Anatomy of a "peaceful" protest.
All around the world, people are tuned into the events of the G8 summit in Huntsville, Ontario this past weekend as well as the G20 summit in Toronto taking place right now. Over the past few weeks, much controversy has arisen from people skeptical of the amount of money being spent on making sure this event goes on. The exact price tag is unknown at this point. However, the highest figure has been the $1 billion dollars invested in security.
Of all the costs Canada has had to ante to host this, the security tab is the least concerning. I think that the whole thing will be a waste of time, but the fact of the matter is that Canada is given the opportunity to be a leader in world issues, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has the opportunity to show to Canadians what he stands for, and put forth some conservative initiatives in Canada and around the world. What he does with that opportunity is out of my ballpark.
I’ve been watching one of Canada’s two 24-hour news networks for the last couple of days to get a grasp on what’s actually going on in Toronto. Unfortunately, both of them are crap (not for long though!) As it stands, the best place to get up-to-date information on what’s going on seems to be the Toronto Sun’s G20 LiveBlog.
To date, there have been 6 police cars set on fire, over 500 arrests, 3 failed bombings, crates of weapons seized, Molotov Cocktails defused, rubber bullets used, tear gas emitted, and hundreds of 20-somethings with hemp purses, Che Guevera shirts and a cloud of marijuana smoke following them. Do I have an issue with spending money on security if it prevents world leaders and innocent tourists from being killed on Canadian soil? Not at all.
Amnesty International has already come out in opposition to Toronto police, apparently upset that violent anarchists may be being mistreated. Oh no!
Interestingly, there had been 412 arrests made before the summit even started this morning. One of the detainees was complaining on camera to the fact that there weren’t enough bathroom facilities at the makeshift detention center to ensure the comfort of the prisoners (apparently the Hilton was over-booked.)
If you plan on smashing in police car windows with a baseball bat, and knocking down elderly visitors, women with children, and law enforcement while attempting to hide in a mob for anonymity, I don’t care what happens to you. Strictly Right fully supports the actions of police and tactical units to ensure the safety of the summit.
Tags: Anarchy, Canada, Che Guevera, Communism, G20, G8, Protest, Stephen Harper, Terrorism, Toronto
June 27th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
From what I can gather, it was a group of anarchists causing the damage and lighting cars up. The other 90% of the protestors (regardless of one’s opinion of their cause) shouldn’t be lumped in with the black bloc, which is what is unfortunately happening…
June 27th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrew Lawton, Brian Fojtik and Ari Fine, Ryan Ruppert. Ryan Ruppert said: New Blog Post: Anatomy of a “peaceful” protest. http://bit.ly/9jnvdj #StrictlyRight [...]
June 27th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Ari, I couldn’t agree more. Keep
up the good work!
June 27th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I actually wrote this one Chris
.
June 28th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Best analysis I’ve seen on this stuff Andrew.
June 28th, 2010 at 2:27 am
He has not analyzed anything regarding the g20 meeting or bothered to look into the causes that the thousands of peaceful protestors were advocating. He made some joke about Che guavara shirts and pot smoke. Analysis my ass. Look up the definition of facts, and then look into the definition of half-assed baseless quips.
June 28th, 2010 at 2:31 am
Uh-oh Andrew…one of the code pink nutjobs is on to you! All hail the mighty peacenik, Dove.
The rationale of the protesters is pretty simple, they don’t have one. The kids are all there beacuse their friends are, with no understanding of foreign affairs, just a vague inclination that liberalism will save the world. They’re anti-war, anti-hunger, anti-corporation, etc. War and starvation are bad things sure, but they don’t have a solution. All they know how to do is break in store windows and call Israel an apartheid state.
June 28th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I agree that the protesters without a cause, out to break things, are reprehensible. They, however, made up a small portion of the tens of thousands of peaceful protesters who actually had good reason to take to the streets. In fact, many of the violent protesters who were wearing Che shirts with pot leaf patches WERE POLICE PLANTS. What do you have to say to the pre-emptive arrests by police? To the beating of non-protesters who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? To the deaf man who was beaten and arrested and refused an interpreter because he didn’t hear police commands?
June 28th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
That’s a nice little conspiracy theory there Dove.
I’m not saying that police haven’t screwed up. They didn’t do enough on Saturday I felt, and yesterday they perhaps went overboard, but to say that they planted people is ridiculous, save for the undercover police that were marching from inside the packs.
June 29th, 2010 at 9:53 am
I agree that it would sound ridiculous if Canadian police had not previously admitted to using agent provocateurs at otherwise peaceful protests. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/08/22/ot-070822.html
Regardless, the police stood back and did nothing – which is how the violent black bloc were able to vandalize a 24 block stretch. The police demonstrated it was not due to incompetence, as they were able to violate the rights (to peaceful assembly, to free speech) of the peaceful protesters who had not caused any damage.
I will condemn the actions of the black bloc in a heartbeat. Will condemn the beating of journalists by police? The illegal conditions at detainment camps? The unlawful arrests of peaceful protesters, not to mention of passers by?
June 29th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Edit – actual URL: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/08/22/ot-police-070822.html
June 30th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
[...] STRICTLY RIGHT– G20 Photoblog; Anatomy of a “peaceful” protest; G20 in Toronto: Communists already out …. [...]
July 4th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Gee, Dove. Did you actually read the article you link to? Lots of accusation and insinuation from the usual suspects (unions and CBC) but no proof of any sort.
July 6th, 2010 at 8:12 am
[...] Strictly Right » Blog Archive » Anatomy of a “peaceful” protest. [...]
November 8th, 2010 at 3:36 am
That’s some inspirational stuff. By no means knew that opinions could be this different.