G20 Police Confiscate LARPing Gear

[Soviet Heavy]

Keep the car burning to Montreal, but it was the governments own fucking fault that they decided to hold the summit in Toronto.

The stupid morons set it up right smack dab in the middle of the busiest city in the country, forced stores within the security fence to close for the weekend, and then spend a ridiculous amount of money on security.

So, when the bloc anarchists start smashing windows and destroying property, who's going to fill out the check for the damage? Certainly not our fucking government.

Everything about the summit was pointless. It shows just how fucking moronic both our population and the government are.

Fuck you Stephen Harper, this was a goddamn waste.

 

[Wilcroft]

As a Toronto-Area native and resident, I can understand why the police would be seizing weapons of any sort, and I don't fault them for them. Yes, there were some arrests of innocents, but how do you tell a criminal from others? They were playing it safe, and if they hadn't done so and a foreign dignitary was hurt or killed, things would've been alot worse.

See the real problem was putting a huge event in the center of Canada's largest and busiest city! Most companies downtown pretty much told people not to come to work for most of last week, because the whole area just got stupid. You're pretty much asking for trouble.

Don't know if anyone here saw pictures of the G8 protests up in Huntsville, because those pictures were pretty much the opposite - little to not protesting, and all of it peaceful. Why? because it's a 3-and-a-half hour drive from Toronto, with no real transportation to get there. Not sure why they didn't just do both conferences there in the first place.

OT: Sucks to be that LARPer. Should've rescheduled?

 

[Moriarty70]

Since this discussion is going on, I figure I'll throw in my two cents. My real issue is with the "Toronto Community Mobilization Network". The decided they'd be the media voice for all the protest groups, and as such the de facto leaders of all them.

During the "People's Summit" on the weekend that lead up to G8/G20 they were flat out asked if they would condemn any violence that might happen during the protests. Their response was simply that they support "diversity of tactics" and then casually mention past use of agent provocateurs. Even after the Saturday night riot, they only talked about the people arrested and said nothing about the actions of those who rampaged through these areas.

By being the face of the protesters and not taking a stance against the behaviour that sparked most, not all but most, of the police action and caused them to take excessive measures, the TCMN are partly responsible for both the mass arrests and the damage to private businesses. A simple vocal stance against extreme actions beforehand would have given them much more of a moral high ground instead of showing themselves as passively condoning violence and willful disregard for the law.

On the other hand, I did get to see someone at a mid-week middle of the day protest scream at an officer to "get a job". Just goes to show that hypocrisy isn't just for government employees.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Hurr durr, that golf ball looks dangerous hurr. Honestly, isn't there any intelligence left IRL?

 

[Diligent]

So, when the bloc anarchists start smashing windows and destroying property, who's going to fill out the check for the damage? Certainly not our fucking government.

Nail on the head: you hit it sir.
A lot of these douche-bags are just going with the mentality of busting some heads, or wrecking shit, but when they kick in the windows of a Starbucks, or a Wendys, or whatever, they don't realize that these franchises are basically Mom & Pop business owners who happen to be trying to make a living with a franchise they disagree with. You're not hurting the corporation of Starbucks by breaking their windows, you're hurting the owner of the store who has to pay for it, clean up the glass, whatever.

 

[Rocking Thunder]

I have meet some of the nicest police (My Uncle) and I have meet some of the worst police in the world (One arrested my friend because he smelled of smoke even though it was illegal to smoke at that age, and arrested me as well for being with him! He smelled faintly of smoke to the very worst and this was only becuase his father smoked at the time, and we both knew that we were arrested because he dressed in a very counter-culture style) so I see both sides of the story. While the LARP guy was kind of stupid, the police just had to look at the "evidence" to see it was fake. But my uncle has told me about people in his department that will arrest forginers (I live in America, he's over in England) simply because they are forigners. So while I have been pissed as heck from I was arrested for no reason, some people ruin it for everybody, and this goes for both sides.

 

[CanadianWolverine]

You want to call others out for being unfair, unreasonable, and ignorant? Hypocrisy much?

I'm not making excuses. I'm saying it was justified. People seem to think that they can wade into the middle of a shitstorm and come out unscathed because they're not doing anything wrong and they have inalienable human rights. I say, no. There are limits. And when crowds of black-clad, rock-throwing fucks are rampaging through the streets, destroying whatever they can, the police are justified if they come off the leash a little bit.

People who don't like the idea of spending a day or two in makeshift holding pens with one shitter and cheese sandwiches for lunch should perhaps consider staying away from situations where it's likely to happen.

And you would be wrong.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

Fundamental Freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

Legal Rights

Life, liberty and security of person

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

Search or seizure

8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.

Detention or imprisonment

9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.

Arrest or detention

10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention

(a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;

(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and

(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.

Proceedings in criminal and penal matters

11. Any person charged with an offence has the right

(a) to be informed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence;

(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;

(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against that person in respect of the offence;

(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;

(e) not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause;

(f) except in the case of an offence under military law tried before a military tribunal, to the benefit of trial by jury where the maximum punishment for the offence is imprisonment for five years or a more severe punishment;

(g) not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission unless, at the time of the act or omission, it constituted an offence under Canadian or international law or was criminal according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations;

(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be tried for it again and, if finally found guilty and punished for the offence, not to be tried or punished for it again; and

(i) if found guilty of the offence and if the punishment for the offence has been varied between the time of commission and the time of sentencing, to the benefit of the lesser punishment.

Treatment or punishment

12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

Self-crimination

13. A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence.

Interpreter

14. A party or witness in any proceedings who does not understand or speak the language in which the proceedings are conducted or who is deaf has the right to the assistance of an interpreter.

Not only that, you are obfuscating the time line of events, persons, and places, either out of ignorance or deliberate malice. You even go so far as to blame the victim for the acts perpetrated against them. [hyperbole]That woman shouldn't have wore those sexually appealing clothes and been walking in the vicinity of that dark alley she was dragged into if she didn't want to get raped[/hyperbole]

The police were not justified in what they did. If you try to make excuses for them for not upholding their oaths, you are going to get called on your bullshit just like they are being called to account for their actions.

 

[BlackWidower]

Which is where my first sentence comes into play.

The worst thing about these kinds of things is that they always get away with it because they are the police. If they do get into trouble it'll probably be in 5 years time after someone looks back and demands an inquiry.

The problem is, the directive and permission to do this came right from the PM's office. It's not even the police's fault per se. The Canadian government simply decided that this weekend, in toronto, the bill of rights was being suspended. Didn't matter who you were, or what you were doing - you were to be arrested.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

-m[/quote]

Don't you mean Charter of Rights?  The Bill of Rights is American.

Anyway, I know one guy, hard-nosed Conservative, who actually hates the current Conservative party.  Specifically because of their lack of transparency, but this I'm sure makes it worse.  They are managing to alienate their own people.

But you know the error comes from both sides.  Yes, the PM is a douche, but the protestors aren't exactly eloquent with their grievances.  It's embarrassing that when Canada hosts the G20, we have people breaking windows, setting cars on fire, etc.

I find it ironic that they are ostensibly protesting the influence of Big Business on government, while destroying independent storefronts.  What did Sal's Pizzeria ever do to you?

 

[BlackWidower]

You know, considering the G20 is at the head of everything currently wrong with the world, its surprising there hasn't been more violence.

Or nukes.

What? Do you mind elaborating on that, because I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Matt_LRR]

The problem is, the directive and permission to do this came right from the PM's office. It's not even the police's fault per se. The Canadian government simply decided that this weekend, in toronto, the bill of rights was being suspended. Didn't matter who you were, or what you were doing - you were to be arrested.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

-m

Don't you mean Charter of Rights?  The Bill of Rights is American.

Anyway, I know one guy, hard-nosed Conservative, who actually hates the current Conservative party.  Specifically because of their lack of transparency, but this I'm sure makes it worse.  They are managing to alienate their own people.

But you know the error comes from both sides.  Yes, the PM is a douche, but the protestors aren't exactly eloquent with their grievances.  It's embarrassing that when Canada hosts the G20, we have people breaking windows, setting cars on fire, etc.

I find it ironic that they are ostensibly protesting the influence of Big Business on government, while destroying independent storefronts.  What did Sal's Pizzeria ever do to you?

Indeed I did mean the charter of rights, yes. whoops.

And don't get me wrong, I have no love for stupid, inconsequential, and poorly considered protests, and even less for rioters and vandals. But last time I checked, our right to hold stupid, inconsequential, and poorly considered protests was protected, so long as we didn't get violent about it.

Of the more than 700 arrested, the overwhelming majority were taken from peaceful gatherings hours after the violence had ended. Since when has gathering to sing the national anthem been an arrestable offense?

-m

 

[Loonerinoes]

As much as I understand, that it can't have been easy for the police to control this properly, that does not excuse the actions done in the service of what is in the end their professionally paid job. One that should not include wrongful arrests that never even go on official record (i.e. the subjects are not told the reason for their arrest) while the arrested are held in warehouses and without proper care or procedures.

So yes, it is important for people to speak out against these sorts of things. Otherwise you only have the official message to go by on these matters, which to quote Bill Hicks, will always be the same...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR3KwODDzeY

 

[thahat]

"We realised you were playing a game when one of the dead guys got up to have a fag outside"

sheer. genius. XD that made my morning, thanks guv'!

 

[NimbleJack3]

While I was filming the Doomsday Arcade finale as an extra with Shanks (who is cool people by the way) armed cops pulled up in the park and confiscated our guns. Some of them did not have a blaze marker, so it was justified. They thought we were armed drug dealers until we showed them the cameras.

 

[HuntrRose]

Uhm....police freaking out again?

This happened to me and my friends when we went for a kingdom hearts LARP club. I had brought a keyblade made out of metal. We were walking home about 3 minutes after curfue and got caught. They took it from me and brought us downtown.

They freak out too much.

What? Curfew? What the hell? Where do you live??

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Uhm....police freaking out again?

This happened to me and my friends when we went for a kingdom hearts LARP club. I had brought a keyblade made out of metal. We were walking home about 3 minutes after curfue and got caught. They took it from me and brought us downtown.

They freak out too much.

What? Curfew? What the hell? Where do you live??

somewhere close to Chicago

 

[Andy Chalk]

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

Thanks for quoting the Charter, but that's not really my point. I'm saying that if you put yourself into a high-risk situation and get burned for it, then sometimes it's fair to say, tough shit for you. You're walking down the street and some asshole cop decides he's going to do a stop-and-search because he doesn't like the logo on your t-shirt? Absolutely no fucking way. But you want to insert yourself into a situation like the G20 riot and you get your bell rung for it, I have no sympathy. And I'm perfectly a-okay with blurring the lines of the Charter a bit when mobs are rumbling in Toronto.

That opinion may have absolutely zero legal value but I'll bet these various inquiries and investigations fizzle and go nowhere.

But again, with that said, I hope the G20 circus never comes back. The shutdown of Toronto was absolutely intolerable, especially given that it was nothing more than a hugely disruptive, obscenely expensive photo op.

 

[poiuppx]

Oh, LARP. Best way to spend every other Friday night, and the best way to get stuck in an odd outfit answering awkward questions. Can't say I ever got taken down by Toronto police, though. Then again, can't say I've ever been near Toronto.

 

[open trap]

What are people even protesting at G20 events, the fact that they personally cant sit in and listen?

 

[Koeryn]

Is it bad that, the way I see it, the police should be armed with live ammunition instead of 'crowd control' and 'less lethal' rounds? That when, when people throw firebombs at them, they can do something to protect themselves behind mild bruising.

Would you throw a molotov at a guy with an assault rifle trained on you from behind a riot shield? I didn't think so.