The thick blue line
Photo by Stephen Spencer Davis
Take equal parts protesters, media, and police officers, and stir over high heat for three hours. The antics of all three made for the most awkward, absurd, at times creepy protest I’ve been to, as 100 people marched in Day 1 of the anti-G20 protests.
The march began in Allan Gardens with the atmosphere of an angry family picnic, with sun-bathers lying around the knot of protesters in the middle of the park, media roaming the perimeter, and 60+ police using their bikes to form barricades containing the protesters.
Confrontation with police as protesters try to leave the park. Photo by Stephen Spencer Davis.
The protesters wound their way through the city after being prevented from moving toward the security zone by a police barricade, briefly occupying an Esso convenience store on their way, and ending up in front of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CAS). I called inside the CAS office after two protesters went intside the building and asked a representative why they might be being protested. “We’re being protested? They’re entering the building?” was the response. The woman I spoke to said she had no idea what complaints anyone could have against them.
Police waited till camera crews had wandered off to make an arrest at the end of the protest.
While I’m willing to believe that protests can tackle ambitious, wide-ranging sets of issues, this one felt both tiny and scattered. Outreach to the general populace also didn’t seem to be a top priority. The tone of this protest was, overall, a kind of condescending indignation – the tone of long-standing anger and frustration coming to a boil, and searing disdain for any bystanders who might not immediately understand why. I overhead some pretty biting exchanges between activists and bystanders (and cameramen). “Fuck” was a favorite for lots of the chants: Lots of “fuck the police” and “we’re anarchists, we’ll fuck you up” and “tear down the motherfucking state.”
Still, one of the co-organizers, representing Guelph’s Sense of Security (SOS), was friendly when I asked her a couple questions after the protest.
Comments
One Response to “The thick blue line”Trackbacks
Check out what others are saying...[...] that first G20 protest? The kind of awkward one, way before people started breaking [...]