I missed out on the madness downtown today. I followed it on my phone, but missed all the live TV footage which no doubt justifiably enraged my friends.
I did catch stills like this one which from a local Toronto photographer show why the city was on edge all week long.
It's perhaps best I wasn't around - I could've had my camera smacked down to the ground by an imported officer from Peel region. Of course he might've been on edge - not sure if this was before or after one of those police cars was set on fire. The you'll "be on Youtube" response, while accurate, was rather snarky to the point of inviting an assault. Not justifying, of course - this is clearly a criminal offence by a police officer.
Also freakish: random arrest videos by plainclothes officers.
I should point out that some well-meaning people naively claim that when store windows got smashed in, the "peaceful" protesters should've taken action to stop the anarchists and ne'er-do-wells.
Sure, as soon as the laws respecting citizen's arrests are made much more clearer and "vigilante-friendly", you can look forward to that. Until then, you risk being arrested yourself so doing so is a fool's game. I feel bad for the store merchant who has to fight an expensive legal case to defend his right to defend his own property.
I have no problem with widespread condemnation of violence.
I do have a problem with naive and simplistic solutions that seek to blame bystanders for newly created "sins of omission" which seem to be all the rage these days.
It's amazing to see how judgmental and merciless people can be. In many cases moreso than the police.
Scary.
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