Reasons people were arrested at the Toronto G20

Spotted on a phone-pole in Toronto's Parkdale, a sign detailing some of the reasons people were arrested at last year's G20 summit, which saw over $1 billion spent and the largest mass-arrest in Canadian history.

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

The G20 was like Poland in WWII. You have the Nazis on one side, the Soviets on the other side, and they’re both making life hard for the people in the middle, who want nothing to do with either camp. Next time, why don’t we fence the protesters in with the cops. Then they can all beat the crap out of each other and you can all LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!!!
betatron

A billion dollars, eh? really?
princesstrudy

um, that poster ain’t in Parkdale. You gotta cross the underpass to understand P-dale, people. Seriously. Born and raised.
Anonymous

There’s a lot of strange thinking going on in these comments.

Firstly, for people who don’t understand the “agent provocateur” accusations, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S1nHvvkzvA . Police regularly do this and as soon as they do they lose all public trust that they won’t do it again. Would they risk the safety of fellow officers to incite a riot? They have before; why wouldn’t they do it again? Because they have done it before, the onus is on them to explain the reasons they did it and why they wouldn’t do it again, and even if they came right out and said they wouldn’t do it again they’ve broken the trust they had with the public so their words are worthless.

With regards to the “black bloc” as justification for hundreds of arrests: get real. Arresting people of whom you have no probable cause to arrest isn’t made right because a few people were acting idiotic. If the black bloc was trying to start a riot they did a terrible job, since it was only a few people acting stupid and everyone else was just watching or taking photos. Where were the cops when this was happening? They had nothing better to do but kettle hundreds of people for hours and arrest/beat anyone trying to escape, or kidnap/beat random people from the crowd.

As to saying people with expensive cameras had nothing better to do, the cameras were important to document the event and ensure police didn’t do anything stupid. There’s photos of police without ID badges, and even with photographs other police are failing to ID cops who beat innocent people. Cameras and recordings are the only defense against police misconduct the public has since the SIU does nothing and the “blue wall” prevents any lawsuits against cops from going forward. People have a right to go out and photograph public spaces; suggesting otherwise is ignorant and stupid.

As to suggesting that all arrest made were unjust, no that’s not true. But you’re missing the point if you are arguing that; someone else has already posted the statistic but something like only 17 out of 1100 arrested still have charges against them. That means the vast majority of people were arrested without cause, held in unsanitary and unconstitutional conditions and have had no recourse against a tyrannical police force that is supposed to serve the public, not corporations and not the government. Sadly those three things are not the same thing in our society. If you’re arguing that 64 innocent people should be arrested every time 1 guilty person is charged, you’re a moron. (I mean innocent in the legal sense here, not moral sense, and yes since charges were dropped those not charged are innocent).
randomguy

In Canada, those are things that get you arrested during a massive protest.
In (insert Middle Eastern country of your choice here), those things get you arrested, executed and dumped into a shallow grave.
Anonymous

For those who think these mass arrests were remotely justified, I’d like you to know exactly how many individuals have not had the charges against them dropped (of the 1100 arrested). 17. SEVENTEEN. That’s an accuracy rate of 1.55%. That’s some fine police work, Lou.
Anonymous

For the Pittsburgh G20, my friend was a legal monitor for the ACLU. Once she was off duty, she headed to the residence hall where she lives (we’re college students)… and was arrested for holding the door open for other students.
Anonymous

Someone mentioned the burning of cop cars. Actually nobody got arrested for that during the event… the guy who was charged with it was arrested six weeks later.
CognitiveDissident

Does this book explain SOME of the behaviours that lead up to mass arrests like this?
Bob Altemeyer – The Authoritarians.
(http://www.theauthoritarians.com/)
There may have been a few real troublemakers, (and some REAL undercover instigators?) does something “click” in their brains to allow them to arrest people for such seemingly petty offenses?

I think it is VERY important to understand WHY police react so hostilely, are they somewhat justified, or has their world-view been twisted by others?

How are THEY seeing the world? Are they primarily concerned about their next mortgage payment, following orders to a tee, or do they actually view everyone as a personal mortal threat/potential terrorist? (and WHERE did they learn that mindset?)
toxonix

IFO think that wearing a jester’s hat is demanding incarceration. Unless you are a girl, and dressed up in a Harley Quinn costume.
swlabr

“The worst part of the story is that Toronto voted massively for Stephen Harper in the 2011 elections.”

Suburban General Toronto Area predictably went along with the Conservatives, but downtown Toronto is mostly lefty NDP. I would agree that the worst part of the story is that Stephen Harper benefited from this whole fiasco. He spent a billion dollars to publicly humiliate downtown Toronto, and taxpayers from the rest of Canada, who all hate Toronto, rewarded him for it. For them it was money well spent.

“um, that poster ain’t in Parkdale. You gotta cross the underpass to understand P-dale, people. Seriously. Born and raised.”

I call this side of the underpass ‘The Parkdalian Frontier’.
Anonymous

If you don’t want this shit to happen, don’t vote in a conservative government. Harper was found in contempt of parliament and was given a majority in the following election. Welcome to Canada where no one gives a shit about politics, and as a result has stupid dumb fuck people running there country who spend a fucking billion in tax dollars on security for G20, when they could have been putting that money into things like education.
- Anonymous
  
  I care, and I didn’t vote in a Conservative government. I suspect most of the people arrested didn’t either.
Anonymous

A good documentary of some of the shenanigans that occurred during the G20 at youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejD0UkMGGY
Anonymous

If some GOP monster becomes president in 2012, I keep saying I’ll leave the country. But all the places I thought would be better (Canada, the UK) are looking just as horrible, according to everything I’ve been reading in BoingBoing.

So where am I supposed to flee to?
- Ocker3
  
  Here in Australia, we’re still doing okay. We weathered the global downturn pretty well, and the party which holds power in Government (just…) is seriously thinking about legalising gay marriage, country-wide. And our crime rate is Really low, so our police don’t get that many powers.
- Anonymous
  
  You don’t flee, you STAND AND FIGHT!
- Anonymous
  
  switzerland?
- Tetsubo
  
  You don’t flee at all. You stay and fight.
- Gulliver
  
  So where am I supposed to flee to?
  
  Stand and fight, maggot!
- Anonymous
  
  I hear a lot of expats enjoy New Zealand
- Anonymous
  
  Why flee! Stand and fight! We should take back what is rightfully ours!
  - Aloisius
    
    Why flee! Stand and fight! We should take back what is rightfully ours!
    
    I’m sorry, but what is rightfully yours? If it is the right to peacefully assemble, urging people to stand and fight seems rather ironic.
    
    I live in San Francisco. Protests are a regular occurrence here so much that there are a number of professional protest organizers. I’ve seen peaceful protests turn militant on more than one occasion and there are always people blaming undercover cops for inciting it.
    
    However, in order to believe that undercover cops are to blame, you have to believe that a police officer is willing to risk the safety of the people he works with and himself by letting a protest get violent and ignore the far more plausible explanation there are troublemakers out there who are looking for an excuse to pick a fight with the police.
    
    Given I’ve witnessed first hand, on *two* different occasions, kids who were no more than 19 put on black rags around their faces and start picking fights with the police, well, I guess I’m a bit prejudiced.
    - joeposts
      
      Though I agree some protesters like to stir up trouble, there is evidence that the Toronto police used undercover agents during the protests to encourage acts of violence – videos of black-clad anarchists being welcomed behind police lines, for example. Or even the way police just stood back and let vandals run amok. They’ve never explained their inaction – we were lucky none of these evil anarchists had any ambition, because they could have burned the city down.
      
      In Quebec, undercover police dressed as “anarchists” were caught red-handed trying to incite violence. Were it not for video evidence and the fact that they were all wearing police boots (HaHa), the police probably would never have admitted that they had used this tactic.
      - Blackbird
        
        Actually…they DID explain why they did nothing… They fell back to protect the fence…which was NOT in their particular mandate. I also believe that some of the video shows them moving AWAY from the direction of the fence. So, they did explain it…it just didn’t make sense. : )
    - Anonymous
      
      However, in order to believe that undercover cops are to blame, you have to believe that a police officer is willing to risk the safety of the people he works with and himself by letting a protest get violent and ignore the far more plausible explanation there are troublemakers out there who are looking for an excuse to pick a fight with the police.
      
      It shouldn’t be all that hard to believe, given that the police admitted using agents provocateur in Montreal, and after all this is a direct successor of the same.
- Anonymous
  
  New Zealand: perhaps the most progressive liberal Democracy on earth, and there are Hobbits:)
- Anonymous
  
  Don’t flee. Fight.
Blackbird

… I think there’s a word or two missing before ‘Reasons’ in the title. I’m thinking…stupid, illegal, FKCKED up, … your choice. : )
Like the same time last year…I’ll be there shooting!
- millie fink
  
  There’s a word missing after “shooting.”
  - Blackbird
    
    Actually 4, just to be safe.
- Anonymous
  
  The posters I’ve seen like these today are funny but actually pretty far from truth. Were people arrested that were completely innocent? Yes, probably far too many. My girlfriend and I who have lived in the area for a very long time were almost caught up in one of the mass arrests at Spadina & Queen that happened later in the day; we thought the mass stupidity was winding down for the evening and wanted to hit a store before it started up again the next day.
  
  Did the police overreact to minor challenges? Probably, but from what I saw the front lines were either very calm or VERY belligerent. Where the people facing the police were calm, they police responded in kind. If was in front of the folks that were belligerent, I’m sure my adrenaline would have been jacked.
  
  A large amount of the people that showed up were not there to genuinely protest, they were spectators from the suburbs that had nothing better to do than stand by and drool for chaos. Some of them got caught up in the fervor and groupthink so it made the protest look more impressive than it was. I’m happy there was a voice of protest present that day, but I found it hard to take my fellow Canadians very seriously in the atmosphere I saw. The absurd government spending coupled with the violent spectatorship and general ignorance of the issues cast a great shadow of apathy on those of us whom understand the issues and work through proper channels to address them.
  
  In short, I would ask the genuine protesters (that were predominantly peaceful) to show up again and demonstrate Canada’s compassion and intelligence. I would ask those who were moved by the issues and gross expenditure to consider taking up the cause with organizations that work through elected officials to get these issues addressed. I finally I would ask the majority of you who were there because you had nothing to better to do and take pictures with your thousand-dollar cameras to stay home next time lest you further validate the violence and vandalism of those who just want to perform (like the Black Bloc).
  
  Solidarity is admirable, but the world changes around those who only stand and hold protest signs.
  
  My apologies to those of you were genuinely mistreated by the police. I hope some justice is heard through the courts.
  - emmdeeaych
    
    Did you leave enough wiggle room in your expectations of professionalism from law enforcement to enable a police state? Did you just apologize for their unprofessionalism? Did you just say as much as that such things are inevitable and therefore nobody behind the thin blue line can be held responsible?
    
    Yes, yes you just did.
  - bklynchris
    
    This is the published mandate of the G-20 from G20.org:
    
    “Mandate
    The G20 is the premier forum for our international economic development that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability. By contributing to the strengthening of the international financial architecture and providing opportunities for dialogue on national policies, international co-operation, and international financial institutions, the G-20 helps to support growth and development across the globe.”
    
    And these are the people having that constructive discussion from Wikipedia:
    
    “heads of government, finance ministers and central bank governors, and employment and labour ministers” (the latter two groups only since 2010).
    
    Now, if you, or those you love or at least care about, have not in any way been affected by the freakish meteoric rise of the global economy (and its inherent humanitarian and environmental fall out) and its resounding crash in the last decade (first G20 was 1999). Then by all means, what a bunch of deserving jerks.
    
    However, if you or they HAVE been affected, well then in retrospect, might you have wanted to stand with them?
    
    I will give you that many protestors were probably far more interested in process rather than goal.
  - Blackbird
    
    Don’t get me wrong, there were ALSO legitimate reasons, and legitimate arrests : )
    
    I was all over the city all three days working with a major news broadcaster. I was at Queen and Spadina too, almost sent INTO the mess by an officer.
    I agree about the belligerence and calmness depending on the situation, however, being belligerent to a cop does not give them any more right to search, arrest or detain you. Cops can fall prey to the same fervor and group-think as the protestors. They’re trained and carrying weapons, they need to be able to work with a level head in order to properly do their jobs.
    
    I don’t think that people with cameras have validated the bloc at all. The media has done more than enough of that.
JohnnyRojo

When you have to go to a free speech zone to speak, there is no free speech. And when you can’t even speak there, well… I hear the weather is nice in Langdoc this and most other times of year. Go and consider the fate of the Cathars.
Mister44

I dunno… “Speaking French” actually sounds like a good reason to me ;o)
Anonymous

The worst part of the story is that Toronto voted massively for Stephen Harper in the 2011 elections.
zyodei

This is a really brilliant poster :)
- Anonymous
  
  True but it could be shortened by just stating as a reason: “Being there and Alive”
Anonymous

List of explanations is posted! Visit my blog to see what each of the listed items on the poster is in reference to!

http://michaelvipperman.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/33/
wylkyn

Load not properly tied down…
IBreakCellPhones

The thing that makes me uncomfortable with signs like this is the implication that ALL arrests made were unjust, and I doubt they were, when the black bloc was starting a riot.

I think it would be generally known that the black bloc would be there making trouble. In such an instance, it seems reasonable to me that if someone was wearing a predominantly black outfit, that it should be understood that you would be detained and searched. If either weapons or a mask of some sort was found, then that could lead to an arrest and further search.

Some of those other items (being deaf, carrying eye wash or vinegar, marking the sidewalk, LARPing) can be misinterpreted in a stressful situation. I could imagine a hearing person feigning deafness in hopes of evading the police. Bottles of unknown substances might be Molotov cocktails in the making, and even vinegar can sting your eyes and be used as a weapon. Sidewalk marks could be a code for communication. And the streets of a town on edge because of a history of protests at similar events really aren’t a place to be carrying dull swords and other things associated with LARPing.

I think I could sum things up by saying three words: Don’t be stupid.

Are the police always in the right? No. But if I went to a neighborhood where a G8 protest was and was carrying a bottle of something while wearing a black hoodie and carrying a handkerchief covering a bottle of even water, I’d say I’d be inviting some extra attention from the police. Complaining about it would be similar to me, a fat man, wearing a speedo and complaining about the looks of repulsion I’d be getting.
- querent
  
  “I could imagine a hearing person feigning deafness in hopes of evading the police. Bottles of unknown substances might be Molotov cocktails in the making, and even vinegar can sting your eyes and be used as a weapon. Sidewalk marks could be a code for communication.”
  
  Lol.
- travtastic
  
  I could imagine a hearing person feigning deafness in hopes of evading the police. Bottles of unknown substances might be Molotov cocktails in the making, and even vinegar can sting your eyes and be used as a weapon. Sidewalk marks could be a code for communication.
  
  And thinking, thinking I say, could be used as an efficient means of telepathic terrorism-coordination. You know what to do, men in blue.
  - Gulliver
    
    “Two by two, hands of blue.”
- hep cat
  
  “if someone was wearing a predominantly black outfit, that it should be understood that you would be detained and searched”
  
  Do people in Toronto generally dress up in clown suits and cowboy outfits or what ?
  
  I don’t actually have any clothing that is not black except for a bathrobe , some socks and underwear , and maybe a few novelty tee shirts and some old seersucker suits. It’s just an issue of wanting to put off making any decisions until after I have had some coffee and wanting to get dressed before I boil water. That and if everything is black it all matches and it’s less conspicuous than wearing all red or all chartreuse, and I live in NYC where half the people wear mostly black anyway.
  
  This is all true.
  
  So did the police announce something like “we are going to arrest everybody wearing black , but if you are wearing orange or purple you’ll be fine?
  
  I mean are people supposed to wear special clothing when the G20 comes to town?
  
  If there is some mnemonic associated with black in Toronto clue me in , but this seems about as stupid as Sarah Palin holding a sack of wet hammers.
  - joeposts
    
    I mean are people supposed to wear special clothing when the G20 comes to town?
    
    Hockey helmet, gas mask, steel toed shoes and body armour would be prudent, but I think any of those would get you arrested as well.
    
    Next time, we all protest nekkid.
    - Anonymous
      
      Actually, protests are the reason public nudity is illegal in Canada. It dates back to religious persecution against a group called the Doukhobors; we passed a tax law which made the relationship to property inherent in their religion illegal, and they protested its enforcement by shunning material property, publicly setting their money on fire and marching naked. So we banned being naked in public.
    - joeposts
      
      On second thought, they’d probably just arrest all the black people. So it would be business as usual for the Toronto Police Service.
  - Anonymous
    
    hep cat, I got everything but the “holding a sack of wet hammers”. I have not heard of that saying before. Please explain.
    - hep cat
      
      Anonymous:
      In response to your request for an explanation of my use of the phrase “about as stupid as Sarah Palin holding a sack of wet hammers”
      
      First Google “dumber than a sack of hammers”
      Got that?
      OK, now you may be thinking, what could be dumber than a nice dry sack of hammers?
      
      A sack of wet hammers. You know what with wet hammers rusting and being hard to grip so that they slip out of your hand and you smash your fingers or maybe a friends head and you end up in the emergency room , and someone says “A wet hammer? God that is so stupid! What were you thinking?” So there you have it. Wet hammers are obviously dangerously stupid , and a sack of say six of them is six times as stupid , although maybe less dangerous on account of being in a sack.
      
      OK, but say that this sack of wet hammers just isn’t stupid enough for the for the comparison you are trying to make. What could possibly lower the aggregate intelligence of some wet hammers in a sack?
      
      Well, Sarah Palin standing there holding that sack of wet hammers is most certainly stupider that just a sack of wet hammers. You have the stupidity of Sarah Palin left holding the bag as it were rather than doing whatever it is that she does for a living when she isn’t holding sacks, multiplied by the innate stupidity the wet hammers in the sack, and that’s a whole lot of stupid.
      
      I pause here so you can visualize Sarah Palin standing holding a sack of wet hammers. Imagining whether she is wet or dry or standing in the rain is up to you, but as stupid as Sarah and her hammers are ( we are assuming that she didn’t steal them , maybe they are a gift or payment for a cow or something ), they are not as stupid as this.
      
      By the way, please feel free to use “about as stupid as Sarah Palin holding a sack of wet hammers” in your own conversations and postings.
      
      You are welcome.
      - travtastic
        
        By the way, please feel free to use “about as stupid as Sarah Palin holding a sack of wet hammers” in your own conversations and postings.
        
        Well I think I’ll be using it in every conversation.
  - travtastic
    
    I mean are people supposed to wear special clothing when the G20 comes to town?
    
    Why yes, you certainly are:
    
    http://i-beta.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/8/8/8/48888.jpg
    
    http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu298/pictomtr/15q3vh5.jpg
- Anonymous
  
  “and even vinegar can sting your eyes and be used as a weapon”
  
  Yes, I remember reading about the giant vinegar bombing raids they had during WWII. Once they hit a baking soda factory and all hell broke out.
  - travtastic
    
    My brother was forced to make mentos bombing runs on mom & pop diet cola production facilities in Iraq.
    
    What have we done?
- Anonymous
  
  the black bloc were cops. one was recently exposed.
- Anonymous
  
  Well, if you’re fat and wearing a speedo you can’t complain about being harpooned if you’re in the water.. if you’re in a pool a thousand miles from the ocean you have a case..
  
  But, your well reasoned argument is wrong because, regardless of what the event was, individuals in Canada have an expectation to FREEDOM. Not a police state, not a police event, not a police anything but freedom to go about their lawful existence until they do something that is unlawful. Wearing black is not against the law in Canada.. is it? Carrying a bottle of vinegar automatically makes you a terrorist? I think not.
  
  When law enforcement turns into Nazis then they deserve to have the lawful populace turn against them.. the cops have decided, of their own volition, to be criminals by denying citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed right. They should be the ones thrown into prison.
- joeposts
  
  I think it would be generally known that the black bloc would be there making trouble.
  
  The police knew, for sure. And they did not warn anyone about the dangers of wearing dark colours in downtown Toronto. Had they made an announcement about their plans to assault/detain anyone in dark clothes in downtown Toronto, people could have planned ahead.
  
  So, it would seem to me that it was NOT generally known that the black bloc would be causing trouble, otherwise people would have all worn light-coloured clothes. Logical?
  - Blackbird
    
    I purposefully did not wear black those days…which felt kind of odd to me. I did it because I knew there were going to be problems like this. There usually are with things like this that the bloc like to show up to. I’m also not most people. It also didn’t help. I wasn’t arrested, only detained and searched…poorly. Most people do not know about the black bloc, and like you say, would be unaware of what was going to happen.
    
    For those who don’t know, this didn’t just happen near the summit site, this happened all over Toronto, regardless of whether there was some group nearby (related to G20 or not). The 1100 arrested was BAD ENOUGH…but the probably tens of thousands of those searched, and everyday items seized… they don’t have a voice in this because there is little or no paper trail. Basically policing boils down to this…same thing day in, day out. Just because the G20 is in town, and you have a lot of officers and stuff to use up (plastic bags, flex-cuffs), does not justify searching people because they are downtown, or have a backpack, or are wearing black (that started BEFORE the bloc…), or any other reason. A search has to be justifiable…IE, it must pass the smell test. VERY FEW of the hundreds that I saw looked ‘justifiable’ to me. I was just West of the Deaf Guy on College when that happened. I was trying to get a shot of Police HQ for a story I was doing. If you couldn’t do it Thursday, you can’t on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Does that making policing these tougher? YES…and THAT is a big reason why it happens, since NO ONE is held to account. And if they are, it’s not for many years. We’re kinda lucky, we’ve already got two cops under arrest for 3 separate incidents…I hate to say it, but I think we’re ahead of the curve.
- jacobian
  
  The thing that makes me uncomfortable with signs like this is the implication that ALL arrests made were unjust, and I doubt they were, when the black bloc was starting a riot.
  
  Why do you assume it was unjust to start a riot at G20? The G20 are responsible for making decisions in a completely undemocratic way that impacts that vast majority of the world and with no concern for civil liberties or the consequences to the rest of us.
  
  The democratic deficit in our current political makeup is gargantuan. It will not be addressed unless equally gargantuan pressures are place in opposition. People supporting the mass police arrests are on the wrong side of history, just as they would be on the wrong side of history supporting Mubarak’s police arresting the protesters in Egypt.
- JEM
  
  The LARPers were not arrested in the downtown area. They were pulled of a train that was going to a LARPing event two suburbs over. Many of the people arrested for wearing black were also nowhere near the protests at the time of arrest, or were kettled in areas where protests were not expected.
  - Seegras
    
    Lucky me. We were just coming from a LARP (by train, in full gear, because otherwise we would have to carry even more stuff), with helmets and (rubber-)halberds, as we decided to go for a drink in ZÃ¼rich. On the first of may, when there are _always_ riots. We realised it when the police called out to us “Hey, here comes our relief!”. We actually had a nice chat with them.
    
    So yes, I think the police in Toronto were totally over-reacting.
- Anonymous
  
  Did you miss the news reports about police officers dressing up as ‘black bloc’ and intentionally inciting violent behavior? How many of those ‘black bloc’ causing problems were legitimately criminal, and how many were cops creating excuses to arrest people?
GreenJello

and the largest mass-arrest so far in Canadian history.
Fixed your post for ya!
Anonymous

I think it’s clear the police seriously misbehaved here, and need to be held accountable for this, but I would like to point out that an activity performed prior to an arrest is not necessarily the activity for which the arrest was made.
Anonymous

This is an edited version of a flyer design I made with my signature removed. Does anyone know who put it up? I’m fine with my stuff being remixed but I’d take it as a courtesy if I was asked permission first, and it’s kind of rude to take my signature off of it.

http://michaelvipperman.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/reasons-for-arrest3.pdf
littlebrother

If some GOP monster becomes president in 2012, I keep saying I’ll leave the country. But all the places I thought would be better (Canada, the UK) are looking just as horrible, according to everything I’ve been reading in BoingBoing.

So where am I supposed to flee to?

Don’t, instead organize and take your democracy back. It should be the only thing you do. Organize on the bus, at work, in bed, on the phone, while sleeping. Blog, write, make lists and never stop.

If we dont defeat them, though we will, their policies won’t make a police state with rich economic royalists lording over slaves, it will destroy the planet for us and them.
Anonymous

I am sure that “some people being arrested for legitimate reasons” is SO comforting to the many, many who were arrested and detained for frivolous reasons.

The fact is that the police ordered people to leave the area, blocked them from leaving and then arrested them for “not leaving when ordered to”. We have all seen the video of the woman arrested for blowing bubbles. We are all aware of people arrested, detained for many hours and then released without charge. There are hundreds of well documented cases of improper and illegitimate arrests at the G20.

If even one person is arrested improperly or for frivolous reasons, that is one person too many.

Citizens who “excuse” police to act improperly “for the greater good” deserve the sort of police force they end up with.
2k

Bitches dont know bout my fallacy!
alllie

That “wearing black” reminds me of the great lyrics from The Nightwatchman’s Flesh Shapes The Day:

Yeah, I support my troops
They wave black flags
They wear black masks
Brother Phil

s/reasons/excuses
akwhitacre

In America, we arrest people for spelling it “colours”. And that’s how we like things, damnit.
kchnwch

Aw. They forgot burning cars and breaking windows. Oops.
Anonymous

Those LARPers. They’re dangerous, you know.