Introduction

It has been one and a half years since the leaders of the twenty richest nations and their commercial and financial interested convened in Toronto for a glamorized photo-op. In June 2010, the G20 Summit took over and militarized the core of Toronto, Canada’s largest city, and saw a week of protests, actions and mass arrests.

In the lead up to the summit, police from different municipal, provincial ,federal policing and intelligent agencies formed the G20 Joint Intelligence Group to network and coordinate the state repression surrounding the G20 Summit. This included a number of tactics, including twelve undercover operations which led to the arrests of over twenty people on conspiracy charges.

During the weekend,militant actions were called by the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance (SOAR) and by a number of autonomous anarchist and indigenous groups. On June 25th, a break-away demonstration was called by SOAR called “Get Off the Fence”. This action saw a five hundred plus anti-capitalist bloc wreak havoc on Toronto’s financial and shopping districts, followed by generalized rioting throughout the core for hours following the demo.

What we have compiled here are some updates about anti-authoritarians and anarchists who have been facing serious criminal charges following the actions of people in the streets, and in meetings prior to the summit. Many of these cases are still open and there are many other people who have been convicted and are serving sentences who aren’t tied to anarchist networks. We hope this will shed some light on what has happened since the riot.

Continued…

Girr has been transferred again for the Third time since his sentence began to Maplehurst Correctional Complex. If you have been writing to Girr and haven’t heard from him yet, consider sending another letter to him as he may have lost your letter in all his moves. We are not expecting Girr to be moved again.

Greg Noltie-Rowley
Maplehurst Complex
PO Box 10
661 Martin St.
Milton, ON
L9T 2Y3

Please see Girrs Statement and Guelph ABC Statements.

We now have our beloved Peter Hopperton back in wind blowing, bird chirping, love filled reality! He was released from jail the morning of Thursday, March 15th, after serving 107 days in custody.

A big thank you to everyone who sent letters,  postcards, reading materials. Word on the street is that Peter has a huge garbage bag of letters, that was too large to carry home!

Also, a reminder that we still have comrades in jail, (visit our letter writing section)  These friends still needs funds: we have a total fundraising goal of $3000 in 2012. Please consider donating to GABC.

below is Girrs statement he wrote to provide his account of how the court process went down. We are republishing it here for your consideration along with the Guelph ABC statement on the events here.

-Guelph ABC

I have been hearing there has been some controversy regarding my sentencing, so this is my my recollection of exactly what happened. During my sentencing (part 1) the crown alleged I was arm and arm with someone they suspect to be another alleged black bloc member, and just like at other court dates they talked about that individual more than myself. About 3/4 of the way through the first day the crown and Davin were discussing with the judge something that I had not heard before. I leaned over and asked Davin to explain it to me. He explained that they want me to confirm the identity of the other person in the photo, and that if I did not they would bring in a expert to prove her identity. Instantly I told him no unless he contacted the individual or her lawyer. The recess was called for 15 minutes. While I outside smoking I explained the situation to people (including members of Guelph ABC) and no one had much to say about it. Then Davin came out and told me that he got a hold of the lawyer and that the lawyer said it wouldn’t make a difference to her case but would work against me if I didn’t. Davin also said that he got advice from that lawyer regarding my case. So after we got back inside Davin stated to the court that I acknowledged the identity of the individual in those photos and court went on.

I just want to say sorry for what happened and for how things turned out. For the weeks leading up to my sentencing my biggest worry was how to best avoid pissing people off or offending anyone with what I would say to the court, but that ended up happening anyways. My biggest regret in all of this is that an amazing person who doesn’t deserve any of this will suffer because I made a stupid decision under a false pretense and misinformation.

Sincerely,


Girr Rowley