There was a ceremony at Toronto Police Headquarters last Thursday. Almost three years after the despicable events of June 26 and June 27, 2010, Police Chief William Blair had some of his people recognized for their hard work after the fiasco of the G20. Nobody else wanted to recognize the police officers and others involved. Many citizens wanted the police to take responsibility for their own lack of judgement and malfeasance.
The fact that William Blair is still chief of police in Toronto proves that those really responsible for the events of the G20 have never been charged. Canadians are still waiting for a judicial inquiry into what happened. Who was responsible in Ottawa for the overwhelming use of Canadian police forces? Who was responsible at Queen’s Park for the improper and untested legislative orders? Who was responsible for the unwarranted detention of citizens without legal recourse? There are many more questions that remain unanswered because there are too many to blame.
But Blair’s Toronto Police were on the firing line and they forgot to serve and protect. The Toronto police failed in serving all Canadians. They acted in a brutal and unthinking manner. They reacted instead of following their plan. They were made to look like incompetent fools by a few anarchists. They shamed us all.
In a news release issued by the Toronto Police Service last week entitled G20 Investigative Project, it says that “On Saturday, June 26th, peaceful protesters were joined by a large group of violent participant’s intent on causing damage to private and public property.” Along with the bad grammar, improper punctuation and archaic writing style, the release went on to say that “The City of Toronto had never seen or experienced this level of civil disorder in our history in both the level of violence and property damage.”
What is wrong with this statement is that the police had advance warning of the small group of anarchists from Montreal bent on causing trouble. They tell us that they had police officers embedded in the crowd. Do these police know nothing about mob psychology? The entire incident could have been contained and stopped and the Toronto police stood by and watched.
The investigative project team that received the award was the group who looked at many thousands of pictures after the event to identify the small group of original anarchists and about the same number of foolish people who joined in. Instead of receiving awards, heads should have rolled.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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