G20 roundup: assault, arrests and broken gear

While the stories from Toronto’s chaotic G20 weekend continue to trickle
in, J-Source has created a
roundup of stories from journalists who were on the ground.

A journalist covering the G20 protests for Openfile.ca found herself in a
new role after police attacked protesters, leaving some in dire need of
medical help that never came. Read Bethany Horne’s first-person account.

Liem Vu, an intern with the National Post and Lisan Jutras, a Globe and Mail journalist, were among those detained for four hours at Queen and Spadina (read Vu’s Twitter feed and Jutras’ Globe story–also with Twitter coverage–to see the story unfold.)

Torontoist journalist Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy was struck by a police officer with a baton (Read Torontoist’s live blogged story here, and check out a photo of Bettencourt-McCarthy’s bruise here.)

Video journalist Brandon Jourdan was thrown to the ground and beaten by police.Watch his disturbing video of police arresting people (scroll to 1:02 to see Jourdan thrown down and beaten…props to him for keeping the camera rolling throughout.)

CTV field producer Farzad Fatholahzadeh was covering the G20 protests at Queen’s Park when he was tackled by plainclothes police officers. Police put him in handcuffs and took him to the makeshift prison on Eastern Avenue, where he spent the night.

A reporter for the Real News Network was punched in the face, stabbed with a bicycle and had his mic torn from him…and caught it all on video (watch it here). In a Rabble Radio podcast, journalist Jesse Rosenfeld speaks his violent arrest, and the conditions in the holding cell. He told Rabble:

“An officer looked at my press pass and said ‘this isn’t legitimate, you’re under arrest’, and I was immediately jumped and beaten to the ground. I was punched in the stomach, my arms were pulled back, I was hit in the back and thrown to the ground. After I was down the cops piled on me, hitting me in the back of the ribs. They lifted up my legs, twisted my ankle and sprained it, and my face was pushed into the concrete.”

National Post photographers Brett Gundlock and Colin O’Connor were arrested while covering the G20 Summit. Check out the Post’s photo of police officers tackling Gundlock. The pair were taken into custody on Saturday while attempting to photograph clashes between police and protesters, the Post reports: “Neither photographer was accused of any violent act. Instead, they were “amongst violent people,” and allegedly failed to comply with a police order to disperse, a Crown attorney alleged in court on Sunday. The two men spent about 24 hours in custody before the Crown consented to their release on bail.” The photographers describe the ordeal in a Post interview, which included handcuffs on the wrists and ankles, a strip search and a very crowded (and cold) overnight stay in detention.

Some excerpts from the interview:

“I still don’t know what happened to some of our camera equipment.” – O’Connor
“I have one of my cameras. One was dropped on the ground.” – Gundlock

Off-duty arts journalist Chris Le Page followed his curiousity to march with a protest that quickly turned from peaceful to chaos. Read his first person account.