OT: The News Thread
- Thread starter MindzEye
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theREALkoreaboy
New member
Re: OT - The News Thread
scumbag protesters smash up cars and businesses in downtown vancouver. punk organizer ducks responsibility by saying "different groups will take different tactics" and "only violence against people counts as violence". dirtbags need to be arrested, given showers, told to get jobs, and locked up for the duration of the games:
By James Keller, The Canadian Press
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VANCOUVER, B.C. - Riot police with batons, bullet-proof vests and some with machine guns clashed with masked protesters dressed in black in Vancouver Saturday, the first full day of the Vancouver Winter Games.
Vancouver Police said protesters opposed to the Games amassed in the downtown core, kicking and vandalizing cars and businesses and breaking windows.
"Vancouver Police are engaged with a group of more than 200 masked protesters near Granville and Georgia who are marching through the downtown core, kicking and causing damage to numerous cars, and businesses," police said in a statement.
"Protesters are throwing objects at police members, spray painting vehicles and transit buses, smashing windows and intimidating pedestrians."
Vancouver police officers and members of the 2010 Integrated Security Unit moved in "to take control of the protesters and ensure the safety of the public."
Some arrests were made. One protester who was arrested said she was told it was because she was wearing a mask.
Riot police in bright yellow vests moved in to break up the protest, and bicycle police formed a line across one of the main streets in the downtown. Aerial cameras showed officers arresting some protesters.
Police put on a show of force at the entrance to the Stanley Park causeway, with riot cops arrayed across the road as a military Sea King helicopter flew overhead.
Police advanced on the protesters, beating their shields with batons and pushing protesters and reporters to the ground in front of them.
Two lines of police trapped protesters between them and began to make arrests.
Organizer Harsha Walia said there were several hundred protesters gathered in the downtown.
"Well, there's riot police," Walia told The Canadian Press in an interview as the confrontation unfolded. "I can't talk. It's kind of crazy.
"Several hundred but people have been dispersing because there's so many cops."
After several hours, police had protesters corralled in a downtown street and agreed to escort them for a few blocks in exchange for a commitment for the protesters to disperse. A cheer went up in the crowd at the agreement.
Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, of the Olympic Resistance Network, disavowed her group from the vandalism and violence, saying that the protest was "a day of autonomous actions, independent groups, with a diversity of tactics around the Olympics."
She said there was some property damage, but that the people who committed the damage were not the ones arrested. She said she considers the action non-violent as long as no one was hurt, no matter how much damage is caused.
"The people who were arrested were simply marching down the street trying to assert their charter rights with the police. The arrests were unnecessarily violent."
Westergard-Thorpe did not condemn the broken windows and vandalism that touched off the stand-off.
"People can choose the tactics that they like," she said, saying police were responsible for most of the violence.
"The most violent thing I've seen all day were the arrests by the police, beating people with bicycles, pushing the crowd back, physically pushing them, pushing them with bicycles and beating and wrestling people to the ground, dragging them to the ground as they were thrown into paddy wagons - and those were people that hadn't committed any property damage.
"People were trying to assert their right to assemble and express themselves."
There were reports quickly on social media sites that protesters rolled marbles onto the street to disrupt mounted patrols and also threw acid at police, but officials were not immediately able to comment on the reports that surfaced on Twitter.
Protesters forced the torch relay to reroute in the city Friday and have vowed mass gatherings to oppose the Games.
On Friday, the day the Games began, more than 1,500 marchers opposed to a variety of things, demonstrated as the torch run ended and the opening ceremonies were to begin.
When they got near the stadium where the ceremonies were being held, a three-deep line of officers held them back.
Still, the protest was largely peaceful, with only one arrest after two officers were hurt during a confrontation.
Westergard-Thorpe said there are more demonstrations planned in the coming days.
"I think it's really up to police the type of actual violence you're going to see. The actual violence, the only violence toward human beings is coming from the police."
scumbag protesters smash up cars and businesses in downtown vancouver. punk organizer ducks responsibility by saying "different groups will take different tactics" and "only violence against people counts as violence". dirtbags need to be arrested, given showers, told to get jobs, and locked up for the duration of the games:
By James Keller, The Canadian Press
ADVERTISEMENT
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Riot police with batons, bullet-proof vests and some with machine guns clashed with masked protesters dressed in black in Vancouver Saturday, the first full day of the Vancouver Winter Games.
Vancouver Police said protesters opposed to the Games amassed in the downtown core, kicking and vandalizing cars and businesses and breaking windows.
"Vancouver Police are engaged with a group of more than 200 masked protesters near Granville and Georgia who are marching through the downtown core, kicking and causing damage to numerous cars, and businesses," police said in a statement.
"Protesters are throwing objects at police members, spray painting vehicles and transit buses, smashing windows and intimidating pedestrians."
Vancouver police officers and members of the 2010 Integrated Security Unit moved in "to take control of the protesters and ensure the safety of the public."
Some arrests were made. One protester who was arrested said she was told it was because she was wearing a mask.
Riot police in bright yellow vests moved in to break up the protest, and bicycle police formed a line across one of the main streets in the downtown. Aerial cameras showed officers arresting some protesters.
Police put on a show of force at the entrance to the Stanley Park causeway, with riot cops arrayed across the road as a military Sea King helicopter flew overhead.
Police advanced on the protesters, beating their shields with batons and pushing protesters and reporters to the ground in front of them.
Two lines of police trapped protesters between them and began to make arrests.
Organizer Harsha Walia said there were several hundred protesters gathered in the downtown.
"Well, there's riot police," Walia told The Canadian Press in an interview as the confrontation unfolded. "I can't talk. It's kind of crazy.
"Several hundred but people have been dispersing because there's so many cops."
After several hours, police had protesters corralled in a downtown street and agreed to escort them for a few blocks in exchange for a commitment for the protesters to disperse. A cheer went up in the crowd at the agreement.
Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, of the Olympic Resistance Network, disavowed her group from the vandalism and violence, saying that the protest was "a day of autonomous actions, independent groups, with a diversity of tactics around the Olympics."
She said there was some property damage, but that the people who committed the damage were not the ones arrested. She said she considers the action non-violent as long as no one was hurt, no matter how much damage is caused.
"The people who were arrested were simply marching down the street trying to assert their charter rights with the police. The arrests were unnecessarily violent."
Westergard-Thorpe did not condemn the broken windows and vandalism that touched off the stand-off.
"People can choose the tactics that they like," she said, saying police were responsible for most of the violence.
"The most violent thing I've seen all day were the arrests by the police, beating people with bicycles, pushing the crowd back, physically pushing them, pushing them with bicycles and beating and wrestling people to the ground, dragging them to the ground as they were thrown into paddy wagons - and those were people that hadn't committed any property damage.
"People were trying to assert their right to assemble and express themselves."
There were reports quickly on social media sites that protesters rolled marbles onto the street to disrupt mounted patrols and also threw acid at police, but officials were not immediately able to comment on the reports that surfaced on Twitter.
Protesters forced the torch relay to reroute in the city Friday and have vowed mass gatherings to oppose the Games.
On Friday, the day the Games began, more than 1,500 marchers opposed to a variety of things, demonstrated as the torch run ended and the opening ceremonies were to begin.
When they got near the stadium where the ceremonies were being held, a three-deep line of officers held them back.
Still, the protest was largely peaceful, with only one arrest after two officers were hurt during a confrontation.
Westergard-Thorpe said there are more demonstrations planned in the coming days.
"I think it's really up to police the type of actual violence you're going to see. The actual violence, the only violence toward human beings is coming from the police."
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Re: OT - The News Thread
okay...let's take stock here.
Because someone protested the olympics yesterday:
1) They're automatically responsible for the acts of everyone else who protested
2) They're unwashed
3) They're unemployed
4) Should be arrested
5) Should be held without due process, in contravention of their charter rights
Politically reliable = Fascist I guess...who knew?
okay...let's take stock here.
Because someone protested the olympics yesterday:
1) They're automatically responsible for the acts of everyone else who protested
2) They're unwashed
3) They're unemployed
4) Should be arrested
5) Should be held without due process, in contravention of their charter rights
Politically reliable = Fascist I guess...who knew?
theREALkoreaboy
New member
Re: OT - The News Thread
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP)—Burning torches and the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man?” Or playful-but-pointed placards and community choirs? No one is sure what to expect when anti-Olympic protesters march toward the 2010 opening ceremony on Friday.
That includes whether their late-afternoon journey through downtown Vancouver ends at peaceful protest or in tear gas and mass arrests.
“Our main goal is to be the voice of opposition, to disrupt the games with a message of resistance and the true social impacts,” said Anna Hunter, an organizer with the Olympic Resistance Network, a consortium of groups behind a “Take Back Our City” march planned for Friday.
The protesters are railing against everything from the cost of the Olympics to tight security.
“The ORN believes in a diversity of tactics and strategies,” Hunter said.
That’s largely been the case so far. In January, protesters lit torches and set Rolling Stones music blaring as demonstrators, some with faces covered by bandanas, marched through Vancouver. Last week it was a makeshift marching band, anti-games chants and Olympic-mocking mascots like “Itchy the Bedbug.”
Most anticipate a similarly broad mix when a crowd expected to exceed 1,000 gathers at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 3 p.m. on Friday. The question is what happens as that crowd makes the eight-block march toward the opening ceremony three hours late—and reach a point where security fences prevent them from going further.
“It’s our right to march on the streets and we are going to exert that right,” Hunter said. “If there are some people that want to push the limits and get closer to a venue, that’s their call.”
Neither of the earlier protests ended in conflict and the ORN insists they aren’t promoting violence. But some have talked of past protests like the 1997 Asia Pacific Economic Corporation protest in Vancouver or the 1999 Battle in Seattle against the World Trade Organization, both of which ended with police subduing protesters with pepper spray and mass arrests. The ORN said it has legal advice and medical help on standby Friday if needed.
“There’s lots of manufactured hysteria,” said Steve Sweeney, deputy chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department. “Their intention is to be peaceful and family oriented. There may be a small component intent on behaving unlawfully, but we see that all the time.”
The list of organizations involved with ORN is extensive, including more radical environmentalists and aboriginal groups.
The most common criticism is escalating costs—a 2006 government audit put the Olympic bill at $2.5 billion while critics argue it’s closer to $6 billion— set against cuts to education, health care and social services. There are also protests against displacement of an estimated 1,200 residents from the Downtown Eastside, a poor, drug-infested neighborhood that sits just a few blocks away from—and in stark contrast to—the festival atmosphere of the Olympics.
Others are railing against the disappearance of civil liberties amid the presence of a 15,000-member security force, barricaded roads, and surveillance cameras. Tensions rose when the Olympic security force sought out anti-Olympic protesters at their homes, work and in the streets leading up the games. They rose again as protesters were turned away trying to enter Canada this week— despite ORN advice to try to look like a tourist: “if you can, buy a hockey jersey.”
“If you protest the Olympics for whatever reason you are made to feel criminalized,” said Am Johal, founder and chair of Impact on Community Coalition (IOCC) and self-described moderate.
Johal predicts a “fun, carnival atmosphere” at Friday’s anti-Olympic march, which he expects to include a 100-person choir.
“People are just going to be letting off some steam from frustration with the Olympics,” Johal said. “It’s ultimately about the restraint the police are able to show. If some people are going to be arrested, they are going to be arrested. But if they start putting out tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd and start getting innocent people, then you are going to get into some problems.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP)—Burning torches and the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man?” Or playful-but-pointed placards and community choirs? No one is sure what to expect when anti-Olympic protesters march toward the 2010 opening ceremony on Friday.
That includes whether their late-afternoon journey through downtown Vancouver ends at peaceful protest or in tear gas and mass arrests.
“Our main goal is to be the voice of opposition, to disrupt the games with a message of resistance and the true social impacts,” said Anna Hunter, an organizer with the Olympic Resistance Network, a consortium of groups behind a “Take Back Our City” march planned for Friday.
The protesters are railing against everything from the cost of the Olympics to tight security.
“The ORN believes in a diversity of tactics and strategies,” Hunter said.
That’s largely been the case so far. In January, protesters lit torches and set Rolling Stones music blaring as demonstrators, some with faces covered by bandanas, marched through Vancouver. Last week it was a makeshift marching band, anti-games chants and Olympic-mocking mascots like “Itchy the Bedbug.”
Most anticipate a similarly broad mix when a crowd expected to exceed 1,000 gathers at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 3 p.m. on Friday. The question is what happens as that crowd makes the eight-block march toward the opening ceremony three hours late—and reach a point where security fences prevent them from going further.
“It’s our right to march on the streets and we are going to exert that right,” Hunter said. “If there are some people that want to push the limits and get closer to a venue, that’s their call.”
Neither of the earlier protests ended in conflict and the ORN insists they aren’t promoting violence. But some have talked of past protests like the 1997 Asia Pacific Economic Corporation protest in Vancouver or the 1999 Battle in Seattle against the World Trade Organization, both of which ended with police subduing protesters with pepper spray and mass arrests. The ORN said it has legal advice and medical help on standby Friday if needed.
“There’s lots of manufactured hysteria,” said Steve Sweeney, deputy chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department. “Their intention is to be peaceful and family oriented. There may be a small component intent on behaving unlawfully, but we see that all the time.”
The list of organizations involved with ORN is extensive, including more radical environmentalists and aboriginal groups.
The most common criticism is escalating costs—a 2006 government audit put the Olympic bill at $2.5 billion while critics argue it’s closer to $6 billion— set against cuts to education, health care and social services. There are also protests against displacement of an estimated 1,200 residents from the Downtown Eastside, a poor, drug-infested neighborhood that sits just a few blocks away from—and in stark contrast to—the festival atmosphere of the Olympics.
Others are railing against the disappearance of civil liberties amid the presence of a 15,000-member security force, barricaded roads, and surveillance cameras. Tensions rose when the Olympic security force sought out anti-Olympic protesters at their homes, work and in the streets leading up the games. They rose again as protesters were turned away trying to enter Canada this week— despite ORN advice to try to look like a tourist: “if you can, buy a hockey jersey.”
“If you protest the Olympics for whatever reason you are made to feel criminalized,” said Am Johal, founder and chair of Impact on Community Coalition (IOCC) and self-described moderate.
Johal predicts a “fun, carnival atmosphere” at Friday’s anti-Olympic march, which he expects to include a 100-person choir.
“People are just going to be letting off some steam from frustration with the Olympics,” Johal said. “It’s ultimately about the restraint the police are able to show. If some people are going to be arrested, they are going to be arrested. But if they start putting out tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd and start getting innocent people, then you are going to get into some problems.”
theREALkoreaboy
New member
Re: OT - The News Thread
these people are complete scum, and i have no problems saying it. you can see they have a specific goal and they are all working from the same mantra: "we use a diversity of tactics" and "if some people want to push the envelope that's their call".
these a$$holes are like the people sitting on the sidelines of a brawl yelling "fight-fight-fight" and then trying to suggest they had nothing to do with it. they are deliberately trying to provoke conflict to try to give the games a black eye, and they are trying to rationalize what they are doing by saying "if it isn't against people its not violent".
and how laughable is it to suggest "it's a fun, family atmosphere" when you have dirtbags dressed in hoods and gasmasks while walking the streets smashing cars and destroying businesses?
yes- these people are dirty, largely unemployed, scumbags who should get what they are asking for- to be arrested and taken off the streets for the duration of the games when they can be released to go and get arrested at the next big riot they want to cause in the next town.
these people are complete scum, and i have no problems saying it. you can see they have a specific goal and they are all working from the same mantra: "we use a diversity of tactics" and "if some people want to push the envelope that's their call".
these a$$holes are like the people sitting on the sidelines of a brawl yelling "fight-fight-fight" and then trying to suggest they had nothing to do with it. they are deliberately trying to provoke conflict to try to give the games a black eye, and they are trying to rationalize what they are doing by saying "if it isn't against people its not violent".
and how laughable is it to suggest "it's a fun, family atmosphere" when you have dirtbags dressed in hoods and gasmasks while walking the streets smashing cars and destroying businesses?
yes- these people are dirty, largely unemployed, scumbags who should get what they are asking for- to be arrested and taken off the streets for the duration of the games when they can be released to go and get arrested at the next big riot they want to cause in the next town.
theREALkoreaboy
New member
Re: OT - The News Thread
use whatever buzzword you want. i'm not in the streets wasted or drunk with a hood over my head smashing garbage cans through windows claiming i'm doing it for "social justice".
fascists>>>>>>>these scumbags
use whatever buzzword you want. i'm not in the streets wasted or drunk with a hood over my head smashing garbage cans through windows claiming i'm doing it for "social justice".
fascists>>>>>>>these scumbags
BeLeafer
Well-known member
Re: OT - The News Thread
Nah, that was easily identifiable with a very first xenophobic lunatic foamy blather against Toronto years ago.
Volcanologist
Well-known member
theREALkoreaboy
New member
Re: OT - The News Thread
what "truth" are you suggesting has been uncovered here? ME threw out a meaningless buzzword. i reject it utterly. but in my statement, i think it's entirely accurate that
fascists (whoever they might be)>> these scumbags
because at least we don't have a bunch of "fascists" rampaging through downtown vancouver with masks on, smashing windows and cars for "social justice".
what "truth" are you suggesting has been uncovered here? ME threw out a meaningless buzzword. i reject it utterly. but in my statement, i think it's entirely accurate that
fascists (whoever they might be)>> these scumbags
because at least we don't have a bunch of "fascists" rampaging through downtown vancouver with masks on, smashing windows and cars for "social justice".
SundinsTooth
Leafs Moderator
Re: OT - The News Thread
I agree that some of these protesters are pretty despicable. I remember the girl in Guelph who was one of the protesters involved in the tackling of the torch runner, and her justification of the attack was downright ludicrous and completely in the realm of loonytown.
I agree that some of these protesters are pretty despicable. I remember the girl in Guelph who was one of the protesters involved in the tackling of the torch runner, and her justification of the attack was downright ludicrous and completely in the realm of loonytown.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
Re: OT - The News Thread
Well let's be honest, most of those protestors ARE unemployed hippie douchebags with nothing better to do than look for an excuse to destroy property and get attention. Scum of the Earth who should have the weight of the judicial system thrown at them.
Well let's be honest, most of those protestors ARE unemployed hippie douchebags with nothing better to do than look for an excuse to destroy property and get attention. Scum of the Earth who should have the weight of the judicial system thrown at them.
corksens
Legend
Re: OT - The News Thread
Anti-Olympics rioters smash Vancouver store windows
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/13/bc-vancouver-olympic-protest.html
Peaceful, my ass.
Tear gas the lot of them.
They are just using the Olympics as another excuse to spew their anti-capitalism, anarchist message.
PS. I'm not sure why these people can't be locked up for the next 3 weeks, especially those who scuffled with police.
Anti-Olympics rioters smash Vancouver store windows
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/13/bc-vancouver-olympic-protest.html
Peaceful, my ass.
Tear gas the lot of them.
They are just using the Olympics as another excuse to spew their anti-capitalism, anarchist message.
PS. I'm not sure why these people can't be locked up for the next 3 weeks, especially those who scuffled with police.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
Re: OT - The News Thread
Where's Judge Dredd when you need him?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itmNiTwHOsM&feature=related"]YouTube- Judge Dredd - I AM THE LAW[/ame]
Where's Judge Dredd when you need him?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itmNiTwHOsM&feature=related"]YouTube- Judge Dredd - I AM THE LAW[/ame]
SundinsTooth
Leafs Moderator
Re: OT - The News Thread
You know what? That is all they want....tear gas and police beatdowns. What a sad sack life that is. Imagine your greatest hope this weekend is to get some cop to stomp on your ass. Go ****ing jump off a bridge you shits.
You know what? That is all they want....tear gas and police beatdowns. What a sad sack life that is. Imagine your greatest hope this weekend is to get some cop to stomp on your ass. Go ****ing jump off a bridge you shits.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Re: OT - The News Thread
The twits doing the damage deserve whatever the legal system throws at them.....the problem you're having is that you refuse to separate peaceful protesters from these morons.
As well, I'm not saying it's applicable in this case, but in numerous other instances, agent provocateurs have been responsible for starting the violence with riot police to get the party started.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=66de9807-d2f0-444e-903e-1c0ba64556de
Cool story bro.....here's video of what really happened, the Quebec provincial police agents were attempting to start shit with riot police and were the only protesters holding any sort of projectiles..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow"]YouTube- Stop SPP Protest - Union Leader stops provocateurs[/ame]
This has been a common complaint in the protest community for years, that every time a peaceful protest is attempted (and the Seattle debacle is a fantastic example of this) that a group not known to the core protesters shows up hooded and masked and starts breaking shit, throwing rocks at riot police, etc.
The twits doing the damage deserve whatever the legal system throws at them.....the problem you're having is that you refuse to separate peaceful protesters from these morons.
As well, I'm not saying it's applicable in this case, but in numerous other instances, agent provocateurs have been responsible for starting the violence with riot police to get the party started.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=66de9807-d2f0-444e-903e-1c0ba64556de
Cool story bro.....here's video of what really happened, the Quebec provincial police agents were attempting to start shit with riot police and were the only protesters holding any sort of projectiles..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow"]YouTube- Stop SPP Protest - Union Leader stops provocateurs[/ame]
This has been a common complaint in the protest community for years, that every time a peaceful protest is attempted (and the Seattle debacle is a fantastic example of this) that a group not known to the core protesters shows up hooded and masked and starts breaking shit, throwing rocks at riot police, etc.
JaysCyYoung
Legend
Re: OT - The News Thread
They're the same idiots that always embarrass themselves at G8 summits that have no clue what they're actually protesting. That's what it was a smart decision to hold the next one in a remote location outside of Huntsville.
They're the same idiots that always embarrass themselves at G8 summits that have no clue what they're actually protesting. That's what it was a smart decision to hold the next one in a remote location outside of Huntsville.
corksens
Legend
Re: OT - The News Thread
I'm sure it's happened before, but 9 times out of 10 there is always a vocal minority that causes the problem.
My ass. It's a common complaint just like it is for a terrorist to claim torture when captured. They are taught to make these claims.
I'm sure it's happened before, but 9 times out of 10 there is always a vocal minority that causes the problem.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Re: OT - The News Thread
I agree entirely....just because people don't understand what they're protesting, we should take the business of governance as far away from the smallfolk as possible. That's the essence for democracy.
Are you ****ing kidding me? Don't get me wrong here, I don't condone any individual protesting something they haven't the slightest clue about, in the same way I don't condone morons casting votes in elections they don't have the slightest clue about. However...what it calls for is the exact opposite of what you're suggesting. It calls for more transparency, cameras in the meeting rooms, etc, etc, etc.
I agree entirely....just because people don't understand what they're protesting, we should take the business of governance as far away from the smallfolk as possible. That's the essence for democracy.
Are you ****ing kidding me? Don't get me wrong here, I don't condone any individual protesting something they haven't the slightest clue about, in the same way I don't condone morons casting votes in elections they don't have the slightest clue about. However...what it calls for is the exact opposite of what you're suggesting. It calls for more transparency, cameras in the meeting rooms, etc, etc, etc.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Re: OT - The News Thread
But the 1 out of 10 times is proof of a government plotting against it's people.
But the 1 out of 10 times is proof of a government plotting against it's people.