Editors Note: On Saturday, June 26 at the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada, video journalist Jesse Freeston of The Real News Network was assaulted by police while filming peaceful protests outside the meeting. Freeston donned press credentials and was documenting police aggression on protesters when he was then grabbed by police and punched in the face. His experience was well documented and appears in the video, below. In a press conference, Toronto Police Chief William Blair said that the aggressive police action was a response to a group of anarchists using destructive tactics. The anarchists were separate from the largely peaceful protest and smashed the windows of banks and burned police cars. However, Freeston states that the anarchist actions were nowhere in the vicinity of the protesters who were assaulted when he was documenting the situation. More than 400 people were arrested. Freeston ends his report on the situation below by saying that the police attack on the media is an attack on democracy. – s.g.
Thank you for reading Truthout. One brief but important thing before you go.
For over 20 years, Truthout has been publishing boldly honest journalism like the piece above – stories about and by grassroots activists, reports from the frontlines of social movements, and unapologetic critiques of the systemic forces that shape all of our lives.
Monied interests prevent other publications from confronting the worst injustices in our world. But Truthout remains a haven for transformative journalism in pursuit of justice.
We simply cannot do this without support from our readers. At this time, we’re appealing to add 50 monthly donors in the next 2 days. If you can, please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly gift today.