The man arrested yesterday for 'assaulting' a police officer will not be released tonight, according to protesters.
Roughly 30 people had gathered at the makeshift detention centre to support the man, who is deaf, after he was detained at the centre on Eastern Av.
Multiple sources state the man was being directed by police while peacefully protesting. Due to being deaf he could not hear the officers and kept marching. Video footage shows him being tackled to the ground by several police officers immediately after.
A journalist with the Alternative Media Centre, trying to video the arrest, was punched in the face twice by police.
Protesters stayed at the detention centre until being informed by the man's lawyers that he would not be released for the evening. The accused will be in court tomorrow morning at Finch avenue, 40 minutes by car from downtown Toronto. The crown prosecutor for the case will be Vincent Paris, the same prosecutor who prosecuted the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty in 2000.
As the protesters left the detention centre, they were followed by a line fo police officers. At 3:00am, the officers encountered a small scuffle between four men on Queen st. in the East end of the city. 13 police officers surrounded the men and no charges were laid. One man was held by police for fighting and then released as one officcer put it for "being good." Two women who were with the men accused police of "instigating the whole thing".
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