Advocates gathered in downtown Toronto to demand city action against alleged harassment of unhoused people at Union Station. The Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union (TUHU) protested alleged violence by special constables, private security agents, and Toronto police ahead of the FIFA World Cup. TUHU reported interviewing 45 unhoused people over six weeks and said about 90 per cent reported witnessing or experiencing security violence. Allegations included physical and verbal assaults, forced removals from public spaces and washrooms, and intimidation. Respondents described being kicked out in the rain and taunted, and being dragged from a station bathroom while injured. TUHU said enforcement increasingly targets people for being visibly poor or homeless, and called attention to displacement and intimidation.
"Advocates rallied in a downtown Toronto park on Tuesday to demand that the city take action to stop what they say is harassment of unhoused people at Union Station. Members of a group known as the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union (TUHU) gathered in Berczy Park to protest alleged violence against marginalized people in the station by special constables, private security agents and Toronto police ahead of the FIFA World Cup."
"In a news release, the group says it interviewed 45 unhoused people at Union Station in the last six weeks, asking if they had noticed an escalation in security. It says roughly 90 per cent of respondents reported either witnessing or experiencing security violence first hand. Instances of alleged violence include physical and verbal assaults by security and police, and forced removals of people from public spaces and washrooms, the group says."
"One respondent says they were kicked out of the station in the rain and taunted. Another says they were dragged out of a station bathroom with their pants down, sustaining injuries that make it painful to walk. The group says the survey revealed a trend of people feeling increasingly targeted by enforcement for being visibly poor or homeless."
"“There's this mentality right now of cleaning up the streets, right? It's FIFA and we want to look a certain way,” Rev. Angie Hocking, TUHU said. “It's all in the name of safety. But whose safety matters right now? Because clearly it's actually caus”"
#unhoused-people #union-station #police-and-security-violence #toronto-homelessness-advocacy #fifa-world-cup
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