580CFRA
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
By Ted Raymond
It's been one month since the death of Abdirahman Abdi, and demonstrations are planned across Canada to protest the actions of the Ottawa Police before and after Abdi's death.
Black Lives Matter and related groups are organizing the demonstrations. Protests are being held in six cities Wednesday: Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. A social media activity day is planned for Vancouver.
In Ottawa, demonstrators will gather outside Police headquarters on Elgin Street at 7:00 p.m. The protest in Toronto is to be held outside the SIU's headquarters, and in Hamilton, outside the Attorney General's office. AG Yasir Naqvi has not said whether the Special Investigations Unit report into the incident will be made public once it's completed, a process that is expected to take several months.
Organizers say they want to hold police accountable for Abdi's death, and want the officers involved in his arrest, Constables Dave Weir and Daniel Montison, reprimanded. Police Chief Charles Bordeleau said in late July the two officers were not serving in a front line capacity.
Demonstrators also want the SIU report released to the public, and have called for an overhaul of the SIU.
Abdi, a 37-year-old Somali-Canadian man, was pronounced dead on Monday, July 25, following what witnesses describe as a violent arrest outside his home on Hilda Street, in Hintonburg, the day before. While the pronunciation of his death in hospital was made on the Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for his family says they were told he was dead for 45 minutes before arriving in hospital on Sunday. She says doctors attempted to revive Abdi before he was officially declared dead.
Police were initially called to a Bridgehead coffee shop on Wellington Street West on the morning of July 24, on reports of a disturbance. Witnesses there say a woman had been groped. There was a foot chase that ended on Hilda Street. Video recorded after the arrest shows Abdi lying handcuffed and unresponsive on the ground before paramedics arrived.
The SIU is investigating the case, as it does whenever police are involved in an incident in which someone is hurt, dies, or alleges sexual assault.
With files from Alison Sandor