G8/G20 June 2010 Protest Watch

[Teeps74]

Maybe I am wrong, but I was brought through the system to believe that once a person has been counselled and punished, the subject should be dropped.

As right (or wrong) as we may have been, gloating about it now just makes us look like the fools on the other side of the fence.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Darn I hate when he's right.....

 

[The Bread Guy]

Reporters/media outlets have to apply for accreditation to these things, right?  So, as part of that process, should the security folks have been asking media at that point what they might be carrying (or political folks liaising with security types to do the same), or should media have pre-declared "health & safety rules dictate that our staff have body armour/gas masks"?  I ask because I don't know what happens with such accreditation processes.

This from the Canadian Press:

There's security, and then there's G8 security _ complete with hundreds of police officers seemingly bored out of their minds.

"Excuse me, sir, can you open the trunk of your car?" one young officer asked as he motioned for me to pull over Thursday evening.

Alarm bells went off in my head as I was about to enter the "interdiction zone," dreaded by the poor residents living near the site of Canada's G8 summit. Living inside the zone has meant a five minute drive home from downtown Huntsville could easily take half an hour or more.

As a journalist assigned to cover the G8 in Huntsville, I had been here twice before on this sunny day, showing my identification and a letter issued to me that would allow me into the zone. Both times, no problems.

This time, however, the officer took exception to my Parliament Hill badge, which I wear every day while covering politics in Ottawa and which clearly identifies me as a reporter.

After weaving my way through the s-shaped zig-zag checkpoint area, I pulled over to an area reserved only for those who might soon be ejected.

Before I opened the trunk of my car, there were two officers scanning my vehicle from the outside.

Once the lid was opened, and the contents of the trunk revealed, uniformed police seemed to come out of every corner.

Two more police officers. Then four more. Three taking notes. Then another.

Two more still began to rifle their way through the entire car, looking curiously at my half-eaten bagel and the bottle of wine I bought as a thank you gesture to my friend and Huntsville resident for letting me stay at his place for a couple of nights.

While one stood guard over me, presumably for my own safety, officers from the Ontario Provincial Police crime unit descended on the vehicle.

Then, the G8 security task force sent in their people. More uniforms took notes.

"Of course, we are very curious about why you are carrying body armour and a gas mask in your car," said a female officer who asked not to be identified in the media. In fact, no one could be identified. For security reasons, of course ....

Spoiler alert:  they let him go  ;D

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from the National Post:

The Toronto Police Service has been prohibited from using the “alert” function of its so-called “sound cannons” against protesters at the G20 Summit.

Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown granted a limited injunction after hearing arguments earlier this week.

“If the Toronto Police Service were to operate the alert function in accordance with their current operating procedures, a very real likelihood existed that demonstrators might suffer damage to their hearing,” the judge said in a comprehensive 44-page ruling issued Friday morning.

Toronto police may still use the “voice” function of the Long Range Acoustical Devices (LRAD) for crowd control during the summit. The alert function may also be activated for marine operations or in Emergency Task force situations.

Judge Brown also declined to order restrictions on the Ontario Provincial Police use of the alert function on its LRAD devices, The standard operating procedure of the OPP for its sound cannon,  involves a “lower volume” and “greater distance” from crowds than Toronto police ....

Meanwhile, "he says-she says" about a law requiring people to identify themselves to get into a certain area - this from the Canadian Press ....:

Critics are comparing a secret law passed by the Ontario government to give police special powers during the G8 and G20 summits to Canada's War Measures Act.

The regulation gives police the power to arrest anyone coming within five metres of the security fences around the summit site in Toronto.

Police can also demand identification from people near the security fences, and anyone who refuses to provide it can face up to two months in jail and a $500 fine.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Community Safety says the Ontario Public Works Protection Act dates back to 1939, and was simply extended to the G20 security perimeter for one week.

The same law gives police the power to ask anyone entering a courthouse for identification and to search any bags they have.

The province's Liberal cabinet secretly passed the new regulation June 2 without any debate in the legislature, which was still in session at the time.

A Facebook group created today condemns the Ontario Public Works Protection Act, which it says "seriously curtails our rights and freedoms."

The law went into effect on Monday and will expire next Monday, after the G20 wraps up in Toronto.

.... and this from Toronto's Police Chief, via the Toronto Star:

An exasperated Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is defending the police's sweeping powers to arrest anyone near the G20 security zone who refuse to identify themselves.

Blair has said repeatedly at a morning news conference that the law wasn't a secret, that is was published two weeks ago and that there is nothing sweeping about it.

"They have a right not to identify themselves. They may leave. If they try to force their way in, they will be arrested," Blair said.  "The five metre zone around the fence is to protect the barrier. We've all seen film of people trying to pull the fence down. we want to make sure people aren't pulling down the fence."

"It's not a new law, it's not a secret law,  if you Google Public Works Protection Act, Ontario" it's there, he said.

The Star reported this morning that a 32-year-old man was arrested under the new regulations.

Sure enough - here's the Google search results, and here's the Act.

 

[57Chevy]

From post #382
"This time, however, the officer took exception to my Parliament Hill badge, which I wear every day while covering politics in Ottawa and which clearly identifies me as a reporter."

Who cares about your Parliament Hill badge?  Are you lost ?.... Does this look like Parliament Hill to you?      I would have jumped on it also.........full search ;D

 

[Danjanou]

From post #382
"This time, however, the officer took exception to my Parliament Hill badge, which I wear every day while covering politics in Ottawa and which clearly identifies me as a reporter."

Who cares about your Parliament Hill badge?  Are you lost ?.... Does this look like Parliament Hill to you?      I would have jumped on it also.........full search ;D

Really full search  >

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from the Canadian Press:

A lone protester in the middle of a huge field otherwise known as the G8 protest zone has staged what will likely go down as the most successful demonstration of the summits.

"More Cookies For Kids" was 22-month-old Tyler Spencer's placard demand, and police gamely obliged Friday.

The Hunstville, Ont., boy's parents, Jennifer and Steve Spencer, are excited to have the international summit in their town and wanted to go by the designated speech area and see the action.

"We found an empty field and a few cameras and some cops," Jennifer Spencer said.

(....)

Tyler seemed more preoccupied with the mud in the field rather than the cookie protest placard his father made.

"I wanted, 'Make Carebears, Not War,' " Jennifer Spencer said.

Not long after the toddler set up camp a provincial police officer acceded to his demands.

"He got his cookie so he's happy," his mom said. "No need for aggression." ....

 

[The Bread Guy]

Gee, mom, thanks for the support:

.... Josie Forcadilla, the mother of a Canadian soldier recently deployed to Afghanistan, will join a G20 anti-war rally, making her first-ever public comments against the war. The Canadian Peace Alliance is holding a press conference at 11:30am Saturday outside the U.S. Consulate at 360 University Avenue, featuring Forcadilla and other opponents of the war.

“Considering the number of deaths, not to mention the injured and those who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, it is time for the Harper government to withdraw unconditionally all Canadian Forces personnel in Afghanistan," says Forcadilla.

“The expansionist and integrationist policy of the Canadian Forces has failed as evidenced by the mounting casualties in the rank and file – 148 fallen soldiers to date -- and the toll the Afghan civilian population is taking,” Forcadilla adds ....

More here.

Also, more kumbaya messaging from some of the protesters:

"This action will be militant and confrontational, seeking to humiliate the security apparatus and make Toronto's elites regret letting the dang G20 in here."

More here.

 

[aesop081]

The expansionist and integrationist policy of the Canadian Forces

Hum......what ?

 

[Michael OLeary]

Protesters vow to storm G20 security fence
http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/26/14526566.html

TORONTO - Union protesters are vowing to charge the G20 security fence Saturday ­ even if the police try to stop them with violence.

In a Saturday morning press conference at Allen Gardens, the Toronto Community Mobilization Network told reporters the People's First March will have protesters heading to the fence surrounding the summit site in downtown Toronto.

"Many of us will go to the fence," said Kelly O'Sullivan with the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4308. "We go to the fence because the (G20) don't represent working people.

"Nothing has ever been given to working people. We have to take what we deserve. If going to the fence involves violence we will decide how we will respond."

O'Sullivan said protesters have a "right to go to the fence."

"If the police respond with violence you (the media) have to hold them accountable," she said.

The People's First March is expected to start at Queen's Park at 1 p.m.

Saturday.

Ahead of the march - which is expected to be the largest protest of the summit - Toronto was a ghost town with few cars on the road and even fewer pedestrians around most of the downtown and even the city's mid-town.

After a rally outside the Ontario Legislature, the march is expected to head south and wind around the downtown before heading back to Queen's Park.

At it's southernmost point, the march will be just blocks from the G20 summit traffic zone and the fenced in outer security zone.

Groups including the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance (SOAR) have vowed to march alongside the protest before heading for the fence.

According to postings on anarchist websites, the group is vowing to "to confront the police state and Toronto's corporate culture."

"This action will be militant and confrontational, seeking to humiliate the security apparatus and make Toronto's elites regret letting the dang G20 in here," states a SOAR callout posted on the Guerrilla Underground Network.

A little more at link, including:

Meanwhile the Globe and Mail is reporting two G20 officers were robbed of laptops, badges and their ID. In one case, the newspaper says an officer was robbed in his hotel room by a prostitute. An RCMP officer's room was broken into, the report says. Most of the stolen items have been found and police are searching for the suspects.

 

[cn]

My kind of protest...

**Picture on the link makes the story awesome! (edit: attached below)

From the Globe & Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/huntsville-a-protest-free-zone/article1619160/

Caroline Alphonso

Huntsville, Ont. — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published on Friday, Jun. 25, 2010 10:57PM EDT


.At one point Friday, the only demonstrator on the designated protest grounds was a one-year-old demanding cookies.

Despite the millions spent to keep demonstrators away from world leaders in Huntsville, the mass protests that have marked other G8 summits didn’t materialize here. A designated protest zone, a farmer’s field down the highway from the Deerhurst Resort where leaders met Friday, sat empty, except for young Tyler Spencer.

The boy wandered aimlessly around the field next to a placard that read “More Cookies for Kids.” His demands were immediately met: Police officers gave him packets of chocolate-chip cookies.

“He got his cookie, so he’s happy,” joked his mother, Jennifer. “No need for aggression.”

As Toronto is beset by protests, Huntsville residents lingered on street corners wondering where the action was.

“Are you a protester?” asked an elderly man as a reporter walked by. Anxious residents stood along Main Street with cameras in hand, hoping to catch a glimpse of a demonstration or of a G8 leader. All they saw was some light traffic, including police motorbikes and cruisers driving by.

There were some modest demonstrations. Early Friday morning, a small group of locals walked the town’s centre calling for leaders to declare water a human right.

Oxfam brought out giant papier-mâché heads of the G8 leaders and stood by the town dock. The group’s ambassador, actor Bill Nighy, was on hand to be a “benign nuisance” and urge G8 leaders to move the issue of poverty up on their agenda.

“I’m an actor. I’m not an expert in international affairs,” said Mr. Nighy, who has been in such movies as Love Actually and Pirates of the Caribbean and had just arrived here from Kenya. “I’m simply able to draw a little bit of attention, so I just wander about the place and I hope that people like you will listen.”

But in the course of his demonstrating duties, Mr. Nighy couldn’t help but notice the cottage-country surroundings. “I love it here,” said the English actor. “I want to live in Huntsville.”

With a report from The Canadian Press

 

[ArmyRick]

Bill Nighy? he would get more results if he showed up as his Pirates of the Carribean character, Davy Jones.

 

[George Wallace]

Anyone questioning the costs for Security, should be watching the NEWS.  Even CBC isn't immune.

 

[observor 69]

Watching my local CTV channel here in the GTA and things are getting very bad in the downtown G20 area.
Just the things you have seen in previous G20s. Vandalism, broken windows,burning cop cars the police security forces are working to contain the anarchists, the Black Block, but it looks like a close thing.

 

[PPCLI MCpl]

I am bothered by an inaccuracy in the MSM's coverage of todays G20 "escalation of force".

They are starting to refer to this self proclaimed splinter group as the "Black Block":

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/26/g20-saturday-protests.html

"As well, anarchists in a splinter group were spotted breaking away from the main group of marchers in a few locations, including Queen and John streets, where they attempted to move toward the summit site. They dress similar to members of the Black Block, a group that has used violence such as widespread vandalism in past G20 protests."

A "Black Bloc" is merely one of the many tactics utilized by protesters. This particular tactic has been around for about 30 years, and is known to turn violent due to the anonymity afforded to it's participants:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc

It is difficult to define the composition or purpose of a Black Bloc, as many times it is merely a loose affiliation of protesters united by either the charismatic leadership of an individual or the detailed planning of a professional protester.

 

[Michael OLeary]

By definition, as soon as any group of protesters (that are unidentifiable by other specific designation) adopts those tactics they become, in effect, "black block."

 

[The Bread Guy]

Anyone questioning the costs for Security, should be watching the NEWS.  Even CBC isn't immune.

Maybe CBC TV - just heard the 5pm national newscast on CBC Radio, and in the lead story (~1 minute +), the reporter spent a lot of time saying most protesters were not violent - and zero mention of burning police cars.

As they say on Twitter, #journalismfail

 

[The Bread Guy]

Wait, wait, wait, silly me, I'm over-reacting to the Toronto cop cars being torched. 

This from one of the protest organizing groups:

Confirmed: @torontopolice left junk cars in streets to be torched by agents provocateurs.

The cops themselves lit their cars on fire - I see.... :

 

[The Bread Guy]

Even Olivia Chow gets it:

The peaceful rally has finished. The violence has nothing to do with it. Sad "Make Poverty History" message lost.

Hope the pp using violence #G20 would be arrested as they are hijacking thousands of peaceful pp, esp women/children.

Maybe if she and her colleagues said this out loud, oh, I don't know, BEFORE it all started?

On a lighter note, GOTTA love this protest sign behind the reporter:

 

[57Chevy]

Riot police begin making arrests as violent G20 protest wears on:

TORONTO — Following an afternoon of violent clashes in Toronto, riot police have begun arresting G20 protesters and have fired pepper spray into the crowd.

Clashes with police broke out early Saturday afternoon as an estimated 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Toronto as part of a massive anti-G20 protest that saw three police cars set on fire.

While most were content to sing songs, wave placards and dance, a smaller group, estimated at roughly 100, were doing more serious damage, smashing windows at banks and shops in the downtown, as well as attacking two media vehicles

(article continues)

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/protests+Toronto+turn+violent/3206512/story.html#ixzz0s06tdbbc


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