Posts Tagged by protesters

We All Lost With the G20

6/28/2010

Posted by Patti under Canadian News, Canadian Politics

1 Comment

I watched in disgust on Saturday the footage of the rampage by black clad protesters as they wantonly vandalized stores and businesses in the downtown area of Toronto. I saw police cruisers vandalized and set on fire. For a while, I was willing to reluctantly consider that the almost $1billion in security costs may have been money well spent.

The question also arose in my mind though, with all that money spent and the massive police presence in Toronto — just how did that group of 100 or so vandals manage to run roughshod over areas of Toronto? It became rather apparent the police were far more intent on protecting that fence than the downtown area outside of it.

Ah yes, that fence, the same one that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair asked the provincial cabinet to pass regulations which allowed police officers to violate our rights and freedoms to protect. The regulations which were supposed to only have effect five metres from that fence. The regulations which appear to have been applied throughout the city to accommodate whatever police state tactics the cops chose to deploy.

I read in the Toronto Star on Sunday morning that the police were aware of at least one bus load of people from Quebec who were headed to Toronto for what appeared to be exactly what we saw on Saturday. That begs the question — if the cops knew they were coming, why did they let them arrive? Being unable to prevent their arrival, why was some of that massive police presence not used to keep a close eye on them and nail them as soon as they started something? (more…)