G20 police tactics, a compilation of videos and leftist news stories

I have been contemplating a follow up post to this one on how the role of the police at the G20 summit actually played out, but the more I read about what went on, the less I know what to say about it. I find it sickening that this type of police brutality happened so close to home. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the protests myself (even though I really wanted to), so I am just going to link several articles that I found about the protests. Any readers with first hand accounts to share can post them too, as I have been quite interested in these stories.

News reports Saturday evening said that 300 "anarchists" began rioting... however, there were more than 900 arrests so far. I am not going to show footage of burning police cars or windows being smashed, because if those of you reading this have seen any images about the summit, those are likely the ones you have seen. What was not shown in regular media coverage was that 25,000 protesters were there to oppose the summit in and of itself, as well as various issues surrounding it.



There has been international coverage on some of the tactics used by police officers. I found this video to be especially hard to watch.


This video reminds me of a scene from Braveheart, or a similar type of war movie. The protesters finish singing the national anthem before the police attacked


There is some really good information at rabble, Toronto Media Co-op, and Canadian Dimension, among other sites.

There is also a movement demanding a public inquiry into the police tactics, with a lot of information on this facebook group. This site is asking for stories on the arrests, such as personal accounts, in order to garner more support for this inquiry. I hope most of you become involved in this, if you haven't already, because if it happened once in Canada, it can happen again here and throughout the world. Without serious opposition, this type of policing could become the norm during events such as future summits.

Here is one last video, which describes the story of a reporter who was following the "black bloc" and suspects that much of the violence was led by police officers. I'm not sure that is the case, but it seems to me as though the police may have allowed this to happen.

Gotta love "Democracy"

For the duration of the G8/G20 summit, there is legislation in place called the Ontario Public Works Protection Act, which goes directly against the Canadian Constitution. Among other things, gives police officers in and near the fenced area:

the power to require anyone entering or attempting to enter or approaching the public work 'to furnish his or her name and address, to identify himself or herself and to state the purpose for which he or she desires to enter the public work, in writing or otherwise'.

The police may also 'search, without warrant, any person entering or attempting to enter a public work'. The police can also search 'a vehicle in the charge or under the control of any such person or which has recently been or is suspected of having been in the charge or under the control of any such person or in which any such person is a passenger'.

Finally, the police 'may refuse permission to any person to enter a public work and use such force as is necessary to prevent any such person from so entering'.

Police may arrest, without warrant 'any person who neglects or refuses to comply with a request or direction of a guard or peace officer, or who is found upon or attempting to enter a public work without lawful authority'.

Neglecting or refusing 'to comply with a request or direction made under this Act by a guard or peace officer' or if you are a person found upon a public work or any approach thereto without lawful authority means you could be found guilty of an offence and be liable to a fine of not more than $500 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two months, or to both.

This means that in Canada, people MUST show identification to police officers for no reason (sounds like the Arizona law that has so many people enraged, but with less obvious racial connotations), submit to searches of themselves and their vehicle without cause, and be arrested without a warrant, facing up to two months in prison if they fail to comply? This is taking security way too far.

It's always nice that the most elite people in the world get to throw their billion dollar party that is closed to everyone else, while the "little people" get arrested merely for being in areas near the party that they paid for. I wonder how many peaceful protesters are going to be arrested or worse because of this legislation.

The elitism and issues of social class seem so transparent with regards to this summit that I am baffled at how many people keep telling me that we need this type of security to protect world "leaders" instead of questioning who these "leaders" represent and why the summit exists in the first place.

I should also mention that this was passed secretly, with no public input and little mention until yesterday, and that it is being described as unprecedented in Canada.