Riots Downtown Toronto

[I heart you]

Police fire rubber bullets into the crowd on University at College.

 

[Paikea]

SALUTE TO OUR POLICE FORCE. DON'T LET THEM FUCK WITH OUR CITY.

 

[Sam Taylor]

Is it just me or does anyone else get more than slightly enraged at those fuck tards breaking the shop windows?

goddamn I'm pissed.......

 

[Miss*Bat]

I also don't get it, what is the purpose for their actions?.

 

[Pompal 09.]

It makes my blood boil to tell the truth.

Any force necessary to repel this hooliganism is fine with me.

I say bring it on.

 

[Bethalee Alice]

Makes me want to put on my Spiderman suit and go down there to kick some ass. Or maybe get my ass kicked.:frown:

 

[Jingjing]

Oh look another CG...

Well, that's just it culo grande... they have no purpose aside from fucking things up for the rest of society. Assholes like that should be dealt with swiftly and effectively which is EXACTLY what the police are doing.

I have no problems what-so-ever with peaceful protests/ demonstrations... but this shit is inexcusable.:shock:

 

[MF. Lif]

Bet yea the cops are treating the arrested very kindly. :he:

 

[AnnaXOX]

:great::great:

 

[D00M- m]

What a lot of people fail to realize is that the protocols for riot control are designed to not be confrontational nor escalate the violence. These people are trained, and have practiced this many times. They are using considerable restraint. I know this, I have been trained in it, and I have done it. It is a thankless job and takes an incredible amount of self-control. When you see officers charge out to take someone down, or use baton guns (rubber bullets) or CS gas it is in response to a very real threat to public safety. (for the most part, RCMP pepper spray in BC was an idiotic move in my opinion, and unwarranted)

By the same token they are dealing with individuals who are practiced and trained to get media attention and sympathy. Any innocent bystander who is stupid enough to get close to groups like the Black Bloc are liable to get hurt. When the violence escalates, there are no innocent bystanders.

I will die for your right to freedom of speech, and to protest. And more than once I have sworn to uphold those rights. It is legitimate and healthy. By the same token, blowing up banks, or walking down the street breaking other peoples property or attacking police is not.

I hope some of these pricks are hunted down and taken for a ride on the "Cherry Beach Express". My apologies to the Pukka Orchestra for that reference.

"Fifty-two Division,
Hand-cuffed to a chair.
Joining the line-up
to fall down the stairs."

 

[cristelle R]

Very sad to see and even more upsetting, apparently many of the people creating damage to innocent store owners shops etc, were not even from here. Throw on a mask, create damage - then run away... change clothes and blend back into the crowd. So sad to see a store owner sweeping away the glass from his broken window. What did he do to deserve this and who will compensate him for the damages done? What message did this send? Voices are heard through peaceful protest, letters and so on. Not through violence.

Ugh, disturbingly sad.

 

[Steve N]

Well, I tell ya, if I owned a shop in the protest areas? I wouldn't leave it and I'd be standing out front with a baseball bat......

I was watching some news reports online about how the protestors were "claiming" abandoned police cars since "they paid for them, they're ours now". Funny, most looked like students who probably haven't worked a day in their life hence probably haven't paid taxes therefore they AREN'T theirs......

One thing I cannot figure out: why don't the police automatically arrest anyone carrying a bat and wearing a mask?

Oh, did you read the report how those arrested were complaining because it was cold and they didn't have any food water or toilets? Guess they shouldn't have gotten arrested then eh?

(I am thankful that I'm no longer living in T.O., the detention centre is about 3 blocks from where I used to live....I'd be down there with a sign: you don't like the conditions? don't break the law!!!)

 

[dobermann lover]

First, I do not condone the violence, rioting, vandalism and instigation done by the "black bloc" or "riot bloc" or whatever they are called. I actually do not think it is just a small group of these individuals at G20, but they were still a small minority amongst large group of protesters. As some have said, they hid amongst the larger group to do their damage, using the naivety of the majority of the protesters.

I do not know the agenda of the "black bloc" or "riot bloc", or if they have any uniform decree, but it would be easy to guess they are young, angry, rebellious youths. They probably share some of the stances of some protesters, and then some:

- anti government
- anti police-state
- anti mult-national corporation
- conspiracy theorists

As far as the vandalism and damage to stores, they were quite selective. Starting north of Queen on Yonge, I saw windows smashed in at:

- Champs, Urban Outfitters, Burger King
- ENTIRELY spared between Queen/Dundas were: Eglin Theatre, all of the Eaton's Centre, Canon Theatre, all of the restaurants including Baton Rouge, Hard Rock massageplanete

North of Dundas there was damage at:
- Rogers, Foot Locker, Pizza Pizza, American Apparel, Zanibar!
- pre-bordered were HMV and a jewellery store

The most serious damage occurred at the Yonge/College intersection and west on College:
- Bell outlet, Tim Horton's, Starbucks, Winners, Rexall, CIBC, Credit Union

The Starbucks at Yonge/College was a complete mess. Every window/door broken. Chair hanging out a window. Yet, right beside them, a mom'N'pop convenience was open, and spared. I talked to the owners. They were scared, shaken, upset, still open, and most importantly, unharmed.

Again, I am not, in any way, condoning the vandalism done by these individuals, but I think they are attempting to make a statement, as severely misguided as it is. I just thing it is unfair to LUMP this group, who were a minority, whom we saw in the news, with a majority of the protesters.

With regard to what happened at Queen's Park late yesterday, and today at Queen/Spadina, that is a different issue.

 

[AdvicePlease]

Yeah slocum, I heard that they are protesting against corporate america yet, and I don't think they totally grasp this concept, but corporate america employs millions of people locally. If it wasn't for these conglomerates, those millions wouldn't have jobs.

But frankly, the ones doing the damage probably don't have jobs anyways and possibly were turned DOWN by the corporations.

 

[Jenna K]

Sorry, somehow my post was duplicate.

Tboy, you have to look at the individuals that feel that way. I don't think they give a rat's ass about most things that we care about.

I was trying to give others insight to these vandals/rioters. They are anarchists, and are against corporate America. Period. I am not sure if they even have a real agenda.

 

[FunctionalDisfunctions]

Easy to be openly critical when you are not there and in their shoes. What did you expect the copers to do Madame? Allow a repeat of Saturday so that they could go back and let Black Blockheads jump out amongst them to finish up the damage to the downtown core? Since when did Torontonians actually grow balls big enough to riot in the streets anyway?

 

[indicabud1uk]

So adelle, would you have them housed at the Harbour Castle? How about the Inn on the Park? WOuld you prefer to have the City of Toronto build special jails just for the G20?

How would you like them to be treated and how do you propose the police achieve this?

It is easy to sit back and criticize, but how about some solutions?

A) some of the protests were against the cost of the g20. So, they want food water and medical care yet the cost of these services would be footed by who? The City of toronto.
B) It is easy to avoid being put into this situation by not being in a confrontation with the police. How hard is this to undestand?
c) Going 30 hrs without food or water is not a big deal. I've had to do it and while it isn't comfy cozy it isn't the end of the word. I mean, they weren't wa****oarded or had electricity connected to their genitals.
d) I do not believe for one second anyone was poked in the eyes while they were cuffed without provocation. I find it hard to believe that they were to begin with but hey, if you believe it to be true then it must be.
e) I find it hard to believe that someone with broken bones went without medical attention for 24 hrs. But if they did, sucks to be them. Sorry, but if you fuck with the bull you get the horn. I'm not saying they don't have a right to assemble P E A C E F U L L Y, but the entire downtown core was like a war zone, and if one C H O O S E S to be in that warzone, they accept total responsibility for what happens to them.

Once again, and for the last time, the g20 is NOT the place to protest. The people who make the decisions are no where near where the protests occur and more than likely won't even KNOW about the protests until weeks later. It would by much more effective to hold a P E A C E F U L protest when there aren't riot police around.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hNkQwBas7Slcts-cUOIAJhnP9HdwD9GJVAD00

read the part where the witness stated that the police treated most with respect......

Tanya Each, who lives in downtown Toronto, said she spent part of Saturday watching events unfold and was still angry.
"We were quite surprised, very shocked, at the way things turned and how quickly they turned for the worse," she said.
"We were kind of surprised that the police didn't use more force. I would have liked to see them use a lot more force than they did."


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/27/blair-g20.html#ixzz0s7ean6sP

Tanya Each, who lives in downtown Toronto, said she spent part of Saturday watching events unfold and was still angry.
"We were quite surprised, very shocked, at the way things turned and how quickly they turned for the worse," she said.
"We were kind of surprised that the police didn't use more force. I would have liked to see them use a lot more force than they did."


​

 

[June Dafina May]

...and you would have been arrested, Toronto is not Texas lol

This is a concept lost on our University students .... even if they were paying taxes, under their logic they could only destroy the percentage of their taxes paid against the total population on the value of the car.

Didn't on day one --- did on day two. In fact if you had anything that could be thought of as a masked you were searched and if they found black clothes you were busted.

It's called the Paris Hilton syndrome.

kf

 

[Arnold]

Actually King, you are allowed by law in Canada to defend your property and to make a citizen's arrest of anyone breaking a law or causing harm to you or your property.

Protecting your property isn't an arrestable offence.

I was listening to The Edge this morning and they had this protestor on. Despite his diatribe he was put on the spot when Dean Blundell said to him: so, you're protesting Corporate practices, so what is your proposed alternative? The protestor's answer was: to protest. So in other words, you want a change, but have no idea on how to make that change come about? Then he was asked to identify his group, and he wouldn't (chickenshit).

Dean can be a bit of an immature tard at times but he has no problems calling a spade a spade.

As with many posters at "the other board", this protestor sat back and criticized an action yet had no concept or proposal for a better alternative.

(the protestor was against the corporate practise of going into a third world country due to tax breaks and low cost labour. One question posed to him was: are low wages better or worse than NO wages?).

 

[Pompal 09.]

I think you should review the law ... or you will end up like that guy in Chinatown who protected his shop from a shoplifting drug adict ... he was charged with assault and forceable confinement. Again we are no Texas.



kf