No justice, no grease

Annex resident and former Gleaner editor Liivi Sandy called the police after she heard “violent and very unnerving” smashing at 2 a.m., on the eve of the G20.

She initially thought her home was being broken into. Sandy then looked out her window and saw a person dressed in dark clothing smashing the windows of KFC (636 Bloor St. W.). The vandal then ducked into the Green P parking lot on Euclid Avenue.

“There was no way I was going to let those vandals take my poutine,” said Sandy.

Within minutes, a police officer arrived at her door to take a statement. While there, he told her that there were two perpetrators, who had already been caught, and that the incident was likely G20 related.

Windows at the nearby Bank of Montreal were also smashed. Both businesses had replaced the damaged windows by the end of the weekend.

—Emina Gamulin

Well spent, well spent, one dollar

The G8/G20 Alternative Media Centre had a run-in with the law during the G20 weekend.

Police visited the centre on June 27 to investigate complaints from neighbours of possible squatting and/or breaking and entering.

“[The police] came and they wanted to talk to people and we said ‘You don’t have a warrant, we don’t want to talk to you,’” said Gwalgen Dent, a spokesperson for the centre.

Dent remained skeptical that any neighbours had actually complained in the first place.

“I’m not sure how a complaint could have been made by a neighbour given that we had flyered every single neighbour in this area and informed them of why we’re here and what we’re doing.”

Dent says the last thing that police said as they left the AMC was “You’re only making this more difficult than it has to be.”

The owner of the space, David Patrick, who also owns the adjacent Linux Cafe, explained to police that he was renting out the space to the organization.

Patrick welcomed the AMC after members of the group—who had been using his cafe as a meeting place this spring for their campaign efforts against Canadian mining company injustices—approached him to use the cafe as a meeting place for citizen journalists covering the G20.

“[The people at the AMC] aren’t activists, they’re journalists,” explained Patrick, who rented out the space to the AMC for $1.

The AMC was a temporary set-up of independent media organized by The Toronto Community Mobilization Network. The group operated out of a workshop on Jersey Avenue, just north of Harbord. It launched on the 21st and operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until it closed its doors on June 29.

—Tim Legault

The media, united, will always be invited

Due to the closure of the University of Toronto campus during the G20, CIUT 89.5 fm radio made a temporary home at the Gleaner office (720 Bathurst St.).

CIUT started their emergency programming on June 24 and had what will likely be their last broadcast from the Gleaner on the Monday after the summit, with their regular local morning news program Take 5.

Amy Goodman, founder and host of Democracy Now, was a guest host for CIUT’s G20 special. The Gleaner caught up with Goodman after her talk for a fundraiser for CIUT radio at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church (427 Bloor St. W.). She spoke of the importance of independent media and communities. She urged communities to get organised, get informed and share that information.

“Understand that the experts are the experts in your community,” she said. “Don’t be fooled by the corporate networks that bring us this small circle of pundits, who know so little about so much, explaining the world to us and getting it so wrong.  The experts are in our communities, on every issue. People who are living the reality on the ground—they are the ones with wisdom, and that’s why local media is so important.”

Democracy Now can be heard on CIUT every weekday. For a full schedule, click here.

—E.G.