Washington: The Toronto police have been sued by group of protestors for USD 1.4 million over ‘massive injustice’ allegations, including the charge that they profiled anyone wearing black and ‘women with hairy legs’.
In a 44-page statement, the group of seven protestors, who were arrested at a G20 summit in 2010, accused the Toronto police of wrongful arrest, illegal detention and for profiling people with black clothing or backpacks, as well as women with hairy legs.
The group from Hamilton, Ontario (USA), in a press conference, claimed that on June 27, 2010, they were arrested without reason, confined in a detention centre for longer than a day and were sexually assaulted. One of the members among the plaintiffs, Alicia Ridge, said that she was sexually abused during a strip search from male officers, despite the presence of female officers.
"It was a fairly pathetic rendition of a search, in that it was just a quick run of a hand up the leg followed by a swift ass grab. And there were lots of sexualised comments that went along with it,” the New York Daily News quoted Ridge, as saying. Ridge claimed that the sexualised statements extended from ‘lascivious to homophobic’, and an officer also yelled at her to shave her legs.
Ontario Independent Police Review director confirmed that a constable involved said that he associated hairy-legged women with G20 protestors, the report said. The group was subsequently released by the police without any charges, it added.
ANI