Dress Rehearsal for a Police State: Fifteen Years Ago at the Toronto G20 – Paul Jay

In this introduction, journalist Paul Jay reports on several cases where police provocateurs incited violence during otherwise peaceful demonstrations—providing authorities with the pretext they needed to justify mass arrests and repression. As federal troops crackdown on peaceful protests in Los Angeles, we revisit the Toronto G20—15 years ago—when police beat peaceful demonstrators, arrested over 1,100 people, and suspended civil liberties under the pretext of security. Journalist Paul Jay connects what happened in 2010 to what’s happening now: the criminalization of dissent, from the mass raids on pro-Palestinian activists in Toronto to the militarized repression unfolding in U.S. cities today. This video includes a newly recorded introduction and the original 2012 report: “No Accountability Yet for Toronto G20 Police Crimes.” What happened in Toronto wasn’t an exception—it was a warning.