Vol. 74/No. 26      July 12, 2010

A whole section of the downtown was sealed off. The government invoked a 1939 law to give police the power to arrest anyone who refused to identify themselves within and near the walled-off area for the summit. About 900 people were arrested, many on vague conspiracy charges.

On June 26 thousands of people participated in a demonstration organized by the Canadian Labour Congress, Greenpeace, the Canadian Federation of Students, Oxfam, and the Ontario Federation of Labour. The theme was “People first. We deserve better.”

About 100 strikers, members of United Steelworkers Local 6500, and their supporters came from Sudbury, Ontario. The workers there have been in a nearly year-long battle against mining giant Vale. In addition to unionists, there were different women's groups, environmentalists, immigrant rights activists, defenders of animal rights, and many others. Participants included outright reactionary groups such at those who marched to “Free Vietnam.”

When the march was well underway, a small group of anarchists, calling themselves the “Black Bloc,” started smashing windows of stores and police vehicles. This gave the authorities the pretext for carrying out widespread physical attacks and arrests.

At the G-20 meeting itself, a goal of cutting deficits in half by 2013 was adopted for what was called the “advanced economies,” but it was left to individual governments to work out how to do it. The deficit-cutting goal means major new attacks on working people in the coming months and years.  
 
 
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