May. 21st, 2012 09:39 pm
Moving along
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muckefuckLast week on Facebook I bet a near-stranger that I would cut off my fingernails (his idea, not mine) if his dire predictions about anarchist mayhem came true over the weekend. My counterprediction was that we wouldn't see anything worse than a few broken windows at most. Sadly, our mutual acquaintance deFriended me as a consequence so I'm not in a position to gloat at having been proved right. But really, the relief of an uneventful series of protests is more than reward enough.
There were moments last night, watching the newsfeeds, where I glimpsed the potential for things to get really ugly. Once I saw that barricaded hefted, I thought we'd see some shattered glass for sure. In the end, however, the police seem to have behaved better than I feared them capable of. (One friend reports that supervisors repeatedly broadcast the message, "Remember that you are on live television and show restraint!") Yeah, they busted a few heads, but only after being seriously provoked, and the brunt of their response seems to have landed on those actually doing the provoking; when bystanders complained that they were being given no place to go, the cops pulled back. Most importantly, they identified and surrounded the Black Bloc hooligans early on without disrupting the surrounding march. I didn't see any evidence of the awful baton charges on peaceful parties or instances of kettling vividly broadcast from the streets of Toronto. How refreshing would it be if we're actually learning from Canada's mistakes for a change?
The much-touted traffic chaos turned out to be a bust as well, quite possibly because so much of the workforce heeded calls to stay home. The shuttles I rely on to get into work, which loop down to Chicago Avenue and back north, ran perfectly on schedule. I'm still waiting for a report from our buddy Diego, who announced at Saturday's brunch his intentions to go south for some sightseeing. Again, there were moments on Sunday when I asked myself why I wasn't doing the same. Twenty years ago, I would've been there for sure. But I fall in the vast middle ground between the grannies reliving their rebellious youth and the rebellious youth living it out for the first time.
There were moments last night, watching the newsfeeds, where I glimpsed the potential for things to get really ugly. Once I saw that barricaded hefted, I thought we'd see some shattered glass for sure. In the end, however, the police seem to have behaved better than I feared them capable of. (One friend reports that supervisors repeatedly broadcast the message, "Remember that you are on live television and show restraint!") Yeah, they busted a few heads, but only after being seriously provoked, and the brunt of their response seems to have landed on those actually doing the provoking; when bystanders complained that they were being given no place to go, the cops pulled back. Most importantly, they identified and surrounded the Black Bloc hooligans early on without disrupting the surrounding march. I didn't see any evidence of the awful baton charges on peaceful parties or instances of kettling vividly broadcast from the streets of Toronto. How refreshing would it be if we're actually learning from Canada's mistakes for a change?
The much-touted traffic chaos turned out to be a bust as well, quite possibly because so much of the workforce heeded calls to stay home. The shuttles I rely on to get into work, which loop down to Chicago Avenue and back north, ran perfectly on schedule. I'm still waiting for a report from our buddy Diego, who announced at Saturday's brunch his intentions to go south for some sightseeing. Again, there were moments on Sunday when I asked myself why I wasn't doing the same. Twenty years ago, I would've been there for sure. But I fall in the vast middle ground between the grannies reliving their rebellious youth and the rebellious youth living it out for the first time.
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Second City Cop had a special shout-out to the bike cops today, and they really did an amazing job this weekend. They were cleverly deployed. I liked how they were able to hop in front of marching protestors to clear areas, and how they used their bikes as a subtle barricade in front of the mayor's house. Much less intimidating than mounted police, and more mobile than even cops on ATVs. They saw a lot of action, and they handled it well.
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"TIME TRAVEL!"
"When do we want it?"
"IT'S IRRELEVANT!"