General

Toronto Police Chief admits mistake during G20

“Kettling” for four hours was inappropriate: Chief Bill Blair

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair admitted that his force made a mistake on Sunday, June 27 when they boxed-in roughly 250 people during the G20 summit and held them for four hours in the pouring rain. “When I became aware of [the ongoing containment], I said, ‘That’s it, release them all immediately and unconditionally,’ and that was done. But it probably could have happened sooner,” he told the Globe and Mail. Police resorted to the “kettling” technique when they surrounded both protesters and bystanders on all four sides of the intersection of Queen and Spadina Streets in the late afternoon. Chief Blair said police were justified in kettlling the crowd at that point; it just should have ended sooner. Blair’s remarks came the same week a Toronto lawyer launched a class-action lawsuit seeking $115-million for roughly 1,150 plaintiffs alleging police failures during the three-day summit. A separate $45-million lawsuit was launched earlier this month by 800 people arrested that weekend.

Globe and Mail

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