toronto police allow vandalism to occur, attack peaceful protestors

[RedSock]

I wrote this Sunday morning, at my partner's fantastic blog:

toronto police allow vandalism to occur, attack peaceful protestors



In August 2007, we learned that Quebec police officers were undercover at a protest in Montebello, carrying large rocks, trying to incite a peaceful crowd to turn violent. Naturally, the RCMP and provincial police categorically denied the story, but were forced to admit the truth when video footage was released. The masked men were wearing the exact same type of boots as the uniformed police officers and when they were confronted by actual protesters, they quickly ran towards (and were allowed behind) the line of riot police.

Today, there are numerous reports -- from both national media and private citizens -- of heavily-armed police at the G20 protests yesterday simply standing around or actually AWOL when some of the most extreme violence was occurring. It makes one highly suspicious that the vandalism may have been allowed to occur to justify the spending of at least $1,300,000,000 of taxpayer money on "security".

(And, sure enough, a few cops were outed, though they were just standing around.)

Of course, the media's obsession with photos and video footage of violence has conveniently pushed aside the existence and concerns of the tens of thousands of peaceful protesters.



The Toronto Star reported that "about 70 black-clad protesters ran amok through mostly deserted streets ... At police headquarters, about 50 officers in full riot gear stood guard, but they didn't move against the protesters even after they smashed the windows of the police museum."

Marcus Gee, columnist for the Globe & Mail, reported that the police kept their distance as a few dozen people "roamed through the business district, then up Yonge and along College, smashing all the way. ... There was not a cop in sight as the crowd went on its rampage on Yonge."

Gee lamented that the peaceful protest was overshadowed by "a small group of perhaps 100 or 200 hard-core militants ... with destruction on their minds", yet he devoted most of his column to their antics. It's irresistible, I guess. The Star's photo section is dominated by action shots of rioters.

David Langille, posting at rabble.ca, said he and a group of friends

... heard glass breaking on Yonge Street, and saw a mob of about 150 coming around the corner, hurling chairs into windows. Someone threw a bottle through a window showering me in broken glass. What was most striking was that there were not any police in sight.

Evidently this group had started rioting on Queen Street over half an hour earlier -- where the police drove one of their cars into the middle of the group then abandon it. It was soon set on fire -- making a great photo op.

The group proceeded up Yonge Street smashing windows at least eight blocks, without being stopped by police. ...

As an academic and an activist, I have participated in numerous demonstrations in Canada, the United States, Europe and South America, and I have never seen such a dereliction of duty. ... hen the rioters came smashing their way up the main street of Toronto, the police disappeared for half an hour.

Judy Rebick, also at rabble:

The police spokesperson told Metro Morning today that they waited until later when it was safer to make arrests but that cannot be true. I was there and ... the cops could have arrested the Black Bloc right at the beginning of the action but they abandoned their police cars and allowed them to burn, not even calling the fire department until the media had lots of time to photograph them. ...

People were shocked last night by a city out of control but ... the bigger question here is why the police let it happen and make no mistake the police did let it happen.

On the rabble discussion boards, "absentia" posted at 7:24 this morning:

I watched the CBC yesterday, and what struck me about the "vandals" scene is how staged it looked.

Two police cars, empty and with open windows, parked out front, apart from everything else, serving no obvious purpose. Masked person saunters up to one, in plain sight of camera, nobody trying to stop him, no sense of urgency or subterfuge... Another one lets camera have a good gawk at his pick-hammer, then calmly and delibaretely smashes plate glass... Almost as if they didn't expect to be stopped.

Mass of robocops in full regalia over here; mass of bicycle cops in shorts and yellow macs, no protective gear, over there, just standing around. Huh?

Another poster, "Groggo", wrote:

About those curious blazing police cars. I was at the site, close to those cars. We were confronted by scores of menacing cops, who were keeping crowds back. Then, an odd thing happened. The cops retreated and went elsewhere, leaving both cars abandoned. I thought this was MOST peculiar. When was the last time you saw cops abandoning their own police cars? Within about 30 minutes ... both cars were set aflame -- how I don't know. MOST peculiarly again, not a single cop was there to step in, although there were hundreds of them just around the corner on Spadina Avenue. The whole thing reeked of a set-up.

CP-24's non-stop, hysterical 'coverage' has been predictably one-sided. The thousands of peaceful demonstrators were all but forgotten. Now, it's all about 'anarchists' and 'thugs'.

Steve Paikin, the host of TVO's current affairs program "The Agenda with Steve Paikin", was in the midst of the protest and his Twitter feed includes several accounts of police brutality (I have combined consecutive tweets into separate paragraphs):

they repeated they would arrest me if i didn't leave. as i was escorted away from the demonstration, i saw two officers hold a journalist. the journalist identified himself as working for "the guardian." he talked too much and pissed the police off. two officers held him. a third punched him in the stomach. totally unnecessary. the man collapsed. then the third officer drove his elbow into the man's back. ...

the demonstration on the esplanade was peaceful. it was like an old sit in. no one was aggressive. and yet riot squad officers moved in. police on one side screamed at the crowd to leave one way. then police on the other side said leave the other way. there was no way out. so the police just started arresting people. i stress, this was a peaceful, middle class, diverse crowd. no anarchists. literally more than 100 officers with guns pointing at the crowd. rubber bullets and smoke bombs ready to be fired. rubber bullets fired ...

the police should be smart & do nothing. this is not a violent crowd. they keep insisting it's a peaceful protest. cops tightening their perimeter. why? they are forcing something they dont need to force. who is ordering these police to tighten the noose? it's unnecessary. evwryone's sitting. now tthety'ret motvintt into the crowd. cops moving closer why? arresin people

Police attacked non-violent protesters, pepper spraying and beating them with batons even as they attempted to comply with police orders.

Earlier, on Thursday afternoon, Dave Vasey was walking with a friend at York Street and Bremner Boulevard when police demanded he show some identification. ("Papers, please!") Vasey said he was not comfortable with the question and was arrested and http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/828372--man-arrested-and-left-in-wire-cage-under-new-g20-law">kept in a wire cage for five hours. Vasey said the police "told me there was this bylaw. I didn't know what they were talking about."

That's because the law was passed in secret.

****

Also: Dammit Janet on agent provocateurs (good comments, too)

There are rumours that one of the police cars abandoned and set on fire was an old out-of-service car, which, if true, would lend further credence to the idea that it was planted there as a theater prop.
Edited to add link.

[RedSock]

1. interesting look at rioters shoes

They are exactly the same as the cops (AGAIN!)!

***

The Toronto G20 Riot Fraud: Undercover Police engaged in Purposeful Provocation
At Tax Payers' Expense
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19928

Toronto is right now in the midst of a massive government / media propaganda fraud. As events unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear that the 'Black Bloc' are undercover police operatives engaged in purposeful provocations to eclipse and invalidate legitimate G20 citizen protest by starting a riot. Government agents have been caught doing this before in Canada. ...

The ‘black bloc,’ if they ever existed as an independent entity, have clearly been thoroughly infiltrated by undercover government agents. In classic covert counterinsurgency strategy these agents manipulate the group to commit violent acts which play directly into hidden government controllers' hands. These controllers manipulate public opinion from behind the scenes through the commission of false flag acts of violence (these are acts falsely blamed on scapegoats other than those concealed perpetrators who are actually responsible.)

The psychological operation (psyop) is then accomplished through the propaganda fulminations of the completely controlled and complicit mass media. As in so many similar situations in so many other countries in the past, the goal of this combination of violent acts and lying media propaganda is to invalidate any legitimate citizen protest of the many immoral acts being wreaked upon the peoples of the world by our governments. The techniques of imperial control which have been used so successfully overseas are now being fully deployed against the people at home. Deployed against us. As far as our war-addicted governments are concerned, we are all insurgents now.

***

(lots of pics)

[Bragi]

2. Law and Order, Harper style

I'm sure the usual 1/3 of conservatives will think busting heads at peaceful demonstrations is a fine idea, but really, how long are the rest of us going to take this shit?

- B

[DRex]

3. I was resistant to this idea at first...

but the behaviour of the police is really puzzling. So we only try to stop peaceful protest from occurring now? If they're violent, just let them go, but if they have a sign and a chant let's stomp them?

If they don't have provocateurs staging these violent episodes, then they are at least complicit in standing down and allowing them to continue unchecked.

Bizarre...