Joint lawsuit planned for G20 arrestees

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it is considering a joint lawsuit against the Toronto police and other police forces responsible for the G20 mass arrests.

“The CCLA is planning to help people who are seeking compensation to (initiate) a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Ontario,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the CCLA. “We have a couple of plaintiffs.”

More than 1,000 arrests were made relating to the G20 summit and multiple reports have emerged alleging peaceful demonstrators or even bystanders were caught up in the mass arrests — most notably, at the Esplanade’s Novotel Hotel on Saturday, where demonstrators tried to stage a sit-in, or at Queen St. and Spadina Ave., where a large crowd was boxed in and detained for several hours in the rain.

All arrests this weekend were made under the criminal code and not the Public Works Protection Act, according to the province.

Des Rosiers said the CCLA has been overwhelmed with phone calls and has already collected 75 complaints from people claiming they were wrongfully imprisoned, detained, harassed or assaulted by the police.

Among them is Adam Suska, a 32-year-old supply teacher. After watching a Queen’s Park demonstration on Sunday, Suska was walking towards Bloor St. and Spadina Ave. when police officers stopped him and asked about his black t-shirt.

Following Saturday’s trail of destruction caused by protesters using Black Bloc tactics, there were multiple reports of summit police targeting people dressed in black.

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