Nearly empty Nathan Philips Square. Inscribed on these "Freedom Arches" is the following: "The Citizens of Toronto dedicate these arches to the millions who struggled including Canadians, to gain and defend freedom and to the tens of millions who suffered and died for the lack of it. May all that we do be worthy of them. Only in freedom can the human spirit soar. Against the human drive for freedom nothing can long succeed. This plaque is mounted on a slab of the Berlin Wall."

June 25, 2010 – Toronto, Ontario

Welcome to the cop show

Day one (official) of the summit. I’ve been out walking downtown for a few days already and tossed out two pairs of shoes. I’m already limping, and with another big day tomorrow might have to break out the open toed sandals despite the best recommendations of “how to protest” articles.

Some observations from today.

It’s become obvious that much of what the public is going to see of this G20 summit is what could only be termed police theatre.

Outside the airport and downtown core, life seems to be proceeding pretty much normally. Except of course there are fewer people around.

I would like this more if the population hadn’t been replaced by roving squads of police. As it is, it’s much easier to get around Toronto (outside the security zone and motorcade routes) than normal.

The atmosphere at street level is not as paranoid and oppressive at the moment as media reports may make it feel. While there is definitely a great deal of intensity at the protest front (as thousands are funnelled down streets lined with cops to an inevitable dead end), tear gas and sonic cannon have yet to materialize.

All predictions point to Saturday.

On the flip side, it’s not hard to find joyous activities being carried out both inside and outside the walls of cops.

For example, I enjoyed two fine free concerts today— the 1930s swing stylings of Alex Pangman & her Alleycats at the Toronto Jazz Festival, then the raucous Brazilian samba batucada drum stylings of Samba Elégua in the post-march denouement at Allan Gardens. Both were fine reminders of how music can help us transcend an oppressive situation. And watching the Jazz Fest while two police helicopters and two spotter planes circled the downtown core was an exercise in contrasts.

Eyes to the skies during the Jazz fest

The Alleycats did their best to drown out the choppers as jazz lovers clapped and lindy hopped in the square. There was more than a little unspoken irony in their cover of  JJ Cale’s “Mama Don’t”:

Yeah, Mama don't allow no guitar playing 'round here

Yeah, Mama don't allow no guitar playing 'round here

I don't care what mama don't allow I'll play my guitar anyhow

Mama don't allow no guitar playing 'round here

Hey, Mama don't allow no bass in this place

Yeah, Mama don't allow no bass in this place

I don't care what mama don't allow I'll play my bass anyhow

Mama don't allow no bass in this place

Yeah, Mama don't allow no drumming going on

Yeah, Mama don't allow no drumming going on

I don't care what mama don't allow

Gonna play my drums anyhow

Mama don't allow no drumming going on

Yeah, Mama don't allow no piano players in here

Mama don't allow no piano players in here

I don't care what mama don't allow

Gonna play my piano anyhow

Mama don't allow no piano players in here

Yeah, Mama don't allow no reefer-smoking going on

Yeah, Mama don't allow no reefer-smoking going on

Yeah, I don't care what mama don't allow I'm gonna smoke my reefer anyhow

Mama don't allow no reefer in here

Mama don't allow us all playing at the same time

No mama don't allow us all playing at the same time

Hey I don't care what mama don't allow

We're all gonna play all at the same time anyhow

Mama don't allow us all playing at the same time…

This was such a nice break that I hope to do it again at 5PM tomorrow when the Club Django Sextet plays. (Gypsy swing to soothe wild and weary hearts? Hit me with some more of that.)

Dead centre - one of two choppers and two spotter planes circling the downtown core today.

With one eye on the activity of the copters to the North, it wasn’t hard to tell when the protest had been turned back or dispersed. I cut through the back of NPS and found a nearly-empty alleyway leading to… surprise surprise… University Ave, closed in both directions, with double layered barricades and standing ranks of cops in front of the US consulate. Above me to the right, snipers peeked from the corners of the court house, surveying the scene. (I got my first laugh of the day as a group of teenage boys spotted one and started pointing and laughing, calling out: “Ninja! Ninjaaaa!”)

Fail ninja.

Another contrast. To my surprise, upper catwalk access was open at Nathan Philips Square, where I had seen only two security guards and one police officer. Half a block away, on University Ave between the U.S. Consulate and court house, there were over a hundred police and assorted other personnel. Their showing was so strong considering the emptiness of the street and surroundings that a large number of passerby were stopping just to watch. In fact the police were outnumbered by curious onlookers— many of whom stood around staring and sniping photos of the snipers and the goings-on. A handful of accredited media was present as well. (Ironically, two Chinese press members had to get their pictures taken with this as the backdrop.) Emboldened by the number of civilian photographers, I got my own shots.

From there it was a short walk to Queens’ Park, where nothing was going on. Moving on, it was the same scene at Dundas Square: like NPS, a number of vendor booths and a free concert, with a few private security guards and the odd roving 8-man police unit. Otherwise it was the same hustle you find at Yonge and Dundas on any sunny summer afternoon. Even the boarded-up HMV nearby looked more like a construction site than a damage prevention attempt. But somebody was wise.

The “Toronto Batman”. I was tempted to give him $2 and ask him to make the G20 go away, but I know it's going to cost much more than that.

Today’s protest was constantly hemmed in and eventually turned back by police. It seems clear that the police can direct any protest group as they please; they have the manpower.

Tear gas was not deployed— although I got whiffs of honking bad smells twice. (But that’s just TO in the summer: dubiously stinky.)

A number of people wearing masks or other face coverings were present at today's protest, and all attracted far more attention than they might have liked. (Yep, thanks to the media, nothing screams “anarchist” now like a covered face.)

The Brasilian batucada stylings of drum troupe Samba Elegua energize the park.

I caught up with the tail end of the protest after they had decamped to Allan’s Gardens. Many had left to rest or find food, but at least a thousand were still gathered on the grass, resting or dancing to the energizing drums of Samba Elegua. The mood on the whole was peaceful and happy— in contrast to the morning’s illegal searches and seizures of sticks from protest signs. I got a dirty look for photographing a pile of megaphones belonging to the organizers, but other than that felt no friction while hanging out in the denouement.

 Ever wish you had a friend who could pick up a megaphone and summon a crowd to your defense?

After the drumming an announcement was made. Emomotimi (“Timmy”) Azorbo, a deaf man, was arrested after being unable to communicate with police— not the finest hour for Toronto’s Finest. His friend Saron Ghebresellassi spoke of the incident with great passion (video link TBA; Torontoist link here). She marshalled the first of several groups to go down to the Eastern Ave detention centre to demand that an ASL interpreter and lawyer be provided for him.

An offshoot protest catches the police off guard. Protestors get to walk a short ways before being "escorted" again.

As I walked out of the park ahead of the group (intending to go down the street ahead of the inevitable bike cordon and find a good place for a shot of it) I saw a man in white and black on a bicycle quickly ride out of the gathering and disappear down the street, merging with a squad of 8 bike cops. Wow: my first undercover officer spotting?

Evening falls on tent city.

Looking back over the day, there were so many odd incongruities: Cops standing in rosebushes. Kids pointing and laughing at snipers. Helicopters circling overhead to a soundtrack of live jazz. A fisting pageant at a local bath house— oh-so ironically scheduled for June 26th. A homeless man with his junk out, pissing in a bush not twenty feet from a school bus full of cops. A butterfly on the “NO ENTRY” sign at the mouth of the park. Expensively dressed hookers talking about the G20 with a pimp on Gerrard.

Yes— Toronto in all its varied glory, carrying on.

Oh the irony. It hurts, it hurts...

Postscript

Here I must admit that I have frequently complained of there being “too many cameras” at Toronto events. Over the last fifteen years, I've watched this trend grow almost uncontrollably as digital technology became widely accessible to all. Of course I joined it-- but sometimes I can't help but feel that it's a bad thing. At the annual Toronto pillowfights or Dyke Marches, for example, camera holders outnumber participants. Not so today, when Toronto’s street photographers were out in full force.

So many people were walking around with digital devices in hand that I overheard a local worker comment that you “could tell something big was going on.” After seeing the security zone emptying out and having much difficulty finding colleagues interested in shooting the event, I took a great deal of heart from all the people walking, cycling and rollerblading around with cameras, shooting everything G20 related in sight.

In the face of secret laws and excessive security, it may be the only form of policing that we have.

University Ave - empty and waiting. What will Saturday hold?

The full set of images which go with this article can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hypersapiens/sets/72157624214845175/