Toronto Police Chief Mark Sanders kneeled alongside protestors during an anti-racism rally in the city's downtown on Friday afternoon. The Post Millennial is live on the scene.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people were in attendance at the protests which started at Yonge and Bloor Streets, but stopped at College Street where Saunders met the crowd. At least one officer kneeled beside him.
Many other officers were present at the march to ensure that it remained peaceful.
Saunders tweeted a photo of the incident writing, “We see you and we are listening. The Toronto Police fully supports peaceful and safe protests this weekend and always. We have to all stay in this together to make change.”
The organizers of the event are unknown at this time though they are not believed to be linked to Black Lives Matter TO or Not Another Black Life.
The rally ran down Young Street to Nathan Phillips Square where protestors took another knee at City Hall.
The demonstration came after days of US protests following the death of George Floyd as well as Regis Korchinski-Paquet who died on May 27.
There have reports that more protests planned to take place this weekend, though it still is not clear who they are being organized by.
Saunders was asked if it would be safe for protestors to make it out this weekend and said, “As always, there may be a percentage of those that might be here for other agendas and we ask that everyone cooperates. If you see people like that, please record it, send it to us and we will deal with it when the time comes.”
Over the weekend, the Eaton Centre closed as more protests began. Several businesses on Yonge Street have already made an effort to board up their windows.
Saunders has said multiple times that the police have not advised the businesses to do so.
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