Toronto - Toronto Community Mobilization Network (TCMN) headquarters was locked down by police today at 4:30pm when over 50 police officers and 6 police vans blocked all building and street access and arrested several members for "breach of the peace". 

According to a TCMN member who was called during the lockdown, police had rounded up a number of people congregating outside of the space and detained them for three hours, threatening them repeatedly with extreme violence and arrest.  The protesters were shuttled to the sidewalk and then asked for their ID and questioned.  A number of the protesters were let go while a number were arrested and removed.

Earlier on in the day, 4 police managed to enter the TCMN headquarters asking for information on their lease.  The Alternative Media Centre was also approached by police today and asked for their lease information.

During the police lockdown, a large crowd formed on Queen St. near the police line.  The crowd, made up mostly of residents from Parkdale, a strong-knit community in Toronto, demanded the police stop the lockdown.

Tim, a Parkdale resident, said that police had lowered his feeling of security.  "I feel a lot less safe.  I live in this neigbourhood.  I live down the street and I feel safe walkign these streets everyday, but I do not feel safe walking these streets right now.  Because [the police] don't care whether I've done anything wrong or not.  All they care about is whether I say something they disagree with and if so, they will haul my ass in jail."

Various other accusations were made including: "where’s your name tag? put your name tags back on", “Get out of our neighborhood!  Get outta Parkdale!” and “We feel real safe with your guns pointed at us!”

Earlier at 4pm, a mass of protesters, estimated at between 200-1000 people, had converged and began marching towards the TCMN headquarters to show support for the Network.  The march, which began as a vigil and was joined by a bike protest, became boxed in at Queen St. and Spadina Av. 

According to an observer who e-mailed the Altenative Media Centre, "The group was completely surrounded and were slowly arrested.  It started raining at 7:00pm.  At this point people inside the intersection appeared to be arrested and held within the intersection. The arresties were not removed from the rain and loaded into vans until 8:00pm."

According to a AMC journalist embedded in the protest, several bystanders who had accientally got caught up in the march had medical issues but were only released after 1-3 hours then being left to fend for themselves.    One man had kidney issues and was hypothermic while another had type II diabetes. At the same time, police sat in transit buses that were hurridly brought in to keep them dry.

Meanwhile back at the TCMN headquarters, a police officer was overhead saying Cheri Di Novo, MPP for the area stated, “This is outrageous. I would like to know what provoked a raid on such a place, when its supposed to be a safe place for out of town, or even in town demonstrators. The police are not given this job to do out of their own consciousness.  They are given orders, they are acting under orders.  To me it’s the people who give the orders, and it’s the political leadership that needs to be held accountable."

“Part of the problem is getting the message out through the media,” she said.

 With files from Brett Story, Garson Hunter, Pete Aleksa