Lawyers, MPPs and members of Black Lives Matter movement criticize decision to arrest three individuals
Demonstrators threw pink paint on a King Edward VII Equestrian Statue at Queen’s Park in Toronto on July 18, 2020.Three individuals charged with vandalizing statues in downtown Toronto were no longer in custody early Sunday morning, after an hours-long rally for their release that the Toronto Police Chief later characterized as a distraction from more important issues of anti-Black racism.
Daniel Gooch, Jenna Reid and Danielle Smith were arrested and detained by police after being found covered in paint near a van with painting supplies. By then a crowd had gathered outside police headquarters, including the counsel for the detainees and several MPPs. Ms. Gebresellassi said police did not allow her to speak to her client on the phone until approximately 3 p.m on Saturday, which was only a brief conversation.
“We record these processes, and the moment that counsel was selected, access was provided,” Chief Saunders said in the statement. “It is unfortunate that a narrative has been manufactured that does not further the very real issues we are facing with anti-Black systemic racism, and the dialogue around the police and the community.”
“The issue here is that you have these statues of people who have committed colonial violence and, and racist violence, frankly, and who still stand for those things at a time when in theory, we are trying to turn Canada around and to make amends for centuries of that violence, and yet the statues still stand,” Ms. Berns-McGown said.
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