protest

here is a description of the anti-capitalist protest in Toronto.

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O16 Economic Disruption in Downtown Toronto a smashing success!
 Quick report by a member of the T2 Affinity Group

 This morning (O16) thousands of anti-poverty, global justice, union,
social justice, and First Nations activists
 converged in downtown Toronto and shut down its gigantic financial
district. A series of snake marches
 maneuvered around blockades of riot police to shut down vehicular and
pedistrian traffic in the district. By 8:00 am
 we learned that employers were encouraging people not to come to work
today. We shut down the heart of
 Corporate Canada. By using the tactic of Economic Disruption we
(probably) caused Canada' s financial elite to
 lose millions of dollars (2 billion dollars circulates through the
financial distict every single day!).

 This was an amazingly successful event. At 5:00 am thousands of
activist met at Nathan Phillip's Square (City Hall)
 for breakfast, music, speeches and preparation. While a number of
activists were pre-emptively arrested for
 wearing bandannas, gas masks and bike helmets, the massive police
presence failed to deter activists from
 assembling.

 Around 6:00 am we were notified that riot police had surrounded the
square and that we were effectively boxed-in.
 We were also notified that the large Montreal contingent (400 strong?)
had been stopped and searched by the
 police en route to the square.  After a number of good agitational
speeches we took to the streets, but were
 immediately blocked by a huge wall of riot cops armed with rubber
bullet guns, shields, battons, and riot gear. After
 an intense standoff the communications team informed us that they had
discovered an escape route and we left the
 standoff and escaped from the square.

 We re-assembled on one of the biggest streets in the downtown and began
to march towards the financial district.
 We by-passed a number of police blockades and managed to turn onto a
major street that led right into the heart of
 the financial district. It was an amazing feeling to outsmart the cops,
whose authoritarian command structure had
 prevented them from reacting effectively to our movements.  Suddenly we
were at the intersection of Bay and King,
 the heart of the financial district. All traffic was stopped. No one
was getting into the banks and brokerage houses.
 There was no profiteering.

 Our large march then broke down into 3 marches and all three marches
continued to snake their ways through the
 financial district, disrupting traffic, picketing doorways to the major
buildings, dumping newspaper boxes into the
 street, chanting, dancing, and pumping our fists.  Chants included:
"Stop the War on the Poor, Make the Rich Pay!"
 and "Down with Harris (the Premier who just announced that he was
resigning!)"  and "Smash Capitalism, Smash
 the State!"

 The police were totally outsmarted. They had hundreds of goons ready to
beat us up but they couldn't react quickly
 enough to catch us.  Occasionally we would have to hurry to avoid being
boxed into a block, but for the most part,
 the police were unprepared to deal with us. We continued to weave our
way through the financial district until we
 heard the best news of the day--that the financial district had been
shut down! Apparently, the radio stations said
 that drivers should stay out of the financial district and that
employers were asking employees to work from home
 today. When we heard this news we screamed with excitement. It felt
like Seattle and Quebec City all over again. In
 fact, it felt better...

 Anyways, a few minutes later we witnessed another amazing event: An
activist had climbed onto the large overhang
 covering the front doors to one of the glitziest hotels in Toronto,
grabbed the American flag hanging above,
 spray-painted "murder" across it, and set it on fire while thousands of
people below chanted "No racist war! No
 racist War!..."  This was amazing!

 By now, our numbers had swelled to several thousand people. We then set
our sights on the American consulate.
 Everyone gathered outside the consulate and we heard a number of
amazing speeches. All of a sudden, the black
 bloc started tipping over police barricades and vehicles. However,
since the cops were so disorganised they
 couldn't stop the actions. (I forgot to mention that a number of big
bank windows were broken earlier).

 Our goal was to disrupt the financial district and disperse by 11:00
am. Around 10:30 we marched to a more open
 area of the downtown and people started to disperse to prepare for the
Mob4Glob event at noon and the massive
 labour rally at 5:00 pm.

 This was a great event. Despite all of the threats from the police
(activists were pre-emptively arrested, spied-on,
 harrassed, delivered intimidating letters from the Chief of Police,
photographed [the Montreal contingent was
 surrounded by cops and photograhed as soon as they pulled into
Toronto!]), we took to the streets with courage and
 won the first battle in the Fall Campaign.

 Today's event was the kick-off event for the Ontario Common Front's
FALL CAMPAIGN OF ECONOMIC
 DISRUPTION that will attempt to create a political crisis for the Tory
government by shutting down the profit system
 in this province. Today's action included activists from the union,
student, global justice, socialist, anarchist, social
 justice, and First Nations movements. Activists at today's event will
now take the struggle back into their
 workplaces. They will engage in strike actions or other activities of
economic disruption that will create a crisis of
 legitimacy for the rulers of the province. For example, CUPE-Ontario
(Canadian Union of Public Employees;
 140,000 members) will start a general strike in the next few months.
Other actions will also occur across the
 province.

 Lessons? Organise locally and be confident. Take to the street and
attack the root sources of our oppression. For
 more info, check out http://ontario.indymedia.org and
http://www.ocap.ca

 As we said in Quebec, So-So-So, Solidarity!
 And as we now say in Toronto, Economic Disruption! Fight to Win!

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