Environmental activists rally against G20
Posted Jun 24, 2010 08:48:51 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Environmental activists took centre stage, Wednesday, ahead of the G20 summit this weekend.
In this latest pre-G20 protest organizers took aim at Canada’s mining and exploration companies, along with banks and big corporations they said are destroying ecosystems.
Protesters called their three-hour trek through the downtown core a “Toxic Tour of Toronto.”
The rally began at Alexandra Park, located in the Bathurst and Dundas streets area, where it started off shaky as police tried to take a tree limb away from a protester who was using it as a flag pole.
Eventually the officers backed off, although they continued to escort the nearly 200 protesters as they marched:
– Northbound on Bathurst Street to College Avenue
– Eastbound on College Street to University Avenue
– Southbound on University Avenue to the courthouse
About half a dozen protesters tried to provoke police officers along the way.
Freya walked out of her office on College, near Bathurst to see what was going on. She told 680News the police presence was too severe.
“These kids are – you know – certainly doing what I have done and many of us have, which is peacefully marching talking about an issue […].”
The U.S. consulate is across the street from the courthouse. RCMP officers stood guard.
Meantime, police officers used bikes as barricades on the courthouse’s sidewalk to keep protesters from spilling onto the streets. They told 680News it was not meant to intimidate, but rather to protect demonstrators from traffic.
All in all the protest was described as an entertaining one, complete with a samba band that played along the route.
