G-20 Summit in Toronto

[Redroom Studios]

I just saw a report on CTV where their reporter Austin Delaney and his camera man caught some of the black clad punks trying to change their clothes to blend in with the crowd. They tried to threaten him but he wasnt backing down at all. Time for some vigilante justice! or atleast video evidence!

 

[Second_in_pie]

Legitimate protest groups and governments both need to band together to make sure issues get heard and that they get heard properly. Unfortunately, the whole reason that protest groups do this is because the government doesn't listen to issues, many of which (such as anti-globalization and corporatism, and environmentalism,) are actually real issues that the government's not acting on. As a result, all that protest groups can do is put pressure on the government like this.

Protest groups need to cool it off, but the government doesn't have to incite them. They come in balaclavas with fireworks and slingshots because they're expected to be treated like criminals. Just look at what the government's done to the G20, making a mockery of every single group by making them all seem like criminals in the government's eyes. Unfortunately, if the government was to take these issues into account, they may as well instead just jump right into what the groups are protesting. So basically, if the protesters step down, these many important issues get shunted from the government's front step. But if they don't and try to change the way things are going, it automatically escalates to being a dangerous confrontation. It's all in the hands of the government to either look at the issues or at least acknowledge that they exist.

 

[Marko]

You know $1.2 billion is an inflated number, right? Just like the $19 mil in security in Pittsbugh is also a false number, as it was only the cost of paid duty police and security guards. It doesn't include rental of barricades, road pylons, hotel or per diem costs for out of town security, etc... The G20 numbers released cover every possible eventuality - the $900 million number that has been floated by media covers every possible worst case contingency plan. They have to pre-approve this just in case - it doesn't mean that's what was spent.

Kind of like the $1.9 mil fake lake actually being only $57K once the real details become known.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Yeah, Miller has the right idea - calling them Anarchists gives them far too much credit. They're little more than vandals and intellectually inept agitators, no different from soccer hooligans. The G20 (or soccer match) are just an excuse to gather in numbers and cause trouble.

and MisterF - talking about them being incited by police doesn't have to be referring to Quebec. It's been a common refrain from protesters of all stripes that they were peaceful and only reached the point of violence or damage because the police instigated it. That batons and pepper spray got them frothing at the mouth and caused a mob mentality to make them do things they wouldn't otherwise have done. Everyone knows it's bullshit, since you don't show up in balaclavas and ski masks carrying fireworks and chunks of concrete to a peaceful protest.

Thanks Marko. You just said what I would have said with a lot more tact than I would have had.

 

[jn_12]

I know what you are saying but if you are a small businessman or innocent bystander who was just affected by these people, it lends you very little comfort to know that they are just a small group hiding within a larger protest.

Legitimate protest groups, worldwide, need to find a way for their protests to stop becoming a hide-in-plain-sight cover for extremists or we all risk losing that most basic of right....freedom of speech and assembly.

I agree, but it's near impossible, especially when the media only reports on the negative. All it takes is one person to do something negative in order for the attention to deflect away from the cause. I'm not sure what the solution is other than for there to be a coordinated way that all protesters can be identified (so maybe everyone wears the same shirt or something?) but that seems like a pretty daunting task and makes it difficult for people to participate, which works against the democratic values that most of these groups support.

I just finished watching the news (ctv/cp24), and they spent the entire time talking about the two police cars that were torched and what the "anarchists" were up to. No one asked what the peaceful protesters were doing or why they were there. So it's fair to say that the media fuels some of this as well.


I think the other issue is that these are only government meetings. Why aren't international NGO's invited to discuss issues as well? Is global governance only a state thing, or is there room for transnational groups to sit at the table? Perhaps that's a way of ensuring that issues are heard, since those who protest would have a voice at the table and wouldn't need to assemble.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Legitimate protest groups and governments both need to band together to make sure issues get heard and that they get heard properly. Unfortunately, the whole reason that protest groups do this is because the government doesn't listen to issues, many of which (such as anti-globalization and corporatism, and environmentalism,) are actually real issues that the government's not acting on. As a result, all that protest groups can do is put pressure on the government like this.

Protest groups need to cool it off, but the government doesn't have to incite them. They come in balaclavas with fireworks and slingshots because they're expected to be treated like criminals. Just look at what the government's done to the G20, making a mockery of every single group by making them all seem like criminals in the government's eyes. Unfortunately, if the government was to take these issues into account, they may as well instead just jump right into what the groups are protesting. So basically, if the protesters step down, these many important issues get shunted from the government's front step. But if they don't and try to change the way things are going, it automatically escalates to being a dangerous confrontation. It's all in the hands of the government to either look at the issues or at least acknowledge that they exist.

puh-leese!!! That's circular logic and it's rediculous. Black block admitted that their initial protest in Seattle/Vancouver(?) was most effective in creating chaos and damage because it was unexpected. Since then police forces have ramped up their forces in order to prevent this from happening. Then they use that as an excuse for more violence???

 

[Second_in_pie]

At the very least, the government's doing no good labeling them all as criminals. And it goes back to the start, where this is an effective way of getting out a message that the government's in some way ignoring. By labeling them as criminals for protesting, at least the peaceful ones, their issue goes from being credible to some far-off anarchist thing. So it tells people, broadly, that protesting and actually getting an issue out in the open is not a noble thing to do, and is in fact the opposite; inciting violence and causing damage. There are many ways of making sure shit doesn't hit the roof without alienating people with an actual message. Doing that just means that the anarchists and terrorists are winning.

 

[Marko]

At the very least, the government's doing no good labeling them all as criminals.

You're not doing yourself any favors or getting a clear message out either - they have lebeled only the damage causing vandals as criminals, and made very clear that they commend the other 90% of peaceful protesters for remaining peaceful.

 

[gabe]

I agree, but it's near impossible, especially when the media only reports on the negative. All it takes is one person to do something negative in order for the attention to deflect away from the cause. I'm not sure what the solution is other than for there to be a coordinated way that all protesters can be identified (so maybe everyone wears the same shirt or something?) but that seems like a pretty daunting task and makes it difficult for people to participate, which works against the democratic values that most of these groups support.

I just finished watching the news (ctv/cp24), and they spent the entire time talking about the two police cars that were torched and what the "anarchists" were up to. No one asked what the peaceful protesters were doing or why they were there. So it's fair to say that the media fuels some of this as well.

I watched that too, i 'm sick of watching the same footage of starbucks getting smashed and the police cars on fire over and over, And to add fuel to the fire Gord on citynews spent like 10 mins talking with that idiot John Clarke, like anyone cares what that loud mouth idiot has to say at this point in time.

 

[casaguy]

I just saw a report on CTV where their reporter Austin Delaney and his camera man caught some of the black clad punks trying to change their clothes to blend in with the crowd. They tried to threaten him but he wasnt backing down at all. Time for some vigilante justice! or atleast video evidence!

Here are some of the criminal low-lifes. Get their faces out there. Send these to everyone!

^ Caught on video - G20 Toronto Vandals / Criminals black clad bottom-feeders captured changing their clothes - Photo evidence

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Guess in a few days/weeks we will see photos and video of agent provacateurs causing all this mess and destruction, right? All so that they can blame police for inciting this crap?

 

[Redroom Studios]

nice job Casaguy - ya that was the footage I was referring to!

now look at all the idiots and assholes just milling around Queen's Park, disobeying the police instructions to break up for no reason other than to incite and inflame the police. Round them up and throw them in the meat grinder... they have nothing helpful to offer this world.

 

[Marcanadian]

Maybe the next G20 meeting should be done by video conference...

 

[Bayer]

Round them up and throw them in the meat grinder... they have nothing helpful to offer this world.

For the heinous crime of smashing windows, "they have nothing helpful to offer this world"... Somehow you're scarier than they are.

 

[marathe]

Here are some of the criminal low-lifes. Get their faces out there. Send these to everyone!

^ Caught on video - G20 Toronto Vandals / Criminals black clad bottom-feeders captured changing their clothes - Photo evidence

What a bunch of weenies. They all look like their hair's still wet from the amount of swirlies they were given in high school through university.