G8/G20 June 2010 Protest Watch

[The Bread Guy]

What the protesters say:

....  let us creatively build the world we wish to live in. A world with self-determination for indigenous peoples; climate and environmental justice; income equity and community control over resources; migrant justice and an end to war and occupation; gender justice, queer and disAbility rights ....

What the world sees:

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:  "G20 Protests Turn Violent"

Deutsche Welle:  "Protesters, police clash as G-20 kicks off"

Euronews:  "Violent anti-G20 summit protests in Canada"

Associated Press:  "Vandals mar summit protests in Toronto"

Al Jazeera:  "Violence mars G20 protests"

Reuters:  "G20 protesters, riot police face off in Toronto"

Yup, that "make the world a better place" message sure is coming through there.

Meanwhile,
"Police arrest more than 400 after violent G20 riots"

 

[The Bread Guy]

Keep this in mind if you're reading about Canada's G8/G20 summits in the UK Guardian - this from the Globe & Mail (highlights mine):

Jesse Rosenfeld, a Canadian journalist reporting on the G20 for the Guardian newspaper, has been arrested and possibly beaten, his friends and father say.

His girlfriend, Carmelle Wolfson, called Mr. Rosenfeld late Saturday night, only to have him tell her he was in police custody at the Novotel, where dozens of protesters were arrested en masse after a protracted sit-in.

“He said, ‘The cops are telling me that they’re going to arrest me. I’ve told them that I’m a journalist, but they’re not recognizing my press badge and they’re telling me that they’re going to arrest me,'” she said.

“Then he told me to get on the phone with his editor.”

Mr. Rosenfeld, a Canadian activist journalist based in Tel Aviv and Jaffa in Israel, was in Canada for the summer and on assignment from Britain's Guardian to cover the G20, Ms. Wolfson said. He was also helping to organize the summit’s alternative media co-op, whose coverage has been sympathetic to protests.

He hadn't received official media accreditation, despite applying for it long ago and making repeated inquiries, Ms. Wolfson said. When he was swept up in the melee at the Novotel protest, police didn’t recognize his alternate media badge ....

Hmmmm, do you think his work in giving the protesters an alternate media venue MAY have affected his coverage for the Guardian?  I'm sure he was just as objective as all the other reporters.  I'm also sure that the protesters would have just as vocally advocated for the rights of a reporter who, say, did consulting work with the Toronto Police Service for the summit, right?

 

[mariomike]

When I read that the ISU selected Queen's Park as the Designated Speech Area ( after first attempting to locate it in the Trinity- Bellwoods neighbourhood ), I remembered the riot at Queen's Park ten years ago.   
Molotov cocktails, bricks, and pop cans filled with rocks were thrown at Metro police. There was about 60 people injured. Almost half of the injured were Police Officers. Ten police horses were also injured. ( At least one of the horses, "Stormy", was stabbed. )

T-EMS reports 3 injuries ( last I heard ) at G20.
Credit goes to the ISU for keeping casualties to a minimum.

Modify to add:
This is a video of the riot at Queen's Park ten years ago.
( Viewer discretion is advised. )
The action starts around the 1:20 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jKn3HJ8go8

Although largely forgotten by many, the mayor mentioned it. 

 

[The Bread Guy]

Latest total "guest" count from the Canadian Press - +500:

Police are raiding a building on the University of Toronto campus.

At least 50 people, not believed to be students, have been arrested and charges are pending.

A spokesman for the Integrated Security Unit says officers have found a cache of "street-type weaponry" such as bricks.

Dozens of officers were combing bushes and garbage cans, collecting articles of black clothing

A G20 demonstration turned violent Satuday when a peaceful protest was infiltrated by anarchists who deployed the so-called Black Bloc tactic.

The latest arrests brings the number of people in detention to more than 500.

 

[Lex Parsimoniae]

Keep this in mind if you're reading about Canada's G8/G20 summits in the UK Guardian - this from the Globe & Mail (highlights mine):
Hmmmm, do you think his work in giving the protesters an alternate media venue MAY have affected his coverage for the Guardian?  I'm sure he was just as objective as all the other reporters.  I'm also sure that the protesters would have just as vocally advocated for the rights of a reporter who, say, did consulting work with the Toronto Police Service for the summit, right?

Police didn't recognize his 'alternate" media badge?  Shocking!  I wonder if the police will also not recognize alternate drivers licenses?  ;D

 

[The Bread Guy]

Wait, wait, wait, again, I've misunderstood.  Those flaming police cars?  This from Judy Rebick:  THE COPS LET IT HAPPEN TO GET VIOLENT PR! (highlights mine)

.... Christopher Watt was there when the first police car was torched, "The officers clustered and formed a line. A second picket of officers lined up behind them, facing the crowd where I stood. They started to move, but they weren't clearing the street; they were clearing out and abandoning two police cars, including the one with the shattered windshield...

In moments like this, someone needs to make a decision. This time it was a man in dreadlocks and no shirt, red paint all over his torso. He moved towards the police car, grabbing the squawking police radio...

"Following the lead of the dreadlocked man, someone else pulled what looked like a leather folder from inside the car and spread its contents over the trunk. A kid wearing sunglasses, his face covered by a scarf, inspected the paperwork. Soon after, the squad cars would be on fire. (The gas cap appeared to have been removed from one of them even before the crowd moved in.)"

It was a perfect storm. A massive police presence who were primed for "dangerous anarchists" after a week of peaceful protests. No more than one hundred, probably fewer, young men who think violent confrontations with the police will create a radicalization and expose the violence of the state. A new generation of young people who are becoming activists believing they live in a democratic society and are shocked by the degree of police violence arrayed to stop them.

But it is the police that let the handful of people using Black Bloc tactics run wild and then used the burning police cars and violent images as a media campaign to convince the people of Toronto that the cost and the excessive police presence was necessary. They knew what would happen and they knew how it would happen. It is the police that bear the responsibility for what happened last night. They were responsible for keeping the peace and they failed to do it ....

The police should have done something to stop an attack on one of their vehicles or officers?  If that's the case, does Judy mean the cops did the right thing protecting themselves and their vehicle in this case?  Interesting "flexibility", folks.

 

[Michael OLeary]

It's all a matter of flexible perspective.  A certain focus on a single incidence of "agents provocateur" is being used to redefine every violent action as obviously instigated by the police.  While past actions by the "black block" were merely isolated incidents and should never have been used to justify such comprehensive and expensive security measures.    :

 

[vonGarvin]

The ridonkulousness* of it all continues, I see.  Yesterday, in one breath, some reporter asked the Chief "why there were so many cops" yet "there weren't enough cops" to stop the car from burning.

So, in the greatest traditions of the Left, 'blame' belongs to "The Man", not to the punk who lights up a police car.  Typical. 


(*It was so ridiculous, it merited a made-up word)

 

[tomahawk6]

Mark Steyn's take on the police response.

“I may have to revise my old line about the British police being "the most monumentally useless in the developed world". For the G20 summit, the Toronto coppers ordered up a ton of new body armor, weaponry, gas masks, etc - and then stood around in their state-of-the-art riot gear watching as a bunch of middle-class "anarchists" trashed the city. Streetcars were left abandoned, and even police cruisers were seized, vandalized and burned. But hey, it's the taxpayers who pay for 'em, right? And I'm sure they'll have replacements ready when Constable Plod needs to drive over to Tim Hortons for his mid-morning Boston Creme.
”

 

[The Bread Guy]

Good point.  In fact, it seems HUGELY flexible - given that 20 hours ago, the message was "the police DID IT", and now, it's "someone else seems to have done it, but the police DIDN'T STOP IT."

As for Mark Steyn, maybe he'd like to take the training and show us how much of a better job he does.  :

 

[57Chevy]

That's only a car.......let it burn, and that is exactly the right thing to do.
Thinking of the disgust of many of the peaceful protesters that I have noticed, I think it stands to reason that they just might retaliate against the hooligans. Peaceful protesters are getting more
angry toward them because they are disrupting the true democratic nature of what a peaceful
protest is supposed to be all about. I'm wondering what the security forces would do in that case?
And more so, how quickly those hooligans would be crying for police protection. How much of that would be found on youtube ?

 

[vonGarvin]

These arm-chair quarterbacks are pissing me off.  "Too many cops!"  "Too much security!"  "Where were the police?"  DAMMIT.  Whom do they call when their shit gets stolen?  It sure ain't OXFAM or QUEERS FOR YEARS or whatever other group you can think of: it's the police.
They fart in our faces when it comes to law and order:

They oppose your right to work and will attempt to destroy your livelihood:

They oppose freedom of the press and will attempt to limit their powers:

And will attempt to destroy their ability to report the news:

They advocate terrorism:

We got pictures of some of them:

And semi-pictures of others:

And still others are models for tolerance and acceptance.  (And we see another partial face)

They wonder why things like this happen to them:

(I kind of wish that the weird dude Mellian were still here to hear his side of how "the Man" did all of this)

Anyway, well done to all the police services in Toronto!

 

[GAP]

Compared to yesterday when they simply held off allowing peacefull protest, until the idiots started, today, they're kicking *** and taking names (and prisoners).....nice to see...

 

[Michael OLeary]

Here's the Sun's roundup of stories:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/

 

[57Chevy]

Looks like rain and thunder in the forcast for TO tonight

check here: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/hourlyfx/caon0696/hourlytable/1

also: Tornado watch issued in southwestern Ontario

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Tornado+watch+issued+southwestern+Ontario/3208538/story.html

          (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)

 

[ArmyRick]

Hmmmm, I like the kangaroo court mentality I see here

1. Portestors get out of hand, destroy property (government or private, it does not matter), the police then enforce the law which is what they do, then they are accussed of "POLICE BRUTALITY" or

2. Protestors get out of hand, destroy property but do not threaten lives, so police prioritize when they will act and when they will remain watching, in this case they let it go (should have made the damn hooligans happy?) but now they are "NOT ACTING TO STOP THE VANDALISM".

They are not allowed to win. I am glad knobs that say these things are not actually in power (Its they're way no matter what). Could you imagine one of these circus freaks (by some miracle) got elected? We would be in trouble.

I also like the comment I heard that the police showed up bearing fire arms (guns was the word). Brillant, I guess the clown who made that statement on TV did not notice that every time you see a cop, summit or not, they are armed!

The biggest problem is that people are not facing the truth. The protestors are out there JUST to have a wild *ss time, pure and simple. They do not give a rats **** about what the actual cause is.

Too many people in our society are excuse makers "Its not my fault because....blah, blah, blah"

Whatever happened to integrity? Honour? Humility? Politeness? Oh wait, its easier to roll a joint, smoke it, be a knob in life and blame everybody else.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Once the dust settles I'd like to see the government publish a few sets of figures:

Firstly, the Summit costs.  Separate out the fixed costs (wages, etc.) that were going to be paid from one government budget or another (to Canadians, by the way), then examine the remainder.  How much was paid to Canadian providers of goods and service, from the construction of the "lake" to the hotels and meals required? How much money was pumped directly into the Canadian economy because the Summit was held in Toronto?

Secondly, what's the value of the destroyed property and disrupted businesses caused by the protesters?  How much money did they, by their threats, presence and actions, remove from (or prevent the spending of within) the Canadian economy during the Summit?

 

[1feral1]

Good post AR, you speak for the majority of good tax paying law abiding respectful citizens (AKA normal people)  ;D .

 

[hold_fast]

I just watched a video on YouTube of Sgt. MacNeil's arrival in Toronto... made me sick to my stomach to hear a riotous protest in the background while the police that could be spared (some of them seem to have just stepped away from duty, still fully geared up) salute or shake the hands of MacNeil's comrades.

While not intentional, that still sickens me.

 

[tomahawk6]

I wonder why these foreign protestors are allowed to enter any country. They have to have police records for this type of hooliganism.