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TORONTO — More than 1,000 people detained during the chaotic G20 summit almost six years ago won the right Wednesday to go the class-action route in lawsuits against police and others.

In approving the class-action process, Ontario’s top court said various reports on the events to date had made only non-binding recommendations.

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“The remedies sought by the plaintiffs, which include a declaration that class members’ charter rights have been violated and an award of damages, would be stronger instruments of behaviour modification,” the Court of Appeal said in its decision.

The G20 summit over a weekend in June 2010 — marred by vandalism from several dozen protesters — saw more than 1,000 people arrested or detained in what was later described as one of the worst violations of civil liberties in Canadian history. Many were kept in appalling conditions at a makeshift detention centre. Almost all were released without charge within 24 hours.