G20 'kettling' commander among 45 officers to be charged

Misconduct charges are expected against 45 Toronto police officers involved in the G20 summit two years ago, including five senior officers, one of them the commander who gave the notorious order to "kettle" protesters.

The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests began one week ahead of the summit of the leaders of the G-20 on 26-27 June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The protests were for various causes, including poverty and capitalism.

A copy of an investigative report by the provincial watchdog agency, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, was provided to CBC News by one of the 37 people who filed complaints about their treatment during the kettling incident.

The report says some of the responsibility for detaining several hundred people for four hours in the rain goes all the way to the top, to Toronto police Chief Bill Blair and Deputy Chief Tony Warr, though it falls short of mandating charges against them.


But the report says operational responsibility lies with Supt. Mark Fenton, one of two Toronto officers who served as "incident commanders" during the G20 and had control of officers in streets. He is expected to face two charges: discreditable conduct and unlawful use of authority.

Fenton's order to keep the group of protesters, bystanders and even some journalists boxed in at Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue "in a severe rain storm that included thunder and lightning was unreasonable, unnecessary and unlawful," according to the document. It violated the detainees' constitutional right against arbitrary detention and was negligent, the 276-page report says.
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