I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. - Mahatma GandhiPossible short term gains:
# i saw police brutality tonight. it was unnecessary. they asked me to leave the site or they would arrest me. i told them i was dong my job.Can't wait to read that article in the Guardian.
# they repeated they would arrest me if i didn't leave. as i was escorted away from the demonstration, i saw two officers hold a journalist.
# the journalist identified himself as working for "the guardian." he talked too much and pissed the police off. two officers held him....
# a third punched him in the stomach. totally unnecessary. the man collapsed. then the third officer drove his elbow into the man's back.
# no cameras recorded the assault. and it was an assault.
# the officer who escorted me away from the demo said, "yeah, that shouldn't have happened." he is correct. there was no cause for it.
# i can appreciate that the police were on edge today, after seeing four or five of their cruisers burned. but why such overreaction tonight?
# the demonstration on the esplanade was peaceful. it was like an old sit in. no one was aggressive. and yet riot squad officers moved in.
# police on one side screamed at the crowd to leave one way. then police on the other side said leave the other way. there was no way out.
# so the police just started arresting people. i stress, this was a peaceful, middle class, diverse crowd. no anarchists
# literally more than 100 officers with guns pointing at the crowd. rubber bullets and smoke bombs ready to be fired. rubber bullets fired
# i was "escorted" away by police so couldn't see how many arrested, but it must have been dozens.
# we must make a distinction between the "thugs" who broke store windows and torched cop cars and the very reasonable citizens who...
# ...just wanted to remind the authorities that the freedom to speak and assemble shouldn't disappear because world leaders come to town.
“Violence just brings more violence,” a woman said into a megaphone as an anarchist set fire to a police cruiser. “What you guys are doing, it’s breaking my heart.”It's breaking my heart too. This is my home, this is where I was born. I've been having a love affair with this city since I was born, and yesterday someone beat him up. This sort of violence is so un-Canadian it hurts; we do things here quietly and peacefully and we care about the people around us.
"And while riot cops had shields AND bikes and thousands of dollars in body armor to protect them from the remaining peaceful protestors, somehow they were so scared of us that they abandoned police cars."Uhh. If there's an already-proven-to-be-violent mob coming at you, your safest place is not stuck inside a stationary vehicle. My understanding of the King & Bay and the Queen West car torchings was that the cops got out to deal with the crowd, and they could not safely get the cars out--safely both for the protesters and for the cops in the cars.
# the journalist identified himself as working for "the guardian." he talked too much and pissed the police off. two officers held him....
# a third punched him in the stomach. totally unnecessary. the man collapsed. then the third officer drove his elbow into the man's back.
Protest police abuse of power and show your solidarity with those who've been arrested - Monday the 28th at 5:30 at 40 College St. (Police Headquarters). Be there to defend our rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom to dissent!Facebook link (warning: lots of comments from people who don't care about such essential rights). The speakers will be Naomi Klein, Ben Powless, David McNally, Judy Rebick, Abeer Majeed
If anyone is afraid of coming out this evening to this event for fear of arrest and police brutality, I can only offer the assurances that we will be nonviolent and that our greatest strength and safety lies in having as many people out there AS POSSIBLE (along with prominent figures). Unfortunately, I cannot offer as...surance regarding the police, who in my experience and what I've seen recorded this weekend, have seen protesters sitting down chanting that they are peaceful as those most worthy of beating, shooting, gassing and arrest. However, their behaviour is unacceptable and disgusting and we must be out there in a large number to say NO!Finally somewhat bitter humour from a friend of a friend:
'"Having padlocked the houses of government only months before, the government proceeded to round up and randomly charge approximately 900 human rights dissidents in a 48 hour period." Why do we report it like that when brown peoples' states do it?'posted by Gnatcho at 12:29 PM on June 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
As I stepped into the wagon I could hear an officer mocking the sopping wet detainees, chanting, ‘Whose streets? Our streets!”, mimicking a chant that the G20 protesters shouted throughout the weekend. I took a mental note when I heard another brag that the more arrests they make, the more funding they will receive.And:
Before being released [...] an officer warns me not to visit any more G20-related rallies or protests, and stresses that if I'm seen at any I will be brought back for a more extended stay.posted by Chuckles at 10:42 AM on June 29, 2010
A photo Journalist describes his experience following the black block as they rampage through the streets of Toronto during the G20 Summit.posted by Gnatcho at 12:46 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]
20,000 police and security officials and a $1 billion security budget were not enough to stop 75-100 black block anarchists from smashing windows and torching police cars during a 1.5 hour rampage. The Black Block were able to rampage through the street for 24 blocks until they reached the 'official protest zone' where they quickly changed clothes dispersed through the crowd of peaceful protesters and then left the site.
The police were fully aware of the rampage and watched the black block from a distance at a number of locations. It wasn't until they had dispersed into a crowd of peaceful protesters who thought that they were in a sanctioned area that the police took action beating innocent people with batons and spraying them with pepper spray.
Why was this allowed to happen? Police abandoned police cars at Bay and King when they didn't need to, why? Was this allowed to happen so the Harper government could justify an outrageous security bill when there was no credible terrorist threat (according to CSIS)? Who led this group of vandals? Were they infiltrated by government paid provocateurs as was the case in Montebello where police with masks and rocks attacked their own riot squad?
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posted by saucysault at 1:13 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]