Black Lives Matter vows to continue protests until justice is served

The activist group that stopped traffic on the Allen Expressway for nearly two hours on Monday is vowing to continue to stage disruptive protests until systemic changes put an end to discrimination and injustice.

A day after the protest on Allen Road, Black Lives Matter was reiterating its demands. They want greater oversight of police by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and ultimately, justice for two black men, Andrew Loku and Jermaine Carby, who were both shot to death by GTA officers.

They also want Toronto mayor John Tory and police chief Mark Saunders to make a clear stand against carding — the contentious practice that the province is seeking to regulate, rather than outright ban.

“Until we see action from the mayor and until we see action at the city and Toronto police services, the (black) community will still be out (protesting),” Rodney Diverlus of Black Lives Matter Toronto said.

“We had to go to extreme lengths,” he added. “We had to literally take over parts of the city and have our voices heard to even get a phone call from the mayor.”

The group disrupted a police services board meeting a few weeks ago, but Diverlus hopes the Allen Road rally has thrust their fight for equality into the spotlight.

“We really hope this opens up communications, but we also hope that this is a rallying call,” he said.

Chief Saunders has yet to comment on the escalating tension, saying police can’t discuss cases like Loku’s, that remain before the SIU.

Loku, 45, was shot to death by police on July 5. He was reportedly banging on a neighbour’s door and was armed with a hammer when police arrived. Moments later he was felled by bullets.

Separately, the SIU cleared a Peel police officer of any wrong doing in the fatal shooting of Jermaine Carby, 33.

Carby was shot three times after the car he was in was pulled over on Sept. 24. The SIU ruled the killing was in self-defence after Carby pulled out a knife and began moving toward the officers, goading them to shoot him after being questioned about outstanding warrants.

The SIU acknowledged that an officer removed the knife from the scene, leading his loved ones to question the integrity of the investigation.

Carby’s family and Black Lives Matter also take issue with rules that allow subject officers in SIU investigations to clam up. They don’t have to participate in the investigations, or even hand over their notes.

That reality is a troubling one to Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin.

“I remain concerned about the level of cooperation the SIU receives during investigations,” Marin said on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Black Lives Matter appears poised for more disruptive protests that could prove effective according to one expert.

“When you create a crisis, you get attention and you put pressure and you make people take sides. So that’s often where there is movement,” Lesley Wood, social movement expert, told CityNews.

Wood says the longer police remain silent, the more power the group could gain.

“The existing authorities haven’t really responded effectively, and so the movement has been building,” she said.