eric_cartman
06-26-2010, 10:03 PM
Bait Police Cars Used at G20 in Toronto
images:
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2118/img0924f.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9126/img0927n.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/97/img0912bu.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2902/img0916d.jpg
I just got back from the G20 protest today in Toronto and have since been watching the coverage on the local news. I do not feel that the coverage by the local media in Toronto has painted an accurate picture of the events that I witnessed throughout the day. So here is what I experienced on June 26th, 2010 in Toronto at the G20 protest:
I arrived at Queen's Park around 1pm. Unfortunately it was raining, but most people were in good spirits and there was even free hot food, fruit and juice. We marched, in what resembled a parade, South down University to Queen St and then West until we got to Spadina.
There was a very large police presence the entire time, but they were all behind barricades as we walked down this designated route. The protest by this point was very peaceful. I did not witness any nefarious activities by protesters or police. The protesters did not attempt to cross any of the barriers and the police were all just standing there, maintaining their positions.
When we arrived at Queen and Spadina, they were sending people North on Spadina. They were not letting people go South on Spadina and there was a large police presence maintaining a line at that intersection. I sat and chatted with some friends on the corner of Spadina, just North of Queen. We even got a slice of pizza. After a while, the protest seemed to be dispersing. At some point, the police at the intersection of Queen and Spadina moved south, allowing protesters to go a few blocks South on Spadina.
Everyone I had come with had decided to go home, but I heard some commotion around the corner and figured I would go check it out. This commotion had been going on for some time, and it was certainly noticeable, but it didn't sound like anything too crazy was going on. You could hear police sirens and people yelling, but nothing too out of the ordinary. There were still plenty of people around and no one was freaking out, so i knew that this commotion wasn't anything major. But people were talking about police cars getting damaged, so I went over to have a look.
So around 4pm, I walked along Queen St., just West of Spadina where there were two police cars that were basically abandoned in the middle of the street. The windows were busted out, the sirens were going off, there were dents, etc. In one cop car, there was a protester in the front seat , yelling inaudible slogans though the police car speaker. He looked to be covered in red paint and appeared to be on drugs and he was smoking a joint in the front seat. There was a fair bit of commotion as people gathered around the police cars to watch what was going on and take pictures. Everyone was basically just watching this drugged out hippie mess around in the front seat of a cop car. He seemed to be the main person causing damage to the police car, but there might have been a few other people causing some damage to the car as well. There was already significant damage before i arrived.
The vast majority of the people there were just watching and taking pictures and videos. There was one black kid wearing a hooded sweatshirt who seemed to be causing damage to the cop car and getting in an argument with the hippie. When the hippie left the front seat, the black kid sat down and tried to light a fire in the passenger seat. The hippie was still standing around and he put out the fire before it really got started. The black kid and the hippie looked like they made peace with one another despite their earlier argument.
It then became apparent to many of us observers that this was a bait car. One of the protesters painted "this is a bait car, aka "a prop"" on the side of the car. Another protester tried to explain to the hippie and the black kid that the police planted these cars there with the intention that they would be vandalized.
There were absolutely no cops anywhere in sight. There were cops literally everywhere throughout the day, yet these police cars got destroyed right in the middle of the street without any response. This must have gone on for at least 30 minutes, so there was plenty of time for police to respond. But it must have been one of the only locations in the entire downtown core where there were no police and it was a very popular location.
It was just so ridiculous that:
1) There were two police cars just sitting abandon in the middle of the street for no apparent legitimate reason.
2) There were no police anywhere in sight for a long period of time in a popular location.
3) No police arrived to the scene despite the fact that police cars were getting destroyed and there was a drugged out hippie sitting in the front seat, smoking a joint, playing with the police siren, and yelling though the speaker.
Given what was occurring, it was pretty clear to many of us that these were bait cars and were deliberately abandon in the hope that they would get vandalized. Not only that, but the police presence must have been deliberately removed from the area and ordered not to respond to the destruction of the police vehicles. There would have been an army of police just around the corner who could easily have responded.
And given that the police were capable planting bait cars in an attempt to discredit the protesters, it is fair to consider the possibility that undercover police officers may have been the first ones to break a window, knowing that when one gets broken, others are likely to continue the vandalism.
When I got home and turned on the news, they were showing live shots of another possible bait police car being destroyed and set on fire. The news anchor on CP24 even questioned why there were no police anywhere in the area while the destruction was occurring live on TV. On a normal day, a fire truck and police would have been on the scene within a few minutes, yet there was no response on a day when there were police everywhere. And people who were not in downtown Toronto today, probably cannot perceive the number of police downtown. There were so many police everywhere that it is nearly impossible to believe that it was a coincidence that no police were around while the cars were being destroyed. The downtown core was on total lock down by police the entire day yet they were conspicuously absent when the vandalism was occurring.
-Adam
images:
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2118/img0924f.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9126/img0927n.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/97/img0912bu.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2902/img0916d.jpg
I just got back from the G20 protest today in Toronto and have since been watching the coverage on the local news. I do not feel that the coverage by the local media in Toronto has painted an accurate picture of the events that I witnessed throughout the day. So here is what I experienced on June 26th, 2010 in Toronto at the G20 protest:
I arrived at Queen's Park around 1pm. Unfortunately it was raining, but most people were in good spirits and there was even free hot food, fruit and juice. We marched, in what resembled a parade, South down University to Queen St and then West until we got to Spadina.
There was a very large police presence the entire time, but they were all behind barricades as we walked down this designated route. The protest by this point was very peaceful. I did not witness any nefarious activities by protesters or police. The protesters did not attempt to cross any of the barriers and the police were all just standing there, maintaining their positions.
When we arrived at Queen and Spadina, they were sending people North on Spadina. They were not letting people go South on Spadina and there was a large police presence maintaining a line at that intersection. I sat and chatted with some friends on the corner of Spadina, just North of Queen. We even got a slice of pizza. After a while, the protest seemed to be dispersing. At some point, the police at the intersection of Queen and Spadina moved south, allowing protesters to go a few blocks South on Spadina.
Everyone I had come with had decided to go home, but I heard some commotion around the corner and figured I would go check it out. This commotion had been going on for some time, and it was certainly noticeable, but it didn't sound like anything too crazy was going on. You could hear police sirens and people yelling, but nothing too out of the ordinary. There were still plenty of people around and no one was freaking out, so i knew that this commotion wasn't anything major. But people were talking about police cars getting damaged, so I went over to have a look.
So around 4pm, I walked along Queen St., just West of Spadina where there were two police cars that were basically abandoned in the middle of the street. The windows were busted out, the sirens were going off, there were dents, etc. In one cop car, there was a protester in the front seat , yelling inaudible slogans though the police car speaker. He looked to be covered in red paint and appeared to be on drugs and he was smoking a joint in the front seat. There was a fair bit of commotion as people gathered around the police cars to watch what was going on and take pictures. Everyone was basically just watching this drugged out hippie mess around in the front seat of a cop car. He seemed to be the main person causing damage to the police car, but there might have been a few other people causing some damage to the car as well. There was already significant damage before i arrived.
The vast majority of the people there were just watching and taking pictures and videos. There was one black kid wearing a hooded sweatshirt who seemed to be causing damage to the cop car and getting in an argument with the hippie. When the hippie left the front seat, the black kid sat down and tried to light a fire in the passenger seat. The hippie was still standing around and he put out the fire before it really got started. The black kid and the hippie looked like they made peace with one another despite their earlier argument.
It then became apparent to many of us observers that this was a bait car. One of the protesters painted "this is a bait car, aka "a prop"" on the side of the car. Another protester tried to explain to the hippie and the black kid that the police planted these cars there with the intention that they would be vandalized.
There were absolutely no cops anywhere in sight. There were cops literally everywhere throughout the day, yet these police cars got destroyed right in the middle of the street without any response. This must have gone on for at least 30 minutes, so there was plenty of time for police to respond. But it must have been one of the only locations in the entire downtown core where there were no police and it was a very popular location.
It was just so ridiculous that:
1) There were two police cars just sitting abandon in the middle of the street for no apparent legitimate reason.
2) There were no police anywhere in sight for a long period of time in a popular location.
3) No police arrived to the scene despite the fact that police cars were getting destroyed and there was a drugged out hippie sitting in the front seat, smoking a joint, playing with the police siren, and yelling though the speaker.
Given what was occurring, it was pretty clear to many of us that these were bait cars and were deliberately abandon in the hope that they would get vandalized. Not only that, but the police presence must have been deliberately removed from the area and ordered not to respond to the destruction of the police vehicles. There would have been an army of police just around the corner who could easily have responded.
And given that the police were capable planting bait cars in an attempt to discredit the protesters, it is fair to consider the possibility that undercover police officers may have been the first ones to break a window, knowing that when one gets broken, others are likely to continue the vandalism.
When I got home and turned on the news, they were showing live shots of another possible bait police car being destroyed and set on fire. The news anchor on CP24 even questioned why there were no police anywhere in the area while the destruction was occurring live on TV. On a normal day, a fire truck and police would have been on the scene within a few minutes, yet there was no response on a day when there were police everywhere. And people who were not in downtown Toronto today, probably cannot perceive the number of police downtown. There were so many police everywhere that it is nearly impossible to believe that it was a coincidence that no police were around while the cars were being destroyed. The downtown core was on total lock down by police the entire day yet they were conspicuously absent when the vandalism was occurring.
-Adam