G20 Rights Abuse: Sam, Rose and Ben are missing

Saturday night, I had dinner at my place with Kate Holloway and her son, Sam (a nice lasagna Kate had made). With Sam were his friends, Rose and Ben.

After eating, they announced they wanted to go downtown to observe the protests. *OBSERVE* not partake. The two men had bikes, but Rose didn't, so Kate lent her hers.

As they left, I reminded them to stay out of the way of police, and to split at the first signs of trouble. They were adamant that they wanted to observe, not protest.

A few hours later, Kate got a call: It was Sam saying that they were all about to be arrested at the Esplanade. He explained that they were just there observing, got cordoned off by police, and had no way out. Watch the video below to see what the police did.



At the same time, Steve Paikin started twittering alarming statuses about the same location. See Runesmith for a log of his alarming twitters from last night.

All day, many of us have been trying to get some news on their status. No news. No phone calls, no court appearance, nothing. Steve Paikin picked up the cause for a while, reporting on Twitter:

more fallout from last night:"My 19 yr old son, Sam and his girlfriend Rose were arrested.... > Esplanade last night. They weren't prot

"They are still being processed and I have not heard from them... > they called me last night to tell me that they were being arrested.


sam's mom is kate holloway, a liberal candidate in the 2007 ont election. ironic.

premier mcguinty's new law against assembly in certain places has caught the son of one of his candidates

What we have heard about the detention centre is that conditions and respect for our fundamental rights is not promising. Mike Barber, who was also arrested at the Esplanade, got out recently, and has tweeted some of his his experiences.

Hey everyone! I just got home after spending 18+ hours in the detention centre. Was arrested around 11pm at the anti-#G20 march.

#G20 detention centre guards kept hundreds of wet peaceful protesters in cold, cement air conditioned cells. #G20report  

#G20 detention centre guards refused to grant prisoners demand for a phone call and/or access to legal representation #G20report 

of dozens of fellow prisoners I was able to personally keep visual/verbal communication with, none were granted phone/lawyer #G20report

most of us charged with "unlawful breach of the peace" RT @Martin_K24: @apastdenied arrested for what? What kinda charges

1.) in last night's confrontation b/w cops and peacuful marcher in front of the Novotel Hotel, police phallanx surround and closed in +

2.) of everyone caught between the two phallanx (which offoer NO ESCAPE ROUTE... the police kept surging and grabbing, arresting EVERYONE +

3.) In my first cell (they moved us around) I had two mates that were just jogging in the area. Wrong place/time. Police didn't care.

Guards routinely ignored demands for water, food, blankets, bathroom visits, and demands to make a phone calls, contact their legal defense

Right now, the police have for hours kept a crowd of fellow Canadians 'kettled' at Queen and Spadina out in the rain. They can't go anywhere. This is what illegal detention looks like, folks. And if they'll do it in the open, you can only imagine what conditions they'll allow in private.


I'm hearing on CP24 that many are being released from the detention centre. 

Let's hope.


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Update:


Found! They've been released. Rose has shown up, and the others are on their way.