Toronto prepares to host G20 Summit

People walk next to a 12-foot-tall metal fence surrounding the area in downtown which hosted the G20 summit on June 24, 2010 in Toronto, Canada. Security was high two days before the start of the international summit after Toronto police arrested a man and impounded his car after discovering containers used for holding gasoline, a crossbow and arrows, a chainsaw, a baseball bat, a sledgehammer, a hatchet and other tools inside the vehicle.

During the Summit, more than 1100 people were interned for the weekend as a result of Regulation 233/10, which was created under the existing Public Works Protection Act. This regulation designated the city’s downtown as a public work thereby giving police the authority to request identification and search an individual without a warrant, if they tried to enter the area, or risk arrest. However, the way in which this regulation was enforced resulted in the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. The majority of those arrested were released without being charged.