G8/G20 June 2010 Protest Watch
- Thread starter The Bread Guy
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 4,633
- Points
- 1,260
Fixed that for you.Michael O'Leary said:Sexual assault - Not welcome here!
Planning to throw Molotovs at cops,not a problem worth mentioning.who are we to discourage "diversity of tactics"? :
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 430
mariomike said:
You're missing his point .... [to a radical demonstrator] cops are [the tools of the imperialist oppressor] "white men" [regardless of the colour of their skin] .... [therefore] it's ok to beat them ...
- Reaction score
- 1,602
- Points
- 1,260
Michael O'Leary said:
I was thinking of the diversity hiring I have seen in the city with my own eyes.
I failed to consider it from a demonstrator's point of view: As in, "Stick it to The Man." Sorry about the misunderstanding.
P.S. Thanks for unlocking this topic.
As if SARS didn't put a bad enough fright into tourists:
National Post:
"Toronto mayor slams U.S. travel alert issued for city: Mayor David Miller harshly criticized the U.S. State Department yesterday for issuing a travel alert advising U.S. travellers to avoid the city during the G20 summit, even as an aboriginal rights group threatened to blockade 400-series highways when foreign leaders and summit delegates arrive next week.":
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/17/toronto-mayor-slams-u-s-travel-alert-issued-for-city-2/
CTV: "First Nations group still plans blockades before G20: OTTAWA — A First Nations rights group is still planning highway blockades around Toronto despite an apparent warning from Canada's spy agency and heavy security around the G20 meeting of world leaders.":
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20100617/g20-highway-blockades-100617/
Sun: "Busloads of cops arriving for G20: Busloads of out-of-town police officers were being escorted by motorcycle cops Friday to downtown Toronto for the G20 Summit that they’ll be patrolling for the next nine days.":
http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/18/14441181.html
Macleans:
"The G20 summit: A billion-dollar waste of time:
Why are we hosting a useless, money-sucking international photo op?":
"In the interests of sanity, we should make Toronto’s G20 summit the last of its kind.":
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/06/17/why-host-a-billion-dollar-photo-op-the-real-work-is-done-elsewhere/
"Hospitals get ready for G20 surge: If there’s a protest and there’s tear gas used, there’s a whole bunch of plans that all hospitals have in place to lock down, to make sure tear gas doesn’t get into the hospital,”:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/18/hospitals-get-ready-for-g20-surge/
Grief for the tree huggers: "The trees could be ripped out of the ground by demonstrators 'and then you’ve got a huge bar,' said Constable Wendy Drummond, a spokeswoman for the Integrated Security Unit.":
http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/summit-survivor/2010/06/16/g20s-latest-toronto-victims-trees/
"The Toronto Police union is calling for Sid Ryan to resign after the Ontario Federation of Labour president suggested police may plant agent provocateurs among the G20 protesters to incite violence.":
http://thestar.blogs.com/g20/2010/06/police-union-calls-for-sid-ryan-to-resign-over-inflammatory-agent-provocateurs-comment.html
"I’ve seen one transportation plan that involves walking people from Union Station, down Bay Street, along Lake Shore Boulevard and up Rees Street to the SkyDome… This was suggested by the folks up in Ottawa as being the easiest way to handle a crowd of 50,000 people. We had to explain to them that they would have to build a sidewalk on those streets, that there actually isn’t a sidewalk on Lake Shore Boulevard.":
Trinity-Spadina Councillor Adam Vaughan
List your home on Craigslist for G20: "G20 SUMMIT CONDOMINIUM. BEST LOCATION, BEST PRICE. (4-minute walk from G20 Convention Centre)":
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/search/apa?query=g20&bedrooms=
"We’ll keep the rioters. Just take our politicians":
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/18/matt-gurney-well-keep-the-rioters-just-take-our-politicians/
Jarnhamar
Army.ca Myth
- Reaction score
- 7,402
- Points
- 1,160
Thank God the natives won't have to pay taxes and won't result to terrorist tactics and scare the OPP, RCMP and CF. I hope anytime they want something they drop threats and the imperialist evil empire of settlers cave into their demands.
On a serious note, I hope the "black bloc" get's absolutely ROCKED by the police.
I'm talking epic amounts of pepper spray, silly amounts of tear gas and cops who grew up playing dungeons and dragons and consider their asp a mace of disruption, +3
Violent protesters don't care one iota about the various causes or issues. They come out to clash with the police.
On a serious note, I hope the "black bloc" get's absolutely ROCKED by the police.
I'm talking epic amounts of pepper spray, silly amounts of tear gas and cops who grew up playing dungeons and dragons and consider their asp a mace of disruption, +3
Violent protesters don't care one iota about the various causes or issues. They come out to clash with the police.
- Reaction score
- 4,633
- Points
- 1,260
This from CTV.ca:
Notice this message coming out over and over again lately....
Zatright? Why is the renunciation of violence "cloudy" while "Perpetrators of Sexual Assault, Abuse and Harassment are not welcome in G8 & G20 Resistance Spaces!!!" isn't quite so "cloudy"?
Notice this message coming out over and over again lately....
Message translation: if any violence happens, it MUST be the cops' fault.
- Reaction score
- 1,602
- Points
- 1,260
National Post graphic of "Fortress Toronto" ( you may have to click to enlarge ):
http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/g20-fortress-new.jpg
G20 and emergency health services:
"For what it’s worth, a Toronto EMS manager told me yesterday that he thinks any protests at the G20 will be 'either a complete disaster or nothing' from an emergency health services perspective.
He said, in any case, both Toronto Police and Toronto EMS are supposedly (unofficially) minimizing to senior hospital administrators the potential for a so-called Mass Casualty Event, or even the need for hospital decontamination of protesters assaulted with tear gas or pepper spray.
This is the Don’t Worry, Be Happy approach to emergency management, which has always worked out so well in the past.
The biggest concern, he went on, is that patients who would usually go to the Big Downtown Hospitals won’t attempt to battle traffic (and restrictions) and will filter out of downtown and overwhelm the peripheral hospitals.":
https://torontoemerg.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/the-g20-and-emergency-health-services/
http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/g20-fortress-new.jpg
G20 and emergency health services:
"For what it’s worth, a Toronto EMS manager told me yesterday that he thinks any protests at the G20 will be 'either a complete disaster or nothing' from an emergency health services perspective.
He said, in any case, both Toronto Police and Toronto EMS are supposedly (unofficially) minimizing to senior hospital administrators the potential for a so-called Mass Casualty Event, or even the need for hospital decontamination of protesters assaulted with tear gas or pepper spray.
This is the Don’t Worry, Be Happy approach to emergency management, which has always worked out so well in the past.
The biggest concern, he went on, is that patients who would usually go to the Big Downtown Hospitals won’t attempt to battle traffic (and restrictions) and will filter out of downtown and overwhelm the peripheral hospitals.":
https://torontoemerg.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/the-g20-and-emergency-health-services/
- Reaction score
- 3,100
- Points
- 1,160
These thugs use violence to get what they want in a (mostly) lawful and (somewhat) ordered society. Can anyone guess what life would be like in their anarchist utopia? I'm getting ready for 'em, come on down.
- Reaction score
- 6,365
- Points
- 1,160
mariomike said:
Lots of stuff within the perimeter will be closed during the summit.
Too bad CBC isn't one of them :
- Reaction score
- 1,602
- Points
- 1,260
recceguy said:Lots of stuff within the perimeter will be closed during the summit.
Too bad CBC isn't one of them :
CBC looks well protected! ;D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58609798@N00/4701746388/
- Reaction score
- 6,152
- Points
- 1,260
One rather hopes that China will volunteer to host the G20 in the near future; they will know how to welcome the scum idiot children of privilege protesters ... oh, wait, most will not even make it into the country, anyone who tries anything will return home in an air ambulance.
The following opinion piece is reproduced from the Fair Comments section of the National Post online edition under the fair comments provision of the Copyright Act:
G20 Protesters want to have their cake and eat it too
Jonathan Kay June 19, 2010 – 9:00 am
Most Canadians won’t remember the name Carlo Giuliani. But for a day or two in 2001, the death of the 23-year-old anarchist protester at the G8 Summit in Genoa was imagined to be a sort of Freedom-Flotilla moment for the anti-globalization movement.
Mr. Giuliani, a convicted petty criminal outfitted in balaclava and combat boots, died in the act of hurling a fire extinguisher at a police Land Rover — “direct action,” as protesters of the day euphemistically called it. In a famous photo, capturing one of the last instant’s of Mr. Giuliani’s life, you can see an officer peering out the vehicle’s back window, pistol in hand. The Land Rover appears somewhat isolated, besieged among the chaotic street bottles that unfolded in Genoa throughout the Summit.
Seen from the perspective of 2010, Mr. Giuliani seems like a man with a death-wish. But this was early 2001. Much like the NGO activists on the flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces last month, anti-globalization protesters of the era thought they could have it both ways. As part of their direct-action tactics, they attacked police with potentially deadly force, and rampaged through cities destroying “symbols of capitalism” (Starbucks was always a popular target). When the police fought back, they cried brutality and wept for their martyrs.
The golden age of anti-globalization protest, such as it was, began at the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle. It ended, two years later, on Sept. 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks rendered random political violence taboo. They also created an emotional cult of admiration for the uniformed men and women who hold the thin blue line. The fire-extinguisher-throwers of the world suddenly were on the wrong side of history. And the few who still bothered to show up at international conferences of the WTO or G8 variety found themselves toe-to-toe with larger, better-armed, and less indulgent uniformed cadres.
In truth, the anti-globalization protest movement always was composed of two distinct groups: (1) Legitimate left-wing activists with placards, flyers and websites; and (2) full-time criminals and delinquents who used anti-globalization as a pretext for street violence in the same way that English hooligans go at each other during soccer matches. In this second category, the most militant types affected a dimly understood attachment to anarchism, and played dress-up in combat attire, usually under the banner of the “Black Block.”
There was an unhealthy dynamic between these two groups, as I observed in Quebec City, while covering the April 2001, Summit of the Americas. Many of the legitimate protesters I interviewed insisted that the Black Bloc was a violent fringe with its own militant agenda. And there was truth to that: As the weekend conference unfolded, I saw that it was the same few dozen black-clad protesters who were throwing bricks at police and generally acting like criminals. But it was also true that the rest of the protesters often acted as the Black Bloc’s cheering section.
The two groups had a cynical, symbiotic relationship. The violent anarchists relied on the legitimate protesters for the conceit that they were acting in the service of some political agenda more respectable than mere hooliganism. And the legitimate protesters enjoyed the romantic frisson that attends street violence, without actually picking up a brick or lead pipe. Some of them even ended up getting tear-gassed — a great war-story for everyone back on campus.
After 9/11, most of the Black Bloc folks hung up their gas masks: The risk of getting treated as real terrorists by a ramped up security state outweighed the thrills to be had. But it must also be said that conference organizers became more intelligent at the game of divide-and-conquer, setting up free-speech zones where only those protesters interested in actual speech would show up to make their point.
Last month, it was announced that the official “Designated Speech Area” for the Toronto G20 will be at the northern end of Queen’s Park — this coming several days after neighbourhood complaints prompted the summit’s Integrated Security Unit to cancel plans to place the protest zone in Trinity Bellwoods Park. Said a spokesperson: “Our main priority has always been an area close enough to the downtown area that it respects the whole idea of a Designated Speech Area and, at the same time, it be a far enough distance from the security perimeter so it doesn’t compromise any of our security plans.”
There’s something Orwellian in that term, “Designated Speech Area.”
But if the protesters of 2010 are looking for someone to blame, they might want to cast their gaze back to the anarchists who trashed Seattle, Genoa and Quebec City. A decade ago, these people thought they were leading a historic revolution. But the only place their violence led to was a giant playpen, miles away from the conference rooms where history actually unfolds.
G20 Protesters want to have their cake and eat it too
Jonathan Kay June 19, 2010 – 9:00 am
Most Canadians won’t remember the name Carlo Giuliani. But for a day or two in 2001, the death of the 23-year-old anarchist protester at the G8 Summit in Genoa was imagined to be a sort of Freedom-Flotilla moment for the anti-globalization movement.
Mr. Giuliani, a convicted petty criminal outfitted in balaclava and combat boots, died in the act of hurling a fire extinguisher at a police Land Rover — “direct action,” as protesters of the day euphemistically called it. In a famous photo, capturing one of the last instant’s of Mr. Giuliani’s life, you can see an officer peering out the vehicle’s back window, pistol in hand. The Land Rover appears somewhat isolated, besieged among the chaotic street bottles that unfolded in Genoa throughout the Summit.
Seen from the perspective of 2010, Mr. Giuliani seems like a man with a death-wish. But this was early 2001. Much like the NGO activists on the flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces last month, anti-globalization protesters of the era thought they could have it both ways. As part of their direct-action tactics, they attacked police with potentially deadly force, and rampaged through cities destroying “symbols of capitalism” (Starbucks was always a popular target). When the police fought back, they cried brutality and wept for their martyrs.
The golden age of anti-globalization protest, such as it was, began at the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle. It ended, two years later, on Sept. 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks rendered random political violence taboo. They also created an emotional cult of admiration for the uniformed men and women who hold the thin blue line. The fire-extinguisher-throwers of the world suddenly were on the wrong side of history. And the few who still bothered to show up at international conferences of the WTO or G8 variety found themselves toe-to-toe with larger, better-armed, and less indulgent uniformed cadres.
In truth, the anti-globalization protest movement always was composed of two distinct groups: (1) Legitimate left-wing activists with placards, flyers and websites; and (2) full-time criminals and delinquents who used anti-globalization as a pretext for street violence in the same way that English hooligans go at each other during soccer matches. In this second category, the most militant types affected a dimly understood attachment to anarchism, and played dress-up in combat attire, usually under the banner of the “Black Block.”
There was an unhealthy dynamic between these two groups, as I observed in Quebec City, while covering the April 2001, Summit of the Americas. Many of the legitimate protesters I interviewed insisted that the Black Bloc was a violent fringe with its own militant agenda. And there was truth to that: As the weekend conference unfolded, I saw that it was the same few dozen black-clad protesters who were throwing bricks at police and generally acting like criminals. But it was also true that the rest of the protesters often acted as the Black Bloc’s cheering section.
The two groups had a cynical, symbiotic relationship. The violent anarchists relied on the legitimate protesters for the conceit that they were acting in the service of some political agenda more respectable than mere hooliganism. And the legitimate protesters enjoyed the romantic frisson that attends street violence, without actually picking up a brick or lead pipe. Some of them even ended up getting tear-gassed — a great war-story for everyone back on campus.
After 9/11, most of the Black Bloc folks hung up their gas masks: The risk of getting treated as real terrorists by a ramped up security state outweighed the thrills to be had. But it must also be said that conference organizers became more intelligent at the game of divide-and-conquer, setting up free-speech zones where only those protesters interested in actual speech would show up to make their point.
Last month, it was announced that the official “Designated Speech Area” for the Toronto G20 will be at the northern end of Queen’s Park — this coming several days after neighbourhood complaints prompted the summit’s Integrated Security Unit to cancel plans to place the protest zone in Trinity Bellwoods Park. Said a spokesperson: “Our main priority has always been an area close enough to the downtown area that it respects the whole idea of a Designated Speech Area and, at the same time, it be a far enough distance from the security perimeter so it doesn’t compromise any of our security plans.”
There’s something Orwellian in that term, “Designated Speech Area.”
But if the protesters of 2010 are looking for someone to blame, they might want to cast their gaze back to the anarchists who trashed Seattle, Genoa and Quebec City. A decade ago, these people thought they were leading a historic revolution. But the only place their violence led to was a giant playpen, miles away from the conference rooms where history actually unfolds.
- Reaction score
- 1,602
- Points
- 1,260
National Post ( Reply #298 ):
"Last month, it was announced that the official “Designated Speech Area” for the Toronto G20 will be at the northern end of Queen’s Park — this coming several days after neighbourhood complaints prompted the summit’s Integrated Security Unit to cancel plans to place the protest zone in Trinity Bellwoods Park."
Trinity-Bellwoods was obviously picked by people unfamiliar with the neighbourhood. They rained a s%$#-storm down on Queen's Park back in 1977. What a summer that was! I am not surprised they did not roll over for this. I know times have changed, but not that much.
Queen's Park is where people with an axe to grind go. There was a big protest there in the mid 1990's when Mike Harris was in. About ten years ago there was a bad one. But, they never had to shut the place down.
For G20, Q.P. will shut down for the first time in memory, send everyone home, no parking, and board the windows. Yet, the "Integrated Security Unit" felt an inner-city neighbourhood park where you take your kids to play would be a safe place for their “Designated Speech Area”?
I am surprised they didn't select Christie Pits. It is literally a park in a pit. Wouldn't be the first time it was the scene of a major riot, either. Close, but not too close, to the action downtown.
After seeing their parks turned into garbage dumps during the strike last summer, I suspect the neighbourhoods are in no mood for hosting a Designated Speech Area.
My guess is the excitement will spill over to Yonge and Dundas. It always does. Unless the police can keep themcorralled contained.
I like the way the Globe and Mail put it, “Police say live video of the protests will be made available to the world leaders—if they choose to watch.”
"Tourists fleeing Fortress Toronto: Tourists can’t wait to get out of Fortress Toronto and away from the kilometres of G20 security fencing that have turned a bustling downtown into an “armed camp”.:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/19/14449796.html
National Post: "When fear comes to town":
Q: Is the cancellation of all school buses indicative of a level of security and contingency planning that has gone out of control?
A: This has been terribly managed by Ottawa. Their silence on these issues and their hiding behind local authorities is deceitful. I think it’s shameful. I think the government has a lot to answer for now and it’s clear why they walked away from some of their funding commitments. They know they’ve created a tornado.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/19/when-fear-comes-to-town/#more-11143
"If access to a hospital is blocked, ambulances will be rerouted to the next available emergency room.":
Janine Hopkins, senior director of corporate affairs for Toronto Central Local Health Integration Unit.
Maclean's: "Meetings that began as informal get-togethers between like-minded friends have become unwieldy, expensive monstrosities."
Lots of comments about the trees being removed:
http://thestar.blogs.com/g20/2010/06/young-saplings-a-security-threat-police-say.html
Some are questioning why Downsview Park ( or the CNE, as recommended by The City of Toronto ) was not selected instead. Downsview Park hosted two Papal visits, "The Rolling Stones SARS Benefit Concert.: Estimated to have between 450,000 and 500,000 people attending the concert, it is the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history, and one of the largest in North American history.":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Canadian_Rocks_for_Toronto
as well as World Youth Day in 2002.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFB_Downsview#Downsview_Park
Toronto Sun:
"The Gestapo, or whoever’s running this show, unveiled the summit security curtain on Friday and Queens Quay is the southern front. Now we know how Sicily felt in World War II.":
"Long gone is any hope the G20 would join the G8 in Huntsville...":
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mike_strobel/2010/05/29/14185776.html
"Last month, it was announced that the official “Designated Speech Area” for the Toronto G20 will be at the northern end of Queen’s Park — this coming several days after neighbourhood complaints prompted the summit’s Integrated Security Unit to cancel plans to place the protest zone in Trinity Bellwoods Park."
Trinity-Bellwoods was obviously picked by people unfamiliar with the neighbourhood. They rained a s%$#-storm down on Queen's Park back in 1977. What a summer that was! I am not surprised they did not roll over for this. I know times have changed, but not that much.
Queen's Park is where people with an axe to grind go. There was a big protest there in the mid 1990's when Mike Harris was in. About ten years ago there was a bad one. But, they never had to shut the place down.
For G20, Q.P. will shut down for the first time in memory, send everyone home, no parking, and board the windows. Yet, the "Integrated Security Unit" felt an inner-city neighbourhood park where you take your kids to play would be a safe place for their “Designated Speech Area”?
I am surprised they didn't select Christie Pits. It is literally a park in a pit. Wouldn't be the first time it was the scene of a major riot, either. Close, but not too close, to the action downtown.
After seeing their parks turned into garbage dumps during the strike last summer, I suspect the neighbourhoods are in no mood for hosting a Designated Speech Area.
My guess is the excitement will spill over to Yonge and Dundas. It always does. Unless the police can keep them
I like the way the Globe and Mail put it, “Police say live video of the protests will be made available to the world leaders—if they choose to watch.”
"Tourists fleeing Fortress Toronto: Tourists can’t wait to get out of Fortress Toronto and away from the kilometres of G20 security fencing that have turned a bustling downtown into an “armed camp”.:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/19/14449796.html
National Post: "When fear comes to town":
Q: Is the cancellation of all school buses indicative of a level of security and contingency planning that has gone out of control?
A: This has been terribly managed by Ottawa. Their silence on these issues and their hiding behind local authorities is deceitful. I think it’s shameful. I think the government has a lot to answer for now and it’s clear why they walked away from some of their funding commitments. They know they’ve created a tornado.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/19/when-fear-comes-to-town/#more-11143
"If access to a hospital is blocked, ambulances will be rerouted to the next available emergency room.":
Janine Hopkins, senior director of corporate affairs for Toronto Central Local Health Integration Unit.
Maclean's: "Meetings that began as informal get-togethers between like-minded friends have become unwieldy, expensive monstrosities."
Lots of comments about the trees being removed:
http://thestar.blogs.com/g20/2010/06/young-saplings-a-security-threat-police-say.html
Some are questioning why Downsview Park ( or the CNE, as recommended by The City of Toronto ) was not selected instead. Downsview Park hosted two Papal visits, "The Rolling Stones SARS Benefit Concert.: Estimated to have between 450,000 and 500,000 people attending the concert, it is the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history, and one of the largest in North American history.":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Canadian_Rocks_for_Toronto
as well as World Youth Day in 2002.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFB_Downsview#Downsview_Park
Toronto Sun:
"The Gestapo, or whoever’s running this show, unveiled the summit security curtain on Friday and Queens Quay is the southern front. Now we know how Sicily felt in World War II.":
"Long gone is any hope the G20 would join the G8 in Huntsville...":
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mike_strobel/2010/05/29/14185776.html
- Reaction score
- 1,521
- Points
- 1,040
Here is the young gentleman, about to hurl a fire extinguisher at the police:
Here is the result:
What a waste of a young man's life. But you know what? It's his own fault. Shame, really.
Now, where is the "counter-summit" being held? I want to go protest it with those infernal Vuvuzelas!
Here is the result:
What a waste of a young man's life. But you know what? It's his own fault. Shame, really.
Now, where is the "counter-summit" being held? I want to go protest it with those infernal Vuvuzelas!
- Reaction score
- 2,889
- Points
- 940
And note the audience (video cameraman right in there, and the anti-police graffiti in English).Technoviking said:
On the original topic, I'm currently obligated to spend the night in TO (I'm merely the male in the relationship). Security measures be dammed, I defy the protesters to navigate through all the streets closed by construction
George Wallace
Army.ca Dinosaur
- Reaction score
- 208
- Points
- 710
Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.
G20 police arsenal includes plastic bullets
20/06/2010 9:21:54 AM
CBC News
LINK
Police tactical teams have been practising with plastic bullets and tear gas at a Canadian military base near Toronto in case protesters at the G8 and G20 summits turn violent.
Officers confirm they will have dozens of anti-riot weapons that were originally developed at the request of the British military for crowd control in Northern Ireland.
The weapon, the ARWEN 37, is promoted as "less lethal." The gun is designed to fire tear-gas canisters and large, 37-millimetre plastic bullets - also referred to as rubber bullets - from distances of up to 100 metres. ARWEN is short for Anti Riot Weapon Enfield.
"The ARWEN is used in situations where the police are dealing with individuals who are combative, assaultive and are proposing serious danger to themselves or others," Ontario Provincial Police Const. Mel Tourigny told CBC News during a training exercise at CFB Borden in Ontario.
Tourigny refused to divulge where or how the weapon might be deployed during the summits of world leaders this week.
But she confirmed the weapon is one "use of force option" that could be deployed, in addition to stun guns, batons and tear gas, to help officers keep a distance as they try to disarm violent protestors.
"It's realistic to accept that there very possibly could be an injury to a person being struck by this projectile, but it's a less serious injury because it's deemed a non-lethal [weapon]," Tourigny said.
Police Ordnance, the Canadian company that manufactures the ARWEN, bought the rights and has become the sole maker of the weapon, supplying police and military around the world.
"It's less lethal by the fact that this is not going to penetrate the body," said James Cassells, a retired Toronto Police Service tactical squad trainer who now works for Police Ordnance.
"It was originally developed in the UK for crowd control involving the disturbances they were having in Ireland," Cassells said. "They needed something that was going to be less lethal."
But the British military never really deployed the ARWEN for its intended purpose because they feared the weapon looked too menacing, Cassells said.
Cynthia Bir, a professor at Wayne State University in Michigan who specializes in biomedical engineering, said the biggest risk for those using the weapon but not properly trained on it is "shot placement."
"Obviously, the head is a very vulnerable region," said Bir, who has conducted independent tests on the ARWEN and its impact. "In no way shape or form should we be aiming at the head."
Bir said she and her team found the ARWEN's round of bullets to have a fairly low risk of injury.
"Less than 10 per cent risk of injury with deployment of this round direct to the chest," she said. "So you're talking about maybe five to seven per cent risk of a rib fracture."
But she noted there have been serious injuries and even deaths around the world in instances where police have shot people in the head.
In 1994, Ryan Berntt of Vancouver was shot in the head by a police rubber bullet fired from an ARWEN during a Stanley Cup hockey riot. He suffered serious head injuries and later sued police, claiming brain damage. He lost his claim.
LINK
G20 police arsenal includes plastic bullets
20/06/2010 9:21:54 AM
CBC News
LINK
Police tactical teams have been practising with plastic bullets and tear gas at a Canadian military base near Toronto in case protesters at the G8 and G20 summits turn violent.
Officers confirm they will have dozens of anti-riot weapons that were originally developed at the request of the British military for crowd control in Northern Ireland.
The weapon, the ARWEN 37, is promoted as "less lethal." The gun is designed to fire tear-gas canisters and large, 37-millimetre plastic bullets - also referred to as rubber bullets - from distances of up to 100 metres. ARWEN is short for Anti Riot Weapon Enfield.
"The ARWEN is used in situations where the police are dealing with individuals who are combative, assaultive and are proposing serious danger to themselves or others," Ontario Provincial Police Const. Mel Tourigny told CBC News during a training exercise at CFB Borden in Ontario.
Tourigny refused to divulge where or how the weapon might be deployed during the summits of world leaders this week.
But she confirmed the weapon is one "use of force option" that could be deployed, in addition to stun guns, batons and tear gas, to help officers keep a distance as they try to disarm violent protestors.
"It's realistic to accept that there very possibly could be an injury to a person being struck by this projectile, but it's a less serious injury because it's deemed a non-lethal [weapon]," Tourigny said.
Police Ordnance, the Canadian company that manufactures the ARWEN, bought the rights and has become the sole maker of the weapon, supplying police and military around the world.
"It's less lethal by the fact that this is not going to penetrate the body," said James Cassells, a retired Toronto Police Service tactical squad trainer who now works for Police Ordnance.
"It was originally developed in the UK for crowd control involving the disturbances they were having in Ireland," Cassells said. "They needed something that was going to be less lethal."
But the British military never really deployed the ARWEN for its intended purpose because they feared the weapon looked too menacing, Cassells said.
Cynthia Bir, a professor at Wayne State University in Michigan who specializes in biomedical engineering, said the biggest risk for those using the weapon but not properly trained on it is "shot placement."
"Obviously, the head is a very vulnerable region," said Bir, who has conducted independent tests on the ARWEN and its impact. "In no way shape or form should we be aiming at the head."
Bir said she and her team found the ARWEN's round of bullets to have a fairly low risk of injury.
"Less than 10 per cent risk of injury with deployment of this round direct to the chest," she said. "So you're talking about maybe five to seven per cent risk of a rib fracture."
But she noted there have been serious injuries and even deaths around the world in instances where police have shot people in the head.
In 1994, Ryan Berntt of Vancouver was shot in the head by a police rubber bullet fired from an ARWEN during a Stanley Cup hockey riot. He suffered serious head injuries and later sued police, claiming brain damage. He lost his claim.
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