From Overseas Press

Despite Toronto mayhem, G20 protests dim

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-28 10:15

Burning police cars. Protesters emerging from sewers. Smashed windows, black-clad anarchists and tear gas: a global economic summit came to Toronto, bringing TV images of mayhem in its wake.

Despite the clashes and arrests, the anti-Group of 20 protests in Toronto this weekend were smaller and more peaceful than the giant riots of years past--a sign, say activists and analysts, of a changing dynamic between civil society groups and the world's economic leaders.

"We see protest as an important part of the mix, but it certainly isn't the only way we are mobilizing people," said Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada, noting Internet "e-activism" was an increasingly important force.

"These days, there is a much broader range of ways to reach out and communicate with people."

Anti-G20 groups made their presence felt in Toronto during the summit of rich and emerging economies, which followed a smaller meeting of Group of Eight industrial nations at a resort north of the city.

Canada spent about $1 billion on security and the protests were largely peaceful, drawing several thousand activists pressing an anti-poverty agenda and demanding action on labor and women's rights.

Violence was sporadic. Police arrested about 500 people, among them four who climbed through sewers to emerge near the locked summit site. Authorities also used tear gas on the public for the first time ever in Toronto to disperse violent protesters such as the masked anarchists who have become a regular feature at such global meetings.

While Toronto was unnerved and images of the violence were broadcast widely, the scuffles paled in comparison to huge demonstrations that marked earlier summits, including the "Battle of Seattle" at a World Trade Organization meeting in 1999 and the 2001 G8 meeting in Genoa, Italy, where one protester was shot to death.

"This isn't even a sideshow. This is a Sunday picnic with a few bad elements," said John Kirton, director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto. "Even in a Canadian context, this is no big deal."