BREAKING: Protestors paint 'Defund the Police' outside downtown Toronto police headquarters, shut down traffic

Protestors in Toronto have painted “defund the police” outside of police headquarters on College Street downtown.

The Post Millennial is currently live at the event.

The message was laid out in pink paint on Friday morning and each letter takes up almost the width of the street.

Protestors at the location were heard chanting to defund police.

The city has closed College Street from Bay Street to Yonge Street for the protest.

This follows anti-racism protests throughout North America and Europe after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25.

The protest also marks the Juneteenth holiday, celebrating the end of slavery for the United States. The holiday stems from the year 1865 in Texas when slaves became free about a year-and-a-half after the Emancipation Proclamation.

After protests began to emerge in the US, so did calls to defund police. Some activists are looking to completely get rid of the current policing model and others are calling for portions of police funding to be redistributed to areas like social programs and mental health services.

A number of protests have occurred in the GTA in recent weeks and almost all of them have been peaceful.

A notable moment occurred when Police Chief Mark Saunders took a knee during one of the earlier protests. He then announced his retirement shortly afterwards.

The annual police budget in Toronto is about $1 billion and is often the city’s largest line item in the overall budget.