The G8/G20 thread

[Zesty Cactus]

I don't see what the violence accomplishes other than making the rest of the world not take the serious peaceful protesters seriously.

I agree, it's awful. I'm all for peaceful protests myself, but the violent folks are ruining it for everyone and makign the reasonable protestors look fucking stupid for accociating themselves with the bad ones. Because a lot of the good protestors dont really seem to be disassociating themselves from the others, imho.

I cannot believe the mess our city has become. I am all for peaceful protests. But what I saw today was just despicable. People have HOMES in that area that's being attacked by these so called "protesters". I just can't fathom the violence. Innocent people are being put into fear. It's bad enough they're spending tax payer dollars on this summit, but to clean all this mess up? It's going to cost tax payers even more.

I agree with you 100%. It's embarassing and despicable. I feel scared to live and travel in my own city, even though I'm outside of the downtown core. Somehow I got to watching the news tonight and it was so, so upsetting to see these goons fucking DESTROYING my city. I'm very familiar with downtown so it was really jarring to see places i know being totally smashed, burned and wrecked. I feel awful for anyone who lives and works down there... I know the Eaton Centre was actually open today.

 

[The Outrage]

Watching the news, a girl is complaining about the make-shift detention cells and how they seemed more like cages and that it was very cold. I'm sorry, but you came to these protests. The police did apparently try to hand out some extra clothing but ran out, so some people were left freezing. Well, their problem. They came to protest, they should have come prepared for things like this. Obviously the detention cells are going to be low quality, they aren't permanent, why should we spend more money to make sure that these people are comfortable overnight when they got arrested for violent acts towards the city, that we have to pay for in the first place?

 

[Fig]

People destroying Toronto?

As a Quebecer, I feel they should be rewarded for doing the entire world (and especially Montreal) a great service! :-D

(Just kidding, obviously)

 

[Big Lutz]

Can some one tell me WHY these cities take this on? Wouldn't it be much easier to have it at the UN instead of taking it from city to city in which violent protests seem to happen every time?

 

[The Outrage]

So watching the news, found something interesting on the background where a person on the street was just taken into a black van.

Here's an article with a picture of it, though it was on a different occasion: http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/pre-empting-dissent-silencing-opposition-g20-summit/3885

 

[Every Breaking Wave]

People destroying Toronto?

As a Quebecer, I feel they should be rewarded for doing the entire world (and especially Montreal) a great service! :-D

(Just kidding, obviously)

Nah, Montreal does a good enough job of trashing their own city during the playoffs!

 

[Eredar Warlock]

People destroying Toronto?

As a Quebecer, I feel they should be rewarded for doing the entire world (and especially Montreal) a great service! :-D

(Just kidding, obviously)

According to WWE Wrestler Adam Copeland AKA Edge, Montreal is the "Retarded inbred cousin" of Canada.

 

[Zesty Cactus]

Watching the news, a girl is complaining about the make-shift detention cells and how they seemed more like cages and that it was very cold. I'm sorry, but you came to these protests. The police did apparently try to hand out some extra clothing but ran out, so some people were left freezing. Well, their problem. They came to protest, they should have come prepared for things like this. Obviously the detention cells are going to be low quality, they aren't permanent, why should we spend more money to make sure that these people are comfortable overnight when they got arrested for violent acts towards the city, that we have to pay for in the first place?

My boyfriend heard a girl on the news complain about the quality of the food at the detention centre... i'm like ARE YOU FUCKING FOR REAL??! YOU CAME TO MY CITY, CAUSED ALL THIS TROUBLE, AND NOW YOU WANT A FUCKING GOURMET SANDWICH?!?! *hyperventilates*

I also agree about the general complaints/conditions. "waaah it was crowded and i wanted my mommy" you should have thought about that BEFORE you joined a violent protest, shouldn't you?

Can some one tell me WHY these cities take this on? Wouldn't it be much easier to have it at the UN instead of taking it from city to city in which violent protests seem to happen every time?

I don't think anybody is really given any choice where it's held, I know we really had no chance to oppose it here. I do agree though that if it must be held, it should be somewhere neutral like the UN (or Antarctica) or on a military base or something. (We have a great military base in Trenton. Why couldn't this have been held there?????)

 

[TM2-Megatron]

I don't think anybody is really given any choice where it's held, I know we really had no chance to oppose it here. I do agree though that if it must be held, it should be somewhere neutral like the UN (or Antarctica) or on a military base or something. (We have a great military base in Trenton. Why couldn't this have been held there?????)

Well, it's really hard to have extravagent meals at the Royal York, or bask in other excesses if you're in Antarctica, or on a Military base.

If it were at the UN, then New York would be getting way more than its fair share of violent riots and inconvenience.

 

[Netto Azure]

Well, violent protests are kinda a tie-in with these kind of events. :/

But yeah peaceful protests would have looked better. :U

 

[The Outrage]

My boyfriend heard a girl on the news complain about the quality of the food at the detention centre... i'm like ARE YOU FUCKING FOR REAL??! YOU CAME TO MY CITY, CAUSED ALL THIS TROUBLE, AND NOW YOU WANT A FUCKING GOURMET SANDWICH?!?! *hyperventilates*

Yeah, its not like they're being kept there for months, way to take one for your cause, whatever it may have been considering that whatever people were protesting, even the peaceful ones were lost to the violence.

"I was uncomfortable for one day! Torontonians are evil!"

There may be things to legitimately complain about. The quality of food? Not really. Perhaps you can complain about the police being too rough on Sunday, but you know what? That's a natural reaction to what happened the day before. I hear this guy saying that he now feels like he's living in a "policed state" or in "Russia", unless he actually had, I can't see him making a very good comparison. Hey, if cops keeping protesters in line (even if a bit too forceful) felt like a police state, what did he feel like when the anarchists were destroying the city?

Pulling people off the streets for wearing black or having back packs? Yeah, considering that black clothing was a signature of the black bloc anarchists, they had reasonable suspicion to do so. People with backpacks? Some were actually found to have weapons, if I recall, some of them were found with weapons on the University campus. Not saying the police were completely right especially since I saw some of them in a black van driving slowly and snatching up protesters, but considering the damage they had done previously? I'm not surprised they didn't want to take any chances. Really, its the violent protesters that brought it upon themselves and everyone else.

Really, they either look like bad guys or they look incompetent.

 

[Netto Azure]

G20 summit agrees on deficit cuts by 2013

The G20 leaders agreed to cut budget deficits
​

Leaders at the G20 summit in Canada have agreed to cut national budget deficits while endeavouring to promote economic growth.

Host Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister said short-term stimulus measures would be needed to get economies moving.
Correspondents note that every major G20 country had already committed to halve deficits within three years.
Proposals for a global levy on banks have been dropped, Mr Harper said.
Instead, that will be left to individual countries.


The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said focussing on budget deficits was oversimplifying the problem, because the situation differed from one country to another.
He added that more robust growth was also needed, both to reduce unemployment and to lessen the burden of large public debts.
While the summit rejected applying a universal banking levy, it did press for banks to have a greater financial cushion to protect against any future crises.
The G20 agreed that banks must build up higher levels of capital and liquidity but it adopted a longer timeframe for this, saying 2012 should mark the start of the process, not the end.
Speaking to reporters after the summit, US President Barack Obama said tighter regulations, including bigger capital requirements for banks, would be addressed at the next G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, in November.
"We must do everything in our power to avoid a repeat of the recent financial crisis."
]

Well let's not have a repeat of the Roosevelt Recession now please.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

A follow-up to this, there's a protest going on right now in front of the Toronto Police headquarters.

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article/...s-on-college-st

I imagine it'll be some time before a lot of these people really trust the police again. There've also been people on the news calling the facility where those arrested are being held "Torontanamo Bay", heh. There are also rumours of a class-action lawsuit regarding the "secret police powers" that were quickly passed before the summit started.

 

[Big Lutz]

Possibly my favorite video I have seen so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CKkLYYczdM&feature=player_embedded

Apparently from what I am hearing the police actually tried to avoid direct confrontation on Saturday, eventually on Saturday night the police came back to enforce the law against the nut jobs, and law was reinstated. Meanwhile the mayor of Toronto apparently is calling holding the G4 there, a 'mistake'

 

[Zesty Cactus]

Meanwhile the mayor of Toronto apparently is calling holding the G4 there, a 'mistake'

Well nobody wanted it here in the first place... it was the feds's and the organisers's idea, not ours. Stephen Harper is only saying that this was an "inconvenience" to Torontonians >_>'

 

[Every Breaking Wave]

Meanwhile the mayor of Toronto apparently is calling holding the G4 there, a 'mistake'

It was the G20, not the G4. And the original plan was to hold it in Huntsville, like the G8 was, but they decided pretty much last minute (for this kind of event) that there was not enough facilities for the world leaders there. So they shifted it to Toronto, with less than 4 months notice. Toronto didn't want it, Toronto didn't need it. But in the end, they've been saddled with the result of what has happened; a hell of a lot of damage, and a hell of a big bill to pay for that damage. I pity the poor people whose shops were destroyed because of Harper's decision. Now they have to pay thousands of dollars each to cover the costs of the damage to their buildings, something that they should never have had to incure. Harper won't pay for it; he said they should have bought insurance. But you can't get insurance for this kind of thing, so now they're completely screwed.

Was it a mistake to hold it in Toronto? Of course it was, but it was not something that the city of Toronto had a choice in.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

I heard David Miller is also going to be sending the bill for damages to Ottawa, lol.

All in all, it was a pretty embarrassing display from both sides, I think. The violent protestors were disgraceful, and certain police used tactics (even prior to the violence) that will set their PR back by quite a bit for a long time.

 

[Zekurom]

I heard David Miller is also going to be sending the bill for damages to Ottawa, lol.

I certainly hope so. If Harper's going to just screw Toronto over like that, he should have a hand in cleaning it up.

 

[Every Breaking Wave]

I hope he does too. If the federal government thinks they can oust themselves from paying compensation for it, they've got another thing coming. The store owners aren't responsible for the damages they've incurred; it was Harper's decision to move it there.

Meanwhile, in the ultimate irony, Iran condemns Canada for human rights abuse.

Iran has strongly condemned the Canadian police for arresting hundreds of protesters during the recent G20 summit in Toronto, describing the move as an inhuman act.

"The use of various violent tools and ways to counter a peaceful rally is by no means justified. The move by the Canadian government is a blatant breach of basic rights of citizens to freedom of expression," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson also warned against the "new and dangerous" approach adopted by Canada toward the civil rights of its citizens, expressing Iran's profound concern over a lack of life security and a possible violation of rights of those arrested in that country during the last few days.

Mehmanparast advised the Canadian government to observe the rights of the detainees and to give assurances that the judicial process will take its natural course.

The remarks come as protests against the summit have resulted in more than 600 arrests. Seventy others were also detained after police raided the University of Toronto's downtown campus.

 

[Netto Azure]

Meanwhile, in the ultimate irony, Iran condemns Canada for human rights abuse.

That is so lulz worthy in so many levels. XD