Real News Journalist Attacked at Toronto G20

I chose a video called “Real News journalist attacked at Toronto G20”, and paired it with the concept of violence and police repression, from the reading “G20 Protests: Fighting Back Against Police State” by Alan Sears.

The violence and repression carried out this year by the authorities in Toronto, where the G20 summit was taking place, was worthy of a police state. An army of security officers, both in uniform and undercover, took over the downtown portion of Toronto, creating a rule of terror.

The police operation was used to violently repress an overwhelmingly peaceful protest by thousands of people opposed to the policies of the governments represented at the summit. The massive state operation was a brazen assault on basic free speech and assembly rights. The video I have chosen demonstrates police brutality by providing a story of a Journalist named Jesse Freetom who, while covering the Justice for Our Community march, was brutaly punched and thrown over a bike on Friday June 25th, 2010. This happened after he filmed the arrest of a protester named Emomotimi Azorbo who happened to be deaf. Azorbo had been charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, though during the arrest his friend pleaded with the police that he could not have heard the polices' order to move since the cops were standing behind him. Azorbo was held for hours at the detention centre without access to an independent ASL interpreter, a failure that violates Azorbo's basic human rights.

The excuse for the police state regime was the limited property damage committed by a fairly small number of people (Sears). The burning of a police car, which had been conveniently left in the path of the “Black Bloc” forces, was another dubious event, primarily intended for the national news programs. The repression by police and military forces against civilians is increasing worldwide. Corporations and interest groups are pushing governments