Le Devoir (June 29, 2010) reported the Toronto Police press conference "presenting to the media objects confiscated from activists. The chief, Bill Blair, called this dozen of objects 'weapons' destined to 'attack the city'."
[ Picture description for those with limited eyesight : picture taken above a table on which stands a black helmet mediacoop.ca, a book Upping The Anti, a thin rope, a stapler, a gas mask, etc. Source: Le Devoir, June 29, 2010.]
If you had the impression there was a strange tendency to criminalize dissent during the Toronto G20 Summit, well here is your proof.
* mediacoop.ca - Visibly, with this presentation, the police chief expresses that independent reporters are a threat for him. We are too difficult to control I presume. Hmm, but why would a reporter want to protect his head from batons ? Oh yes, I almost forgot, because journalists and reporters were assaulted, thrown to the ground, and placed in arbitrary detention.
* Upping The Anti - words such as 'left', 'left-wing' or 'revolutionary' are deemed delinquent by the chief it seems. The problem is the police, in a democracy, have the duty to judge your actions rather than your opinions. Yet police officers who show left-wing books as sign of illegal behaviour is sadly not new (though it remains as pathetic as ever).
* Many dangerous helmets-of-striking, mask-gas-launchers and murderous glasses were also presented - More seriously, it was surprising, in fact, to see so many people, of various ages and styles, including a family, wearing protections in case of an anti-riot charge, tear gas or "non-lethal" projectiles (rubber bullets, etc.). I can't wait to see them before a court of law presenting these "weapons".
Imaginary game : watch the pictures and describe how you would commit a terrorist attack with these objects. There is a small rusted wood handsaw that surely cannot cut a fence, it might cut bread at worse, but I'll let your imagination concoct a diabolical plan !
With this presentation from the chief, we now better understand why agents under his command stopped so many protests and arrested so many members of the Toronto Alter Media Centre. The chief will have to apologize sooner or later, though he does not want to, for criminalizing all the protests outside the official march. The true criminals remain the politicians who gave such unconstitutional powers, with the added free gift of allowing to place on file, with their addresses, hundreds of left-wing people.
