole malignant enterprise even more. We should stop this Riot Fraud in its tracks and demand an immediate investigation.

Please forward this article as widely as you can and collectively send it to all our politicians and media to put them on notice that we will no longer allow them to participate in the Toronto G20 riot fraud of 2010.

For Canada and for what is good and right and true.

 

Cops Dressed As Anarchists At G20 In Toronto

Youtube
June 30, 2010

5 undercover cops outed at G20 rally in Toronto, Friday, June 25. After this video, these 5 were chased out of the demonstration by people identifying them as undercover police. Video 2(to come) confirms their identities as officers of the law. It displays these 5 regrouping in an alleyway where they are caught off guard, and even laugh, when they see I have them on film. Still shots demonstrating their movements in between to come on flickr.

 

Human Rights in Canada

Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper & Premier McGuinty calling for G8/G20 Summit Security Review

30 June 2010 10:29 am

Posted by: Hilary Hom

 

 

Dear Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty,

We are writing on behalf of the more than 80,000 members of Amnesty International across Canada to urge that you work together to launch an independent review of the security measures adopted and the range of police actions taken in association with the G20 Summit in Toronto.  This letter highlights many of the crucial issues that we believe need to be examined in that independent review.

We first called for such a review in a Closing Communiqué issued at the end of Amnesty International Canada (English branch)’s Annual General Meeting on June 27th.  The meeting was held in Toronto, with some 200 members from across the country in attendance.  Amnesty International members took part in the People First demonstration on June 26th and witnessed many other demonstrations and some instances of arrest and other confrontation between police and demonstrators over the course of the weekend. We have also reviewed many of the growing number of media accounts, individual testimonies and monitoring reports describing police tactics, patterns of arrest, conditions of detention, and acts of vandalism and other violence, including the Preliminary Report of Observations issued by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association on June 29th.

Amnesty’s Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty |Preliminary Report of Observations issued by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (29 June 2010)

Man Accused Of Impersonating Police Officer Released On Bail

2010/06/30 | CityNews.ca Staff

A man accused of impersonating a police officer has been released on $500 bail.
Charlie Veitch, 29, lives in England but was in Toronto for the G20 summit.  He’s been described as an absurdist comedian – but police aren’t laughing.
“He was filming the fence area – again, these are allegations – he was filming the fence area and a security officer approached him and asked him for identification,” Const. Tony Vella said on Wednesday.
“The allegations are that Mr. Veitch indicated to the security guard that he was an undercover police officer. Mr. Veitch taped the entire incident and posted it on social media.  A copy was retrieved by the Toronto Police Service who conducted an investigation.
“A warrant was issued for Mr. Veitch’s arrest for impersonating a police officer. He was arrested on Tuesday as he was boarding a plane to go back to England,” Vella said.

“Anytime someone poses as a police officer, we take it very seriously,”  he added.

Veitch spoke to reporters when he was released on Wednesday.

"Of my six days in Toronto, I’ve spend 48 hours in custody," he said.

"I’m scared to say anything until I’m actually at home in Great Britain…I come from a country where you can actually hug police officers," Veitch added.

Veitch will next appear in court on August 23.