WHERE: Nathan Phillips Square WHEN: January 17, around 7 p.m. WHAT: During Tuesday night’s budget deliberations, a crowd of people gathered outside the doors of City Hall to protest budget cuts—some of the same cuts that were ultimately reversed by council. What began as a peaceful demonstration eventually escalated into a clash with police, whom [...]

WHERE: Yonge and Dundas WHEN: Saturday, 3:24 p.m. WHAT: “We have to say enough is enough in Congo.” Drumming, chanting, and dancing protesters shut down Yonge and Dundas at 3 p.m. today. At press time the group of about 200 protesters was south on Yonge with a large police escort including bike and mounted officers. [...]

Budget Deputations: Day One 8:47 PM: Last speaker of the evening: Hamish Wilson. Opening line: “Cars are subsidized.” Frank Di Giorgio: drivers just saw an 8% hike in gas prices. Aren’t they paying enough? And with that, deputations for budget 2012 are done. Thanks for following along! We’ll be back for some preliminary votes tomorrow. [...]

WHERE: University Avenue, starting outside the U.S. Consulate and proceeding north to Queen’s Park WHEN: 2–3 p.m. today WHAT: Outraged over the ongoing state of crisis, and in anticipation of election results expected later tonight, approximately 150 protesters marched today to ask for international assistance for the Congo. They began at Queen’s Park, marched down [...]

Dave Vasey is what one might call a seasoned protester; he was arrested twice during the G20 protests (“I was the G20 fence guy,” he explains with a low chuckle), and had been camping at the Occupy Toronto protest site at St. James Park from the camp’s mid-October setup until last week’s eviction. While the [...]

Despite fears that police would move aggressively against the Occupy Toronto camp in St. James Park, today’s early morning move by officers to begin clearing out the tents has been markedly slow, measured, and calm. “The most polite assertion of fascism I’ve ever seen,” cracked one protester—and indeed officers have been saying “please” a lot [...]

5:03 PM: City statement about today’s events, issued at 4:45 p.m.: Just before 7 this morning, City staff entered St. James Park supported by the Toronto Police Service, who asked that protesters cooperate peacefully and remove all tents and structures. They were also asked to refrain from gathering in the park overnight from 12:01 a.m. [...]

Yesterday was full of fraught moments for Occupy Toronto, beginning at 9 a.m. when Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown released his decision on the camp, finding that the City of Toronto could proceed with removing the camp if it chose. The mayor gave a press conference, as did church officials, and bylaw officers paid [...]

“The Occupiers are the immediate menace, never mind what they denounce. Not only should they be obliged to dismantle the tents, yurts, barbecues and portable bathrooms they’ve set up in a Toronto park, and leave between the hours of midnight and 5:30, as ordered by a judge—they should be told to get out altogether.” —But [...]

In a decision delivered a few minutes ago, Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown has ruled that the eviction notice the City of Toronto issued last week is valid, and will stand. In other words: the City is within its rights to enforce the eviction, and if they do so Occupy Toronto must leave the [...]

WHERE: St. James Park, Nathan Phillips Square, and points in between WHEN: Saturday, 2–5 p.m. WHAT: After a roller-coaster week in which Occupy Toronto received an eviction notice, then a temporary injunction to halt that eviction, and finally went to court to fight for a permanent stay of that eviction, approximately 1,500 protesters rallied to [...]