1,000 Protest in Toronto Against Police Crackdown During G20

[P F Tinmore]

In news from Canada, more than 1,000 people rallied outside police headquarters in Toronto on Monday to protest the police department’s brutal crackdown during the G20 summit. It is now estimated that 900 people, including many journalists, were arrested over the weekend. Video has been posted on the web showing Toronto police dressed in riot gear beating peaceful protesters as they sang the Canadian national anthem.

Democracy Now! | Headlines for June 29, 2010

 

[chanel]

Why aren't they protesting the anarchists who did millions of dollars of damage? If it weren't for them, the riot police wouldn't have been there. Sometimes cops over react when fire bombs are being thrown at them.

I just pray that no G20s are ever planned for my state.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Why aren't they protesting the anarchists who did millions of dollars of damage? If it weren't for them, the riot police wouldn't have been there. Sometimes cops over react when fire bombs are being thrown at them.

I just pray that no G20s are ever planned for my state.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqiba2m4mbw]YouTube - Police Provocateurs G20??[/ame]

 

[martybegan]

So you are saying there is no such thing as black bloc protestors. That the burned police cars etc. are the result of a sting job by the police.

If the only protests occuring were peaceful, and did not try to get into restricted areas the police would have no issue with them. The protestors would stand there and do their thing, the police would stand in thier line sweating in thier riot gear and everything would be peachy.

When your movement attracts destructive idiots you have to assume the authorities will respond to keep order. This is otherwise know as get the fuck away from the morons in masks throwing rocks and firebombs.

 

[P F Tinmore]

So you are saying there is no such thing as black bloc protestors. That the burned police cars etc. are the result of a sting job by the police.

If the only protests occuring were peaceful, and did not try to get into restricted areas the police would have no issue with them. The protestors would stand there and do their thing, the police would stand in thier line sweating in thier riot gear and everything would be peachy.

When your movement attracts destructive idiots you have to assume the authorities will respond to keep order. This is otherwise know as get the fuck away from the morons in masks throwing rocks and firebombs.

I am not saying that there are not protesters that will create problems but you will see provocateurs at most protests.

You can't automatically blame the protesters because frequently that is not the case.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

This guy who works at the University newspaper I write off-and-on for was in Toronto covering the G20, this is what happened to him:

Davis said police accused him of being a member of the "Black Bloc" - the black clad groups accused of burning police cars and damaging property during Saturday's protests - because he was carrying a camera and had a bandanna around his neck. He immediately pointed to the media badge around his neck, but the officers continued their search.

"They kicked my legs apart, pushed me into a wall, and hit me in the crotch. They searched me far more aggressively than they needed to, while swearing at me repeatedly," Davis said. "Out of that crowd of people I can't imagine what would have made me the one that they targeted - out of 8 or 10 people, they grabbed me." [...]

"I've never been afraid of the police at all of the protests I've covered, including ones that have turned violent, because I've always thought that their movements were rational and predictable. I thought that if you stayed away from the people who were acting violently, you could stay away from the police. I'm really scared to be working as a journalist [during the G 20] because I feel like anyone could be arrested at anytime," Davis said.

 

[chanel]

He's more afraid of being arrested than fire bombed? What an ass. Hey kid -reporters in war zones can get killed. And sometimes they are even hassled.

 

[uscitizen]

I have not seen any reason that the subject matter in this thread should concern me.

 

[B. Kidd]

Why aren't they protesting the anarchists who did millions of dollars of damage? If it weren't for them, the riot police wouldn't have been there. Sometimes cops over react when fire bombs are being thrown at them.

I just pray that no G20s are ever planned for my state.

Those who protested a mix of anarchists and union-ists.
In the future, they need to hold these kinds of summits on military bases.

 

[martybegan]

So you are saying there is no such thing as black bloc protestors. That the burned police cars etc. are the result of a sting job by the police.

If the only protests occuring were peaceful, and did not try to get into restricted areas the police would have no issue with them. The protestors would stand there and do their thing, the police would stand in thier line sweating in thier riot gear and everything would be peachy.

When your movement attracts destructive idiots you have to assume the authorities will respond to keep order. This is otherwise know as get the fuck away from the morons in masks throwing rocks and firebombs.

I am not saying that there are not protesters that will create problems but you will see provocateurs at most protests.

You can't automatically blame the protesters because frequently that is not the case.

Bullshit. The provocation thing is one of the biggest cop-outs you can hear. Every event cannot be the police secretly trying to give protesters a bad name. There are plenty of anarchist assholes around to make it 100% plausible that the violence was caused by true beleivers in whatever lefty anarcho BS is the flavor of the month.

 

[martybegan]

This guy who works at the University newspaper I write off-and-on for was in Toronto covering the G20, this is what happened to him:

Davis said police accused him of being a member of the "Black Bloc" - the black clad groups accused of burning police cars and damaging property during Saturday's protests - because he was carrying a camera and had a bandanna around his neck. He immediately pointed to the media badge around his neck, but the officers continued their search.

"They kicked my legs apart, pushed me into a wall, and hit me in the crotch. They searched me far more aggressively than they needed to, while swearing at me repeatedly," Davis said. "Out of that crowd of people I can't imagine what would have made me the one that they targeted - out of 8 or 10 people, they grabbed me." [...]

"I've never been afraid of the police at all of the protests I've covered, including ones that have turned violent, because I've always thought that their movements were rational and predictable. I thought that if you stayed away from the people who were acting violently, you could stay away from the police. I'm really scared to be working as a journalist [during the G 20] because I feel like anyone could be arrested at anytime," Davis said.

Tell your friend to grow some balls. Civil rights protestors in the south had hoses and dogs sicced on em. They went to jail willingly because they knew the arrests would shame the people in power into changing the status quo. Today's protesters are shameful imitations of these people.

And if getting patted down and cursed at is too much for your journalist friend tell him covering quilting conferences may be more up his alley.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

This guy who works at the University newspaper I write off-and-on for was in Toronto covering the G20, this is what happened to him:

Davis said police accused him of being a member of the "Black Bloc" - the black clad groups accused of burning police cars and damaging property during Saturday's protests - because he was carrying a camera and had a bandanna around his neck. He immediately pointed to the media badge around his neck, but the officers continued their search.

"They kicked my legs apart, pushed me into a wall, and hit me in the crotch. They searched me far more aggressively than they needed to, while swearing at me repeatedly," Davis said. "Out of that crowd of people I can't imagine what would have made me the one that they targeted - out of 8 or 10 people, they grabbed me." [...]

"I've never been afraid of the police at all of the protests I've covered, including ones that have turned violent, because I've always thought that their movements were rational and predictable. I thought that if you stayed away from the people who were acting violently, you could stay away from the police. I'm really scared to be working as a journalist [during the G 20] because I feel like anyone could be arrested at anytime," Davis said.

Tell your friend to grow some balls. Civil rights protestors in the south had hoses and dogs sicced on em. They went to jail willingly because they knew the arrests would shame the people in power into changing the status quo. Today's protesters are shameful imitations of these people.

And if getting patted down and cursed at is too much for your journalist friend tell him covering quilting conferences may be more up his alley.

Yeah, no doubt that he sounds like a pussy. I don't personally know the guy, I'm just fairly sure he must've thought, you know, that his country had progressed in the past 30 years or something.

It's not like he went to cover a war. He was covering an intergovernmental friggin' conference in the supposedly most developed and 'peaceful' country in the Western Hemisphere.

 

[martybegan]

This guy who works at the University newspaper I write off-and-on for was in Toronto covering the G20, this is what happened to him:

Tell your friend to grow some balls. Civil rights protestors in the south had hoses and dogs sicced on em. They went to jail willingly because they knew the arrests would shame the people in power into changing the status quo. Today's protesters are shameful imitations of these people.

And if getting patted down and cursed at is too much for your journalist friend tell him covering quilting conferences may be more up his alley.

Yeah, no doubt that he sounds like a pussy. I don't personally know the guy, I'm just fairly sure he must've thought, you know, that his country had progressed in the past 30 years or something.

It's not like he went to cover a war. He was covering an intergovernmental friggin' conference in the supposedly most developed and 'peaceful' country in the Western Hemisphere.

Considering the past G20 and WTO conferences have seen the anarcho people crash the party he should have been ready for it. For Chirst sakes they managed to burn several police cars. When you burn cop's cars they tend to get cranky, and rightly so.

95% percent of the people there probably have peaceful intentions. The other 5% should be expected and cause all the problems. That the police have to react to it is expected.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Considering the past G20 and WTO conferences have seen the anarcho people crash the party he should have been ready for it. For Chirst sakes they managed to burn several police cars. When you burn cop's cars they tend to get cranky, and rightly so.

95% percent of the people there probably have peaceful intentions. The other 5% should be expected and cause all the problems. That the police have to react to it is expected.

That's precisely the thing. What caught him offguard, from what I gather, is that he was actively avoiding the trouble makers. He got picked out of a crowd that wasn't doing anything violent because he just kinda looked like an anarchist, and the police totally disregarded the fact he had obvious media identification and equipment.

So yeah, ok. This isn't Iran or South Africa or China. It's not a 1960s Civil Rights march. But I mean, relatively speaking for a Canadian, it IS unfair treatment by the police. Just because it's not nearly as bad as it used to be, or is in other countries, doesn't mean that someone just doesn't get the right to complain. Hopefully there will be a time when this sort of shit isn't necessary, both because some protesters won't do really stupid shit and because they police will have the ability to only punish and single out those who do. It's not an unrealistic thought, considering that it USED to be much worse worse, and it is worse in other places (places where it used to be EVEN worse). This means there has been progress. What makes one think that it should stop there or that we've reached the apex of proper police-protester relations?

 

[P F Tinmore]

Miami FTAA Protest 2003, U.S. Police Tyranny

 

[chanel]

 

[martybegan]

Considering the past G20 and WTO conferences have seen the anarcho people crash the party he should have been ready for it. For Chirst sakes they managed to burn several police cars. When you burn cop's cars they tend to get cranky, and rightly so.

95% percent of the people there probably have peaceful intentions. The other 5% should be expected and cause all the problems. That the police have to react to it is expected.

That's precisely the thing. What caught him offguard, from what I gather, is that he was actively avoiding the trouble makers. He got picked out of a crowd that wasn't doing anything violent because he just kinda looked like an anarchist, and the police totally disregarded the fact he had obvious media identification and equipment.

So yeah, ok. This isn't Iran or South Africa or China. It's not a 1960s Civil Rights march. But I mean, relatively speaking for a Canadian, it IS unfair treatment by the police. Just because it's not nearly as bad as it used to be, or is in other countries, doesn't mean that someone just doesn't get the right to complain. Hopefully there will be a time when this sort of shit isn't necessary, both because some protesters won't do really stupid shit and because they police will have the ability to only punish and single out those who do. It's not an unrealistic thought, considering that it USED to be much worse worse, and it is worse in other places (places where it used to be EVEN worse). This means there has been progress. What makes one think that it should stop there or that we've reached the apex of proper police-protester relations?

If he has a true brutality case have him bring it up. If he was in an area of mischief going on then it sucks, but the police have to figure out what is going on. The tactics of the black bloc are to do something stupid, then blend into the base crowd.

It would be more productive for the peaceful protestors to be pissed and the bloc idiots, or point thier asses out. But i guess crying PIG is more part of thier nature.

My opinion of the modern "protestor" is at an all time low. Again they used to take pride in getting arrested. Now they scream LAWYER the second the plastic cuffs are on.