G20 summit toronto

[Whisper]

What are your opinions on the police force in toronto for the G20 summit?
They are spending as much for one weeks security at the G8/G20 meetings as they did for the entire 2010 Olympics

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00135/AVN_G20_135142f.jpg
http://www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/24012010/2629647/CANB104_wa.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/27/article-1289952-0A386570000005DC-688_634x349.jpg
http://www.blogto.com/upload/2010/06/20100627-g20-riot-arrest-tam2.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2010/6/27/1277675732343/Protests-outside-the-G8-a-006.jpg
http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2010/06/27/12643-police-officers-stand-on-guard-during-the.jpg
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/2010/glance/g20/firewalk.jpg
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00135/WORLD_SUMMIT_135197f.jpg
http://cache.20minutes.fr/img/photos/20mn/2010-06/2010-06-26/article_RTR2FS89.jpg


more pictures
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/1076758/riots-flare-at-g20-summit

[Continuum]

Why are they rioting? It's just a simple economic meeting

[Whisper]

negative
this "simple economic meeting" has compltyl shut down the entire downtown core of the largest city in canada, millions of people have been affected
they arrested 600 people in one night alone
the highest in canadian history
they arrested everyone like....everyone, reporters aren't even exempt, peaceful protests are having paintballs covered in mase shot at them
one woman was hit in the face and died of an allergic reaction
etc....

they spent over a million on new weapons alone
this one week is costing over a billion
the security is some 900 million for both the G8 and G20

theres entire streets with three rows of riot police in front of a row of police cavalry

since when is canada a police state

[CaptainObvious]

since when is canada a police state

Since thousands of idiots decided to turn downtown Toronto into a fucking third world country. Were you in downtown Toronto this weekend? Because I was. Shit was broken and destroyed everywhere. Yeah, holding the G20 in downtown Toronto was kind of dumb; however, once that decision was made, the security expense was unavoidable and entirely justified.

[Tiberius]

All that's missing is a red flag with a hammer and sickle.

[Sage]

since when is canada a police state
Since the October Crisis back in the days of Trudeau.

All that's missing is a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
And smartass conservative comments that don't actually have anything to do with the topic at hand.

...That all being said, I'd be inclined to agree that this is all a massive waste of money and that we Canadian citizens are going to pay for it. Wonderful.

[INFERNO]

I went there after and it was ridiculous, looked like a battle zone just happened. Last G20 in Pittsburgh had much of the same so it doesn't seem to matter where it's held, there were riots and damage no matter what. In other years, the security expenses were also enormous but they were justifiable.

For this G20 though, I think the police force on Saturday was pretty poor because they contracted with the RCMP, other provincial and regional police forces, as well as having the FBI, CSIS and rest of the alphabet. Yet, so much destruction happened. Many claimed they were surprised by the Black Bloc's actions but in Pittsburgh 2009, the Black Bloc did the very same thing as well as years prior so it shouldn't have been a big surprise.

On Sunday, I'm torn if police went to the other extreme of being too harsh or if they did what should have been done on Saturday.

It was a major pain though because they shut down the downtown University of Toronto campus right while we're having final exams for summer courses. For my course, they extended the time in which they considered people late because so many were late, including the professor who was late by about 15-20 minutes.

Although, I wonder, how do they decide where the G20 summits get held? Is it like for the Olympics where countries bid and the highest gets the take?

It was still and awful site: 6 or so cop cars set on fire, many other cars (police and media) damaged, hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage... .

[Tiberius]

And smartass conservative comments that don't actually have anything to do with the topic at hand.

What are your opinions on the police force in toronto for the G20 summit?
Opinion was given, smartass.

[Sage]

Opinion was given, smartass.

Explain to me, then, what this has to do with communism, as I (and surely many others) aren't seeing the connection drawn between the two.

[Whisper]

Those demonstrations during the G20 summit sure did a lot of good for the activist community.

Here they had a chance to make a political point on some crucial issues at a moment when attention across the world was temporarily focused on Toronto.

So what did they achieve? According to Angus Reid they disgusted the vast majority of the people they were trying to woo:

Respondents were asked about their feelings about the demonstrations that took place in Toronto during the G20 summit. Two-thirds of Canadians (69%) are disgusted, 59 per cent are ashamed, 57 per cent are angry, and 54 per cent are sad. In Toronto, the proportion of respondents who reported negative feelings was higher (Disgust 81%, Anger 74%, Sadness 65%, Shame 61%).
Good job activists! Way to seize an opportunity and make it yours!

National Post



Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/02/poll-finds-g20-protesters-blew-it-big-time/#ixzz0sXWx8wsN