Toronto's activist community, upset by police conduct during the G20 Summit, gathered Thursday afternoon at Queen's Park to demand a public inquiry to examine what happened.

"We're here ... calling for an independent review of the police buildup that led to the G20 security operations and the events that occurred over the past weekend," Shanaaz Gokol of Amnesty International's Toronto chapter told reporters.

The rally started at 5:30 p.m. and turned into a march as several hundred walked through parts of the downtown core.

Some counter-demonstrators also showed up to support police, with one man calling the civil-liberties protesters bleeding hearts.

The protest also led to the early closure of Canada Day festivities at Queen's Park, which miffed many families.

The marchers attempted to protest in front of Toronto Police headquarters on College Street, but officers blocked them from getting too close, The Canadian Press reported.

More than 1,000 people were arrested from June 18 until the two-day summit of 20 world leaders and their delegations ended on June 27.

However, only 263 were charged with anything more serious than breach of the peace.

Many are furious with Chief Bill Blair of the Toronto Police Service. They accuse him of lying about police being able to detain people who didn't consent to showing identification or being searched if they were within five metres of the outside of the G20 security fence.

That fence snaked around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and several other major buildings key to the summit.

Blair told CTV Toronto on Wednesday that he was telling people what he believed to be true.

However, by the afternoon of Friday, June 25, police lawyers had advised the chief that there were no such special powers under the Public Works Act, which had been quietly amended by the cabinet of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government.

Blair never publicly corrected the record until after the summit ended.

He said it's the G8/G20 Integrated Security Unit that was "managing this. It's their legislation."

Blair had called the weekend protesters "terrorists" and promised his service would carry out an internal review.

Some are also upset about a police crackdown on Sunday, June 27 -- a day after some anarchists when on a vandalism spree downtown, breaking windows at some businesses and torching three police cars.

There is also anger over conditions and delays at the temporary detention centre on Eastern Avenue. Some took to calling the facility "Torontonamo Bay," a play on Guantanamo Bay where the United States keeps suspected terrorists.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is among those calling for a public inquiry.

"There are serious concerns about whether fundamental rights and freedoms were respected over the weekend and in the lead-up to the G8/G20 summits in Ontario," she said in a news release.

"We need a clear and full explanation of what happened and why it happened."

For their part, the police are asking for the public's help to investigate crimes during the G20 event. They want people to upload photos or video that might help them identify suspects.

Those who had property taken by police should call 416-808-3750 from Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Police offered the following instructions:

  • any property marked as "return to owner" will be available for pickup
  • any property marked "prisoner's property from Eastern Avenue" will also be available for pickup
  • any seized property marked "investigation" or "held for evidence" will not be returned at this time

People are advised to bring two pieces of identification, one of which must be photo ID.