Brutality Canada Police Brutality O Canada

Somali youth targeted by police for OCAP participation

Meeting will protest racist attacks on Somali community
Mon, 26 Mar 2001

Somali youth in the Dixon and Kipling area need your support in their resistance to police racism.

On Saturday, March 24, three teenagers in the neighbourhood were confronted by seven police cars, held for four hours in the cruisers, subjected to racist insults, and warned not to associate with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). At one point a police revolver was drawn against the unarmed youths.

This incident is just one in an ongoing campaign of police harassment against the Somali community, one in which youth have been particularly targeted. Saturday's incident took place when the teenagers were on their way to a community meeting organized by OCAP. The anti-poverty group has been working with local activists in a series of campaigns related to space for youth, as the Dixon and Kipling neighbourhood is the only one in Toronto without a community centre.

Undeterred by the police harassment, one of the youth organizers will speak at OCAP's Toronto meeting this Tuesday, March 27 at 7 PM at the 519 Church St. Community Centre.

Plans for future community actions will be announced there.

The Tuesday evening forum will also feature Mohawk activist Stewart Myo and speakers from the CAW flying squads, CUPE 3903, and the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty.

Please come out to discuss plans for anti-Harris actions next fall - and to lend your support to the Somali community's crucial struggle against police racism.

For more information contact OCAP at 416-925-6939, or email ocap@tao.ca.

Send your comments and stories of police brutality to: ruitsdawtah@Hotmail.com