Judge Declares Police Were Aggressors in G20 Protest

In finding a demonstrator not guilty, a judge condemns "adrenalized" police for overstepping their bounds.

Slowly but surely, Ontario's justice system is doing what the province's politicians won't – holding the police accountable for their actions during the G20 summit in Toronto, with a judge ruling this week that police were the sole aggressors in stifling a demonstration. In a ruling that found protestor Michael Puddy not guilty of all charges (his main offence appears to have been wearing a T-shirt saying “Police Bastard” and carrying a knife for construction work), Justice Melvyn Green says that “adrenalized” police were the only people who showed “collective physical aggression” during a protest at the intersection of Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue on June 26 of last year, and that they had effectively criminalized the freedom of assembly. Green found that the only aggressive behaviour by protestors was a single bottle thrown at police. Puddy, 32, was arrested during the demonstration, thrown in the makeshift jail for two days where he had to sleep on the concrete floor, and was only released when he paid a $25,000 bail.