“Capitalism is a failure. Revolution is the solution,” screamed a red banner as nearly 500 Black Bloc protesters walked through downtown Toronto on Saturday.
But the peaceful protests lasted only a few minutes. As the procession entered the financial district late afternoon, wooden sticks and hammers emerged and protesters started targeting window panes of banks, the entities that caused the global financial turmoil.
It’s a different matter that the branches targeted were Canadian banks such as Bank of Montreal and CIBC that had survived the financial problems successfully, unlike their counterparts in the United States and Europe.
The window panes were just a trailer of sorts with the Black Bloc protesters — sporting black outfits with their faces covered by scarves of the same colour — deciding to take on the police force, which in this part of the world is largely used to peaceful protests.
In the middle of the financial district, the Black Bloc first smashed windshields of police vehicles and then set at least two of these on fire. Next in line were multinational chains such as Starbucks and Burger King, which bore the maximum brunt.
Toronto Police, apprehending protesters had requisitioned services from the forces in Ottawa, Vancouver and Hamilton, but clearly they were unprepared for the assault from the Black Bloc, which was done with its violent protests in less than 45 minutes. And they ended byforcing the police to do something that was unprecedented in this city — using tear gas.
As peaceful protests replaced the Black Bloc, the main streets of downtown Toronto, subway train services in locality and even airspace over the area was closed. Most shops and commercial buildings, including Eaton Centre, a key tourist attraction, were under lockdown.
By early Sunday morning, the police had arrested over 500 people, with most of them held in a film studio that has been converted into a temporary prison.
“It did take us some time to move our resources,” Toronto Police chief Bill Blair said in a televised press conference.
When the demonstration started around Saturday noon at the legislature, protesters danced, clapped and chanted slogans while carrying banners and flags. But as the clouds cleared and rains stopped, the number of protesters increased, with the local media estimating the number at 10,000. The mood turned ugly as some of the protesters tried to move toward the summit site near Lake Ontario.
By evening, the centre of activity had shifted to the Metro Convention Centre, where the leaders from the G-20 countries are meeting to firm up a road map for strengthening their economic and financial position after the global financial crisis of 2008 and the ongoing debt crisis in the Euro zone.
The area was already amid high security following apprehensions that the summit venue could be a possible terror target. As a result, it was enclosed by concrete barricades and 10-feet high metal fences that ensured protesters could only attempt to block the entry. For Canada, the security cost for the meeting alone is estimated at over $1 billion.
