I've taken part in quite a few protests in my time. And for these events I usually bring a drum along, and with other musicians get a beat going so people can dance and move and blow off some of the anxiety and stress that can be associated with public demonstrations. If there is a police barricade being approached I've never condoned the provocative or confrontational methods used by some like the Black Bloc, as I feel non-violent action is the only sane solution.
But one can get a bit frustrated when one watches what the police can get up to. Over the years I'd heard reports of them using "agent provocateur" tactics, and at the recent SPP protests in Montebello it looks like they did just that. Watch this video, and see a union president call them out on it. Brilliant stuff... (and thanks to HPVOoOer jlam for the link.)
UPDATE: And not too long after I posted this the CBC reported it on their Ottawa webpage.
UPDATE #2: As of midnight the updated CBC story shows a photo where one can see that the footwear of these bogus protesters matches those of the cops dealing with them.
UPDATE to the updated update! The CBC now reports that "Quebec police admit they went undercover at Montebello protest". And my, but what an absolutely bullsh*t spin the police put on it...
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2 comments:
I made it halfway thru and all I see is a bunch of grown men acting like jerks, I can't tell who's on what side to be honest. Everyone kind of looks fake to me (maybe they're ALL cops! :-), like they're all playing a role, only badly. The grunting of the protesters sounds pretty halfhearted, so are those the fakers?
I've never really been into protests, I find them counterproductive, it marginalizes people with valid concerns when they themselves make their side look like a bunch of doofuses.
It'll be pretty darn interesting to see if there were cops faking to be protesters though. Sometimes people who go into police work as a second choice when they just couldn't make it in the world of crime.
Nancy, watch it all the way through. Yes, at first it just looks like a bunch of guys engaged in typical male baboon behaviour, but in the end you can see how their takedown and arrest is so staged (they are way too gentle with them). And as you can see by my latest update, the cops now admit they planted those "protesters". We should all be outraged that they were hoping to stir up and escalate the protests.
And protesting can be effective. Recall back a few years in the Ukraine when the public thought the election results were a fraud. Thousands camped out and protested and would not leave until a new vote was held, which they got!
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