G20 Toronto: Peaceful Protest is NOT Tolerated

Awful, just awful.

Now show the video of the police car being set on fire.
That's what fighting against a police state looks like.

Have fun waving your signs and being ignored…

People complain that this sort of thing costs money. Thing is, it's not the protesters costing so much money, its the police. It actually looks like there's more police than protesters! Its also the G20's fault. They should meet on a small island or something (like an offshore tax haven – and they could check their tax-free assets are safe while they are there) where no one can protest.

If you don't want to pay the money it costs for people to exercise their right to protest, scrap them. And scrap freedom and democracy too while you're at it. Most people won't care. (I doubt half would even notice).

are you from Toronto? Did you see them do nothing to the rioting “black bloc” then regroup later to bust heads at peaceful demonstrations at the G20 designated protest area on the lawn of Queen's Park? Or when they tear-gassed a peaceful sit in? Or when they detained passersby for 3 hours in the rain? I

All you “peaceful protesters” were merely “riot tourists”. You were told over and over to leave the area and you chose to stay and watch and wait for that wonderful “you-tube moment”. By standing around and providing a crowd you facilitated black block criminals either on purpose or by you own stupidity. I have no symapthy for you if you got caught in the net. The whining and feigned injuries reminded me of a soccer game…whith all the claims of police brutality, where are the injuries? Getting a cheese sandwich at the holding facility and having to use a porta-potti with no door is hardly brutality. Kudos to our police!

Considering we don't have freedom or democracy now, you're right, no one would notice.

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. The fact that one 'element' resorted to vandalism previously meant that the police could justify such a 'pre-emptive strike'

I was there and witness my-self and have footage of people singing O Canada and got charged by police. You probably an undercover yourself to defend the pigs. Beside 10 kids smashing windows is call juvenile delinquance but in Toronto, for the same act you became and urban terrorist. so please give me a break..

Yeah man, you're kinda right.. right-ish

But who's to say that a 'riot tourist' cannot ultimately be a more effective voice for change than an enraged rioter?

Police were brought in from all over the country – Municipal Police from Toronto, Montreal, Saskatoon, and others. Ontario Provincial Police. RCMP (Canada's Federal Police force) and some Military personnel as well.

we didn't do those things.

you cannot continue to view the situation within the context of a conflict between two groups.

you are a primary example of how oversimplified dichotomy (protesters vs. cops) misses the entire point and distorts the truth of a situation.

Good work, now shut up.

It was sort of a rhetorical “you”. Obviously I wasn't referring to you, hdcase, who commented a day after I wrote the words.

Also, I spot at least 4 groups in my comment above: black bloc idiots, non-violent protesters, riot police, agent provocateurs. So maybe I'm limiting my thinking to a quadchotomy (is that a word?), but definitely not a dichotomy.

Instead of telling me to shut up, why don't you explain what you think I'm missing here?

I'll start us off. I think you're missing the entire point I'm trying to make: when people engage in acts of petty or symbolic violence against the state, they do more harm than good to their cause. The state has a near monopoly on violence… you can try to inch your way into that market, but you're going to get beat (literally).

Yeah let's hope you never have to be brutalized by the police to realize how ignorant your statements are. Gov't employees do not have the right to terrorize their bosses (the Soverign people)
They are not police, they are cowards. What are they Policing?? No one has offended them, nothing has been down to instigate this oppression, brutality and violence.

Real police officers protect the citizens and the constitution. Those are officers to be proud of. These men are not knight like. They are not warriors but infantile soldiers taking orders robotically with no consciousness of who they serve.

Why? Blind allegiance to the police state. How sad.

Being a riot tourist is not against the law. Take that cops cock out of your mouth for long enough to realise that what the police did is not law enforcement.

You're just making things up. Everyone left any area they were told to leave except those whom were completely surrounded before being told to clear the area. But you're right, they should be arrested because they couldn't fly up. The black bloc committed most of its acts of vandalism away from the densest clusters of peaceful protesters while the police just watched, allowing the damages to continue so that they could later justify the mass arrests to the people watching it on tv, like yourself who believe that it's okay for the police to arrest you because someone else committed a crime eight blocks away from you. If you're not actually interested in knowing how things went down, that's fine. But don't form a strong opinion from a poverty of information. As far as the brutality goes, broken ribs, cracked heads and sexual abuse constitute brutality. Go back to watching soccer, and complaining about that.

OK. why?

I heard from a friend who had a friend in the Government that 2 of the police cars were towed and left at the scene. They had to be towed because they had no gasoline which could explode. Apparently one of the cars was without plates. Does anyone have a picture of that? Abandoned police car without plates? Also it is odd that given that the streets around the protests were empty why didn't the fire department respond. Burning cars are dangerous I think.
They all have fire extinguishers in the trunk. Why didn't the police put it out? Where were the police?
Seems all very fake to me. If there was a car fire the police (serve and protect) would have kept people well back but failed too.
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At first, I was going to rail against the rioting hippies with my comment. And I do think the self-righteous proclamations of being “peaceful protesters” really does stretch the truth. And, furthermore, I love how these same folks call the Tea Party events violent, when the only violence that has occurred at them has essentially been provoked by leftist SEIU thugs.

BUT…I'll spare all of you all of that, and here's why:

Government is out of control. I hope we can all agree that it's operated at equally reckless abandon, in albeit different ways, under both perceived-to-be far right administrations and perceived-to-be far left administrations.

…which leads us to a likely conclusion, and that is this:

The Tea Party protesters, G20 protestors et al. ad nauseum are protesting the same damn thing:

tyranny

As long as we remain at odds with each other, the fascists, left and right, will win.

oooooh, love it.

So I have just been reading through all of the threads and see good points on both sides of the septic tank.
Having said this I can only hope that all of those who are angry and feeling that their rights have been violated now realize how important it is to VOTE, pay your taxes and get involved on a regular basis with your local government and communities at large. I know that this is the true mission for many of the protestors who gave their time and efforts to rally for their cause but unfortuantely like many things in life it only takes a few to spoil it for the many, this goes for both police and protestors. If we are to be effective we must also have the fortitutde to monitor from within our own spheres. Police, know your bad cops and manage them, Protestors recognize those in the game for self promotion and sheer violence and govern yourselves accordingly. Do you all have the balls to do this?
No copy is above the law to arrest without warrent to do so and no protester has the right to inflict his or her beliefs on others using violence or vandalism tactics…….no one wins.