"People are calling them protesters. That is not fair to the people who came to protest," he said.
More than 10,000 people took to the streets of Toronto as part of a massive anti-G20 protest. The protesters smashed shop windows in the city's downtown core.
The mayor told media on Thursday that he was confident the Toronto G20 summit would be a "safe" one. Canada has spent more than 1.2 billion Canadian dollars (1.15 billion U. S. dollars) on security for the summit.
However, what what happened on Saturday seems to have left some doubt over the security of the summit.
The G20 security zone was put under lockdown, so were several other locations including the Eaton Center shopping mall, Sick Kids Hospital and Toronto General Hospital.
The shopping mall of Eaton Center is only two blocks away from the intersection of Bay and Adelaide, where the protest turned into a riot.
There were at least three Starbucks smashed and every single window of a major bank was poked a hole.
Related:
Thousands protest against G20 summit in Toronto
TORONTO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A small group of criminals are to blame for the violence that happened Saturday before leaders of the G20 countries meet to discuss global economic recovery, said Toronto Mayor David Miller. Full story
