It looked like a war zone. Police dressed up like Star Wars soldiers raised clubs and chased protesters down Spring Garden Road. In front of the Discovery Centre, police waded into a crowd and appeared to pick anyone younger than 30, or anyone wearing an earring or shabby clothes, forcing them to sit on the sidewalk. A sour smell hung in the air.
Many observers yesterday were appalled by both the stupid actions of some protesters, and the authoritative reaction by police. If a few hundred people are protesting and 20 start throwing fruit and acting in a threatening way, is it really necessary for hundreds of police to react as if the whole crowd is about to rise up in revolution?
It’s easy to see the police position. If I were a cop looking at a crowd, and some of the crowd began to threaten me, I might regard the whole crowd as dangerous, too. But it wasn’t so: the great majority of protesters were angry that some had become violent. Like the police, they thought the rotten apples were jerks.
What a difference seven years makes. When Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, John Major and other G-7 leaders were here, the city positively pulsed with energy and excitement and a profound sense of importance. Thousands upon thousands of people crammed the downtown, enjoying a carnival-like atmosphere.
Since then, we’ve had Seattle and Quebec City, with terrible police-protester violence. We’ve had Sept. 11, which has exacerbated security concerns.
Most Haligonians decided to stay away from the G-7 finance ministers; thousands of people who usually go downtown didn’t bother. Finance ministers don’t have celebrity cachet, true. But we are also less innocent now, so less likely to view a political visit as an occasion to party. Apathy came into play, too: the attitude that we can’t do anything to influence our leaders, so why bother?
Staying away proved to be a smart call, unless you like to see police scared and angry, and innocent citizens terrified and bewildered.
What happened in our downtown yesterday was brutal and ugly and very, very scary. We need to talk about this, and the part that everyone played. The nature of an anti-globalization protest crowd needs to be considered. And what constitutes reasonable response by police.
dswick@hfxnews.southam.ca
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