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The following account was submitted to us by Drew Johnston. We reprint it here with her permission:
On Saturday night I was with my partner attempting to find an open subway station to get home. We were walking down Bloor St headed east, we saw two activists standing next to a van with several police officers standing next to them.As we walked by we noticed a police officer had a young male pinned to the back of the van by an officer. We stood back and watched as the cops dumped the bags onto the ground. We waited until the four activists were released, and offered our cell phone to allow them to call legal services.We walked not ten feet, as they called legal services, another van of cops stopped and separated each one of us.The officer asked to search me. I said I did not consent to a search. I was not carrying any type of bag. He told me to unzip my sweater. He began standing in front of me patting from my stomach up to my breasts. He patted and squeezed my breasts. Went behind me, patted my back and then reached around to touch my breasts from behind me. The officers allowed us to leave.We did not get another block without being stopped by police and illegally searched again. The officer demanded my partner hand over his back pack. When he said that he did not consent to a search, the officer replied " I didn't fucking ASK to search you," and tore the backpack off his back.The officer set the bag on the ground, began tearing through it. Inside we had a plastic Ziploc bag containing four bandanna's soaked in apple cider vinegar in case of tear gas. The officer began screaming, asking who's bag it was. When my partner identified himself as the bags owner, the cop screamed ""BLACK BLOC?"".My partner and myself said "NO". The officer grabbed my partner, punching him in the head. Throwing him to the ground, smashing his face off the pavement. The officer put handcuffs on him, and pulled him off to the side so we could not see.An officer looked through my wallet that was in the backpack. Handed it to me andtold me and the others to leave. I said I would not leave. The cop told me that I had to leave or I would be arrested. I walked away to find someone with a cell phone.I called the legal line, and my partner was released 15 minutes later.