Police Use Muzzle Blasts To Control Crowd In East End
Posted June 27, 2010 1:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Police stormed a group of protesters gathered at Pape and Eastern Avenues Sunday and used muzzle blasts to disperse the crowd.
For the second straight day, what started as a peaceful protest took a bad turn. More than 100 people gathered at the foot of Pape Street around 2pm to show support for protesters and other citizens who were arrested Saturday and early Sunday and held at the film studio-turned temporary detention facility.
Shortly after protesters arrived at the foot of Pape Street, riot police swooped in, used muzzle blasts and dragged a handful of people away from the demonstration and tossed them into waiting minivans that sped away immediately.
The Integrated Security Unit confirmed to CityNews.ca muzzle blasts were used, but wouldn’t say how many. The unit also wouldn’t confirm how many people were arrested or why.
A muzzle blast is a single contained blast with a mixture of gas and powder used to control a situation.
Soon after the protest was broken up riot police blocked off local intersections in the area, reportedly as far north as Gerrard, as people mulled about on the sidewalks with their kids and ate brunch on sunny patios.
Several local residents were infuriated at the police response, including Pam McNair, who was in the protest.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves! Get out of our neighbourhood. We don’t want you here,” she shouted at officers as they advanced north on Pape to Queen, where spectators and journalists looked on.
“I’m really upset by this. This is my neighbourhood. Kids are in this neighbourhood.”
She claims the protest was peaceful.
“Police escalated it. Now somebody said that [police] were going into the crowd because the head of the Black Bloc was in the crowd and so they wanted to get that person … don’t take and throw smoke bombs and rubber bullets at a mass group of residential people,” McNair told CityNews.ca.
McNair also expressed her anger over the fact the holding centre was placed in a residential zone. She said she would’ve liked it to have been placed at Downsview.
“Empty movie studio, great holding spot – did not even consult any one in this neighbourhood if that was ok.”
Since Saturday approximately 500 people have been arrested.
Some people released from Eastern Avenue detention centre
