Anarchy at Rye: February 15, 1995

By Tom Gierasimczuk

Firebombs were confiscated and protesters arrested at last month’s Ryerson student strike, RSU members who helped organize the event say.

“There were bomb threats made prior to the strike,” Paul Felstein, RSU chair of the board, told the Board of Directors last week. “Ryerson’s president’s office got a call from police at 10 a.m. the day of the strike alerting us of the threat,” he said. According to Felstein, a group called the “Anarchist Society” claimed responsibility for the scare. Apparently police apprehended the bombers who walked towards Ryerson with U of T protestors.

Det. Bill Blair—head of police at the protest—said he knew “nothing about any bomb threat” but Ryerson protest organizers were alerted because of potential “rock throwing and store damage” planned by protesters.

“The warning was issued because we were trying to discourage a small group of students to use the protest for their own means,” he said. Blair said he doesn’t know the group’s identity and said the threat came from “certain people affiliated with a number of different groups.” Another officer at 52 division confirmed two protesters were arrested but wouldn’t disclose the charges.

RSU president Mike D’Angelo said the situation was more serious than the threat of vandalism. Police received a tip from an informant within the “anarchy” group early on Jan. 25. “An insider called the cops and they immediately called Ryerson,” he said.

D’Angelo said the next couple of hours were stressful as police stepped up security and an “anti-terrorist team” was called on campus. “I knew there was definitely something wrong when I saw 15 to 20 cops patrolling a corner that had 2 cops an hour earlier,” he said. “As soon as police were notified about the threat, undercover detectives walked with the U of T crowd.”

Ryerson president Terry Grier praised Ryerson’s emergency plan. “It worked very well,” he said. “It was my understanding that among the thousands of students, there were a few bombs. There was no incident on campus and eventually, people were arrested.”