See, this is something I would disagree with. Vehemently. While I would agree that all-in-all the officers on the ground did a damned good job, and their training was evident in seeing the way those front-line cops handled the situation. Their superiors, however, made some very frightening and dangerous decisions.I don't think that the police did anything wrong on the whole. That is to say that with literally hundreds of people arrested I can't swear that no one was treated more harshly than necessary, but considering what some "protesters" were doing, which included major property damage and endangering lives, I'm on the cops' side.
Also, no one should have found themselves getting caught up in it by accident since the G20 and the security measures that were being taken to protect it have been the biggest thing in the news for weeks. Everyone knew what was happening. There's 'wrong place and wrong time', and then there's looking for trouble.
They detained many an innocent person, subjecting them to illegal searches (yes, the first lines of the Canadian Charter protects against such things), assaulted media (there are many media representatives, both local and international, who have reported injury from the police; one where a media rep witnessed another who was held by 2 cops, sucker-punched in the ribs by a 3rd, and then received an elbow to the back of his neck from one of the ones holding him, because he talked too much).
Make no mistake, the G20 summit in Toronto was a complete and total embarrassment for human rights, and I am ashamed of my country for how the whole mess was handled. Amnesty International agrees with me
