G20 "Protesters"

not my photo

The G20 Summit was held this past weekend (June 25th-27th, 2010) in Toronto. This rant has nothing to do with it, rather it focuses on the "protesters" that caused mayhem in our city.

While I fully support the right to peaceful protest these self-proclaimed "Anarchists", the Black Bloc, can't dignify calling themselves anything more than common street thugs. Their only agenda was to break windows of hardworking business owners and generally cause trouble.

That really annoyed me as well as many other citizens of our city. We saw news footage of these black clad people going around smashing car and store windows and setting police cars on fire. Some of us wondered why the police didn't step in to stop it. I believe it's because they didn't want to appear too heavy handed. I can understand their point. A lot of police forces worldwide have been accused of abuse in the past.

Now we're hearing reports from the "protesters" of being "abused". To them I say, grow up. You know exactly what you're getting into when you join these violent groups, when you confront police officers trying to keep order. What do you think would happen? That you'd be given gold stars and a pat on the back? If you don't want to be jumped on and restrained stay home. Are you that dumb? You know full well the risks of going into the security zone. It's like going to the zoo and jumping into the tiger pit and trying to pet it. If you're that stupid you deserve to be eaten.

There are others saying that our "freedoms" are being infringed upon. That "our streets", as some of them are chanting on TV, are being closed off to everyday citizens. Boo-hoo, I don't have any sympathy for you either. So certain streets have been closed off to the general public for a few days. Who cares? Do you even go down there anyway? I doubt it. You're just looking for another reason to complain about the government and other authority figures or whatever. Why don't you get a hobby? Perhaps a pottery class will mellow you out. Important political figures are down there discussing business that affect the rest of us. Of course they have to close the streets off. Anyone with half a mind would understand this, why don't you?

If you don't like living in Canada feel free to leave. Thousands upon thousands of people worldwide risk everything (money, life, etc.) to try and gain citizenship to this country. Think about it. Maybe then you'd realize how lucky you really are.

My Toronto - G20 Summit

The 2010 G8 and G20 Summits are being held in Huntsville and Toronto, Ontario respectively (June 25th-27th, 2010). Many leaders from all over the world are descending on our city as we speak.

In previous years that the summits have been held there have been violent protests. So our federal government has assembled a 20,000 man force made up of police officers and security guards from all around the country.

In the downtown core there is also a 3 metre high, 5 kilometre long fence surrounding vital buildings such as the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. In total the bill to pay for all this is supposed to top out at just over $1 billion. I thought I would ride down and have a look at this spectacle on Friday.

It was pretty weird. The northern border the fence runs along Wellington Street. It's western boundary is just west of Peter St. along the western edge of the Rogers Centre. It's southern boundary is Lakeshore Blvd. West. And it's eastern boundary is Bay Street.

I first entered the fenced off area at University and Front (where the photo was taken). Besides the odd tourist or two it was pretty much empty except for a huge police presence. Normally it's bustling with activity being right by the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and Union Station. There were almost no civilian vehicles inside. Those that entered the area were subject to a police check of course. In some areas pedestrians and cyclists like me were asked to have our bags/knapsacks checked too. In other areas I was able to ride straight in. I was denied access to one area. But, let in everywhere else. Including the back of the area I was denied access to after I rode around another way. Hmm.

Most of the officers I spoke with were very friendly. I chatted with cops from Calgary, Vancouver, Manitoba and Markham. I asked the out of towners what they thought of our city. They didn't really get a chance to see much on this trip, but most of them have been here before. I think some of them got to see the C.N. Tower on their free time and the "Fake Lake" at the press centre and the Direct Energy Centre at the CNE grounds.

I also told them the $1 billion+ price tag for the summit seemed pretty excessive. I think most of them had to agree. But, one officer said, "You can't put a price on safety". It's true that safety is important, but I'm sure we could have gotten it done for less.

They were all really shy too. None of them wanted their photos taken. I asked a whole bunch of them. Two agreed at one point, but when I asked them if I could shoot the rest of the guys they were standing with the others didn't want their photo taken. Okay, fine. No problem. I thought it might be nice to get a few group shots to highlight how many of them there were. Still you can see groups of them in the backgrounds of some of my photos.

Anyway, it was fun riding around. It's probably the only time any of us (including the officers I spoke with) will get to experience something like this. I thought it would be good to document it with my camera. Check my Flickr.com page soon for the rest of the shots.