posted on Jul, 1 2010 @ 06:36 PM
There are several aspects of the G20 that leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Firstly, yes, 1.3 billion was the total tab, but worse than that was the head of CSIS (Canadian CIA) on CBC flatout saying that previous hosts LIED
about the costs of their meetings. He was very clear that London and Philly's claims of 7-18 million for the meetings was lie.
Worse still is the reporter (Peter Mansbridge) didn't bother to ask for any proof. This guy claims that ALL G20 meetings cost nearly a billion and
there is no follow up? I'm watching from home waiting for the OBVIOUS question to be asked about his proof for this claim and there is nothing.
WTF?
Secondly there are the Sonic Cannons...there were several of these purchased in Vancouver for the Olympics but instead of loading them on a plane for
Toronto it was decided to buy more of them. Ok, so the police wanted some new toys, I like new toys too, but the devices weren't supposed to be used
except for a last resort.
The day before the rep's even arrived there were reports of the police using these devices. However when there was an actual need for
them...nothing.
Third, I can see that there was tension in the situation (I wouldn't want to have been a cop facing the possibility of thousands of rioters rushing
me), however lets be honest...there was more force used than was required. The best evidence for this I saw live: As CTVNewsworld was reporting they
happened to see their producer being drug away by the police. When they asked why all they were told was 'no comment at this time' or that it was
possible the officers didn't see his credentials.
I watched as they drug the guy away, I could see his press pass CLEARLY in the video feed.
Fourth, the burning police cars...at one point the media was reporting that there were five or six cars on fire (the cheif of police later confirmed
that 2 had been burned). All day long there was a camera or replay-loop that was showing the burning cars.
Finally the key words that were continually repeated were 'Black Bloc' protestors. I thought this was funny because out of thousands of protestors
they admitted that there were fewer than fifty that fit into this group. Having watched footage from protests in the past I have seen that it is
usually plants that are the ones dressed all in black so they can get the riot started without being identified.
The short version is that the whole fiasco was a farce. I think the biggest disappointment for the leaders was that the citizens didn't take the bait
and start a full blown riot. There is now no reason to rush in a bunch of new laws against protesting/terrorism which is probably all they wanted;
they definitely didn't want to conduct any business. Saturday they watched the World Cup and worded the press release for Sunday then had a 'working
dinner' with the wives (bet they got lots done there).
All the important topics had been taken off the table weeks before the meetings started.
Waste of time and money.
[edit on 1-7-2010 by [davinci]]