Bharari

I was driving south on Yonge Street towards CNE, when I heard reports on 680 News about the “Black Bloc” protesters smashing shop windows on Yonge Street…

As I reached the College-Yonge intersection, I realized that it was too risky to drive further

I parked my car on a side street and took to the street taking pictures as Toronto’s history was unfolding in front of my eyes

Most of the destruction on Yonge Street was smashed shop windows, but I had heard reports of torched police cruisers (cars) in other parts of Toronto

A crowd had started to gather around this man…

… this man was (mostly) shouting nonsense about “immigration officers violating his human rights”

I’m not sure what the bottom sign is all about…

Levi was lucky to only suffer a cracked window

The media were having a field day from their otherwise mundane jobs!

I can’t say I was sorry to see this happen to a Bell store… the pain that they inflict on their customers in the form of price gouging and anti-competitive behaviour is far worse than this.

Poor Tim Horton’s…

That’s the front door of Starbucks!

That’s a chair from Tim Horton’s smashed into Starbucks’ window!

Starbucks Coffee

Frappuccino anyone?

“Toronto’s the desert, democracy is the mirage”

I agree… the fencing erected along the “security perimeter” was akin to what one would see at a maximum security prison!

This is Yonge Street

I guess they won’t be exchanging any money today!

This sort of stuff could be seen all along Yonge Street

Looking down Yonge Street

That must have been strong glass… in spite of repeated attacks, it did not break.

CIBC bank on College Street

CIBC’s smashed ATM machine

I decided to walk along College Street towards Queen’s Park and saw riot police all geared up

This is near the College-Queen’s Park intersection

G-20 Police cordoning off access to beyond Queen’s Park

Over a billion dollars were spent on policing and security for that one weekend, but the police still could not prevent the destruction that happened that day

Intimidating but still not effective in preventing the chaos

While the police were in formation here, over in the Financial District some of their cars were being torched

Police all prepared to fire tear gas… but at whom? There weren’t any protesters here!

I bet these guys were sweating profusely in the summer heat!

That’s my reflection in CIBC’s broken window

Overall, this picture symbolizes the destruction that happened on Yonge Street on that fateful G-20 Saturday night in Toronto.