Photo by the Toronto Media Co-op
The following statement was sent to the Movement Legal Defense Committee (NOTE: the number of reported arrests increased to 900 after the drafting of this statement):
I am writing on behalf of CUPE 3906, representing over 3000 academic workers at McMaster University, to condemn the arrest, detention and abuse of nearly 500 G20 protesters.
Reports from the Movement Defense Committee?s Summit Legal Support Project indicate that protesters are given incorrect information about the bail process and denied timely access to counsel and release. Meanwhile, those peacefully protesting the detention are subject to police assault and illegal detention.
G20 Protesters are standing up for values of justice, equality, and rights for working class people, indigenous people and the environment. The unprecedented, violent response of the Harper government, the Toronto Police, and the Integrated Security Unit marks an attack on all of our democratic rights. It is a clear program of intimidation, silencing and assault on people of conscience who oppose the neoliberal agenda of the G20 leaders.
CUPE 3906 calls upon the government to ensure that courts and crown attorneys act to enforce constitutional rights, to end of the program of police violence and intimidation against G20 protesters and their families and to hold accountable those officers and elected officials responsible for this attack on democracy.
CUPE 3906 stands in solidarity with the detained G20 protesters in their fight for release, fair representation, and justice.
In solidarity,
Mary Ellen Campbell
President, CUPE 3906