On Friday June 19, 2020 Hundreds of protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter occupied College Street and painted the words “Defund the Police” outside of the Toronto Police Services headquarters.
The organizer of the protest is “Not Another Black Life” that is affiliated with Black Lives Matter movement. The Facebook event posted by this group reads:
Abolish the Police Juneteenth Sit In
Friday, June 19, 2020 at 12 PM – 6 PM
College St, Toronto, ON M6G, Canada
Friday June 19th! ABOLISH THE POLICE JUNTEENTH SIT IN! From 12-6pm beginning at College & Bay ending at City Hall. We are occupying Bay st for a peaceful sit in and celebration of Freedom & Liberation, with demands to defund the Toronto police to abolishing the police! (Full demands will be posted soon) Please bring food and water, sunscreen & energy! We will be practicing social distancing so bring a mask & IF YOU’RE SICK, STAY HOME! Information is in the post above & we will be posting general call outs for volunteers to help social distancing protocol & PPE distribution! BE READY! No justice, No peace!
On June 19, 2020 Black Lives Matter – Toronto issued statements in support of “Abolish the Police” protest:
[A] – For. ALL. Black. Lives #DefundthePolice #DisarmThePolice #DismantleThePolice
Video: @joshuajamesmacdonald
https://www.facebook.com/blacklivesmatterTO/videos/407020113605977
[B] – Artivism in Process. #DefundThePolice
https://www.facebook.com/blacklivesmatterTO/videos/567956547228845
[C] In honour of Juneteenth and toward Black Liberation, BLM-TO is sharing a queerly beautiful liberation message in front of the ugliest part of College Street: Toronto Police Headquarters, releasing our 27-point demands to Defund, Disarm, Demiliterize, and DISMANTLE the police. #DefundThePolice #DisarmThePolice #DismantleThePolice
https://www.facebook.com/blacklivesmatterTO/photos/a.319994704862693/1381076835421136
The protesters chanted “No justice no peace, abolish the Police” and held signs that read:
- Free them all. Black and indigenous lives matter. Abolish prisons # Abolish Police # Abolish Canada
- Abolish the Police
- BLM [Black Lives Matter]
- Defund the Police
- Hot dykes for Police abolition
- If you are neutral in situation of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppression
- Defund Police now
- ACAB [All Cops are Bastards]
- Black genocide 1518-2020 Black Lives Matter
- Defund Police, Rebuild
- Free them all [all prisoners]
- Disarm, Defund, Abolish
- Defund, Abolish, Redistribute
- Canada has work to do. Defund Police
- Turn in your badge and gun. Defund, Abolish, Rebeluid
- No policing on stolen land
- [Police] irredeemable institution
- Racism kills Defund Police
- More dollars to communities, not Police
- Abolish the Police, the Police union, the Police state, Defund TPS [Toronto Police Service]
- Yes, we literally mean defund and abolish the Police
- [Imagine] a future without the Police
- Hot dykes for Police abolition
- Police = state approved violence
- Defund the Police. Black Lives Matter
A speaker at the protest said:
“Defunding the Police is the first step to abolition of its framework. Defunding is a process of eventually rendering Police [unintelligible] through restoring justice through funding communities and replacing the Police with community care while decolonizing the social services holistically. For context, Police were historically created as slave patrols, to uphold segregation, to control indigenous… to be weaponized by the government and protection of property. The Police are tools of the prison industrial complex with disproportionately represents indigenous and Black peoples. Up until this day the Police have committed hate crimes… We cannot simply reform. There is no accountability process for the Police, because they fundamentally protect themselves in a system that is not meant to serve us all. They are the only people in this country that are given a legal license to kill.”