Yesterday's protest march began with a bang and ended with a dangle.
Protesters gathering in the sunshine of Dundonald Park beginning at 10 a.m. were eagerly greeted, and outnumbered, by media and police.
As the crowd started to swell, the atmosphere took on a carnival air. People bopped out beats on African drums, kicked soccer balls and smoked marijuana. The crowd swelled some more, the sky darkened and the rains that would last all day began to pour.
A man with a megaphone instructed the crowd to circle around the park. Even though everyone was getting soaked, spirits were high -- until two police officers tried to cross the protest circle on their bicycles.
Afterwards, witnesses gave different accounts of the incident, some said the police pushed first, others said protesters pushed first. The mood changed quickly.
Bertrand Loiselle was taken down by several officers as protesters swarmed around shouting "Shame, Shame, Shame."
This was the bang that started the march.
One minute everyone was hanging out, the next, the bulk of the 2,000 protesters took off up Lyon Street with the police in pursuit.
Aside from the two protesters with signal flags directing the snake march through the city streets, there was little structure to the route. As the rains fell the march went north, east, south, west and then north again before repeating the route with slight variations.
The apparent leaders of the march had a megaphone but they said little of note. "Whose streets? Our streets," along with "Together united, we'll never be divided," were favourites.
There were intelligent voices in the crowd.
"If the G8 leaders really want to help the world's poor they should be talking about debt relief and relaxing the patent laws to allow for the sale of cheaper drugs," said Christen Nelson, a masters student studying international development at McGill University in Montreal.
But for every educated protester, there was a protest warrior, and they were easy to spot. Usually hovering near the front of the march, stomping along arm-in-arm, covered from head to toe in black, with only their eyes and surplus army boots visible. Many of them threw the paint bombs that doused the HSBC bank at around 2 p.m, and the Pepsi truck at 3:15 on Elgin Street.
These were also the ones overturning newspaper boxes, spray-painting the sidewalk and smashing police car windows. But they were only a shadow of the protesters who rocked Seattle and Quebec City in the past.
"It's economic disruption for economic destruction," one explained.
At one point, they stopped in front of an abandoned house near Gilmour and Metcalfe streets. Many of the more militant members of the crowd took over the home to show their frustration that such a building would stay closed for seven years while there is a 12-year waiting list for subsidized housing in parts of Ontario.
Having scored a small victory, and for many a place to stay for the night, the crowd began to split. Some stayed at the house while the bulk of the remaining protesters snaked their way to Parliament Hill.
As they were all day, the police were more than prepared for their arrival. Barricades prevented access to the house, but the lawn and main stairs were open.
It was now about 3:30 and people were tired. The chants had been chanted, the slogans shouted and the joints rolled and smoked. As the energy began to die, a group of 10, mostly men, stripped naked, sparked up their remaining joints and dangled their bodies for the wet, tired crowd.
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