Sunday, July 04, 2010

The G20 Summit: The Voices of the Prisoners













I don't know what's more disturbing. This chilling account of what it was like to be a prisoner in the G20 detention centre.

We start losing it a little bit. Saying to every officer, “You know this is wrong, look at us in here!” We hear from the other cells that some only have 20 or 15 guys. Why is this happening? How is this happening? Some guys start screaming, kicking the cage, and shaking it. We can hear this happening all over the place. We yell for help, some cops are laughing, some look devastated and helpless. I’m so thirsty and I’m screaming for water. It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before. A prisoner. Innocent. Screaming at my captors for water. Right then my heart broke.

Or this video of a gay teenager describing how he and other gay prisoners were segregated.



What I do know is that by now it should be clear to everybody that something horrible happened last weekend.

We absolutely need to know who gave the orders to start arresting so many innocent Canadians. 

Whether the chain of command led all the way to the Harper Cons. 

Why Quebecers were apparently singled out.

And why so many decent people were treated so badly. While the real criminals were allowed to escape.

And the only way to find out the truth is to hold a public inquiry.

Many Canadians may not want one. The politicians may be too scared to call for one. But we must continue to push for one anyway...if we love our country.

Because those who don't learn from their mistakes are condemned to repeat them.

And something like this, so horrible and so un-Canadian, must NEVER happen again...

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