G20 3_1

Activists often get pegged as complainers. People who refuse to see any good in any of the state’s actions. In this you thou-doth-protest-to-much attitude, I was asked: “well, what would you want Krystal, for the police to not show up!”

What I want is accountability.

Let’s start with police officers wearing their frakken badges so there can some sort of police recourse if a civilian does get their civil liberties trampled on?

If every thing every police officer was doing was above the law, then why would 91 officers feel the need to obscure their identity to prevent accountability and repercussions for their actions that weekend in late June?

I mean, why else remove their badges? And you cannot tell me that 90 badges malfunctioned during their course of duty and simply fell off? (Or perhaps they might have fallen off when an officer was busy putting a demonstrator into a headlock and wrestling them to the ground?)

According to a story in today’s Toronto Star, “Blair was appearing in Ottawa before the House of Commons public safety committee to answer questions about summit security. He discussed the disciplinary action in response to MPs’ queries about accusations that a large group of officers deliberately tried to hide their identities from G20 protesters.”

There were 13 complaints lodged about missing or obscured badges. Officers caught potentially face a loss of a day’s wage. Perhaps some were willing to risk a day’s pay for the potential free for all of the streets of Toronto. As I write this, the image of a young girl being grabbed by the neck and lifted off the ground by police comes to mind. They call it a Police riot, not a People riot, for a reason.

Think I’m being hard on the Toronto police here, can I direct you to another Toronto Star series on police accountability here titled: Above the Law.

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In other G20 legal news, charges against alleged G20 “ringerleader” Julian Ichim were dropped November 1, 2010. Ichim was originally charged with counselling to commit mischief.

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...