For anyone who was not already thinking of the G20 on the eve of the Occupy Toronto protests, Justin Beach reminded them earlier this week.

Beach is not involved in Occupy Toronto, nor was he a protester during the G20, but he was upset by police actions during the June 2010 summit.

“In a way the police response made me into an activist,” he said Thursday. “I think people are going to be watching their every move.”

The legacy of the G20 still looms large over this city’s police force — which arrested 1,118 people during the weekend — and it will be on the minds of both police and protesters on Saturday when Toronto joins the global “Occupy” protests against social and economic inequality.

“I think (the police) are going to be very careful here,” said Lesley Wood, associate professor at York University who studies social movements and protest policing. “They don’t want to see another G20, either.”

Toronto police say they have a plan in place to deal with Saturday’s protests, but refused to divulge any information.

“Our focus is to facilitate a peaceful protest,” said police spokeswoman Const. Wendy Drummond.

Since the G20, Toronto police have admitted some mistakes and lessons learned: for one, they have said they will never “kettle” protesters — contain them on all sides without giving people a chance to get out — the way they did so dramatically in the pouring rain at Queen St. and Spadina Ave.

Police Chief Bill Blair also acknowledged in his review of G20 policing that sometimes the presence of riot police causes unnecessary confrontations with protesters.

“Premature displays of real or implied force can lead to negative crowd reactions that may escalate a situation,” his report says.

Wood said she expects more “soft-hat” policing of the Occupy protests, rather than the “hard-hat” riot cops that were so ubiquitous during the G20.

“That has been Blair’s approach up until the G20.”

At Occupy Toronto’s second general meeting on Thursday evening, the 200 people who met near Bloor and St. George Sts. agreed the demonstrations should be non-violent.

Kevin Konyuu, who led some of the discussions, said he had no problem with police attending the protests, but he hoped they would not try to intimidate the protesters.

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“We’re not against them as a point. The movement’s larger than that.”

With files from Jayme Poisson