BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)
Noaman Ali
On the night of July 23, 2010, Farshad Azadian, an organizer with the Esplanade Community Group, was arrested on charges of obstruction of a police officer.
In fact, Farshad was simply observing police rounding up on a friend and fellow activist near the site of a shooting that had occurred that night. But just because there may have been a crime in the neighbourhood “doesn’t mean that every youth ought to lose their civil rights,” said Farshad.
According to him, police in the neighbourhood know well that there is a group of “activist kids” moving on issues affecting the community. “It’s true that there are problems in the community, but when people in the community rise up to tackle these issues, those in power try to block them, including through the police,” Farshad told BASICS. Previously the police attempted to stop the Esplanade Community Group from booking space in a community centre, until community pressure reversed this block . Read more…
On July 23rd, 2010, gunshots echoed through the corner of Esplanade and Sherbourne. Though severely injured, the victim will survive his
In the years past, our community has lost many of its beloved members. One common denominator has been gun violence,
and unfortunately the majority of the victims have been our youth. Read more…
