toraerach
Active Member
It's interesting how much of a spectator sport this all became. Suddenly the fact that American Civil War battles used to attract quite the civilian gawker crowd makes a bit more sense to me.
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G-20 Summit in Toronto
- Thread starter TO City of Light
- Start date
SimonP
Active Member
I was around Queen and Spadina soon after this all began. I was trying to get across town on the Queen streetcar, but since the streetcars were blocked by the events on Spadina, I was forced to travel through the area on foot.
One important thing to note is that the Queen West and Spadina areas weren't deserted. They were filled with hundreds of people going about their normal lives. Fewer than on a normal summer afternoon, but still a lot of folk shopping or travelling through the area to other parts of town. It's very believable that many people who had nothing to do with the protests were trapped by the officers.
One important thing to note is that the Queen West and Spadina areas weren't deserted. They were filled with hundreds of people going about their normal lives. Fewer than on a normal summer afternoon, but still a lot of folk shopping or travelling through the area to other parts of town. It's very believable that many people who had nothing to do with the protests were trapped by the officers.
Peepers
Banned
I don't know how anyone can have respect for our cops after what we have witnessed these past days. Yesterday the cops idly stood by as 100's of businesses were vandalized by a relatively small group of EASILY identifiable anarchists. NOT ONE cop was seen trying to stop the criminals. The cowardly cops could not even stop the destruction of many of their own police cruisers.
Today these same coward cops encircled a relatively small group of people (200) on Queen street, made up of protesters, media, onlookers and people just out shopping! Once the crowd was completely surrounded, the coward cops starting pulling them out one-by-one and arresting them without any cause whatsoever. Their actions were illegal as well as cowardly.
When cops can get away with this kind of conduct we no longer live in a free society and we have only ourselves to blame for allowing this to happen. I cannot imagine Americans surrendering their freedoms so easily. This is the reason why Americans cherish the right to own guns so much. The best protection against tyranny is a heavily-armed citizenry.
These last few days have really reinforced what I have long believed about our cops. When confronted with real threats of force they turn and run like cowards - like the 3 cops that ran like hell from the cruiser before it was torched at King and Bay. When the threat is small or not even real (as on Queen street) and the police force is overwhelming - the cops turn into obnoxious thugs.
Today these same coward cops encircled a relatively small group of people (200) on Queen street, made up of protesters, media, onlookers and people just out shopping! Once the crowd was completely surrounded, the coward cops starting pulling them out one-by-one and arresting them without any cause whatsoever. Their actions were illegal as well as cowardly.
When cops can get away with this kind of conduct we no longer live in a free society and we have only ourselves to blame for allowing this to happen. I cannot imagine Americans surrendering their freedoms so easily. This is the reason why Americans cherish the right to own guns so much. The best protection against tyranny is a heavily-armed citizenry.
These last few days have really reinforced what I have long believed about our cops. When confronted with real threats of force they turn and run like cowards - like the 3 cops that ran like hell from the cruiser before it was torched at King and Bay. When the threat is small or not even real (as on Queen street) and the police force is overwhelming - the cops turn into obnoxious thugs.
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Coltaine79
Active Member
Guess people like you are not familiar with the Charter, and the right to peaceful assembly?
Anyways constantly hearing labels like "leftist" from fascist thugs like yourself is what's really annoying. If a Leftist is someone who's upper middle class, working for an "evil" financial institution which was the target of BB anarchists, strong believer in both economic liberalism (Adam Smith) and civil liberties (as per Jefferson) - then yeah, I'm a leftist and proud of it.
I think the whole Q&S encounter has already been discussed in detail; the protesters were boxed in so they couldn't escape even if they wanted to. Even if they weren't, they had the right to peaceful assembly (just like the Tamils; don't recall the riot police ever charging them).
GenerationW
Senior Member
So...........how about that Germany-England game?
Marko
Active Member
You tell me - which is the label that does more smearing - leftie, or fascist thug?
Glass houses, Coltaine.
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As for QueenW and Spadina - clearly there were miscues, but it's not like they were beaten or something 'fascist' like. The authorities warned spectators and gawkers to stay out of the area and if you were from the area, not to linger around as it made it difficult for police to separate mob from bystanders - and that's exactly what happened. They were detained, questioned and released - something that should have been entirely predicted based on what transpired 24 hours earlier.
The people in that photo don't look like they're cowering in fear, nor do the police look like they're swinging their batons indiscriminately.
The police were in a no-win situation - even by your complaints. One day they don't do enough (which we can all agree) and the public demands more. The next day they actually do more, effectively keeping things safer with all the earlier arrests, but by inconveniencing some innocents who put themselves in the wrong place at the right time they become fascist thugs.
Thing of beauty. I love seeing the loudest mouthed frontrunners sent home, which includes Italy and France too. Sadly Portugal is still around...
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Jonny5
Senior Member
The preferred term is champagne socialist, but in a crunch, limousine liberal is acceptable.
nfitz
Superstar
Surely that denied goal was what everyone was protesting, right?
GenerationW
Senior Member
Sepp Blatter was burned in effigy.
tracyjacks
New Member
The police didn't 'do enough' when the situation turned violent and people started committing illegal acts of vandalism. When the police 'actually did more,' nobody was doing anything violent or illegal. Am I missing something?
nfitz
Superstar
There are reports that the police found out, or believed, that some of the those caught at Queen/Spadina where carrying both weapons (i.e. sticks and stones) and black masks. Not wanting to get caught out like they did on Saturday, they moved to shut them down. If that's true, they succeeded very well. But how many innocent people were caught in the net.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
It's a strange tactic though ... trapping people in pouring rain for 4 hours, without access to food, drinking water, or bathrooms? Got to wonder the legality here ... perhaps that's why they suddenly let everyone left go at the 4-hour mark.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
It's a strange tactic though ... trapping people in pouring rain for 4 hours, without access to food, drinking water, or bathrooms? Got to wonder the legality here ... perhaps that's why they suddenly let everyone left go at the 4-hour mark.
khris
Senior Member
Most of these people had NO TIME to get out. The police moved in that quickly. In fact, the police had already blocked off the intersection before they even arrived, and then surrounded them immediately. Some of these people were waiting for the streetcar. There were 9 streetcars stopped east of Spadina in fact. That is how sudden this happened. So for you to say that is just obvious that you are clueless as to what happened.
khris
Senior Member
Stay out of the area? PEOPLE LIVE HERE! I LIVE HERE! I need to get groceries and live like everyone else in this world too. What am I supposed to do, lock my door, close my blinds, and not leave my house? Not only that, but people were told not to go to the security zone. Queen and Spadina is NOT the security zone. Nowhere near it!
WHy do people like you not understand that many of these people were nothing to do with the protests or the march down Queen. They were people who were on their way home from shopping, or whatever they were doing today. There were even a couple of guys who were watching the soccer game and got caught up in everything and suddenly found themselves surrounded by riot police.
And how dare you speak for those that were arrested and detained! You presume to know how they felt.
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dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
picard102
Senior Member
You fascist thug!!