***MEDIA RELEASE***
January 27, 2025
Meet the Orange Hats!
Legal Observers Trained to Observe and Document Police Behavior in Movement Spaces and Actions
MEDIA CONTACT:
orangehats [@] fastmail.com
Toronto, ON – The Orange Hats are legal observers trained to observe and document police behaviour in movement spaces and actions. Originally organized as part of the Movement Defense Committee and now operating independently, Orange Hat LOs observed and documented dozens of cases of police violence and other forms of abuse against activists and protesters in 2024 alone.
The name was chosen because it is already closely associated with the group in activist circles: bright orange hats are typically how participants identify them when they need legal support.
While people volunteer with the Orange Hats for various reasons, organizers request their presence at actions for one prime reason: Knowing there is legal support in case police get confrontational helps make activists feel more comfortable when taking to the streets.
“We have years of feedback from organizers telling us that protest support infrastructure allows them to concentrate more on the issues and messaging behind the protest, while knowing there are dedicated eyes on police and their interactions with attendees. Basically, we help organizers focus more on the why — and less on the how,” says Gisela McKay, a representative of the Orange Hats.
Legal Observers are there to watch and document police activity; the new group allows them to discuss their findings publicly and to be a voice for accountability. For instance, it is widely underestimated just how often police cause injuries to protestors and people doing community defence.
We all remember the photos from the summer of 2021: phalanx after phalanx of militarized police beating people with batons for trying to stop a houseless encampment from being razed to the ground. Police tactics may have changed somewhat, but injuries are still being racked up.
Across a variety of protests in 2024, police violence caused at least 31 concussions, deliberately caused at least one meniscal tear (with a second likely being accidental), intentionally gouged one person’s eye, and broke another activist’s rib. Police have wrenched and dislocated numerous shoulders, bruised several orbital bones, fractured one person’s foot bones, sprained several ankles, broken a couple of noses, and caused many soft tissue injuries.
Additionally, police have:
– Stolen people’s walking canes, broken people’s glasses, and intentionally stepped on someone’s hearing aid. Those are accessibility devices which are essential for people’s independence, safety, and quality of life.
– Pulled hijabs off women.
– Torn and yanked items of clothing off individuals, leaving them exposed.
– Refused to provide access to clean water to people in the holding cells.
– Refused to retrieve an arrestee’s inhaler during an asthma attack.
– Used the knee on neck move made famous in the George Floyd case.
Documenting this behaviour is important, but more importantly, we need to talk and raise awareness about it.
That conversation starts now.
If you are interested in learning more about the Orange Hats or Legal Observers in general; upcoming training sessions; or in having legal support at an upcoming action, visit the website at https://orangehats.noblogs.org or email orangehats@fastmail.com