Posted by Tina
Leave it to the AP, the source for much of the news on radio and TV, to come up with this headline:
Vandals mar summit protests in Toronto – AP
OH! GIVE ME A LARGE BREAK!!! That has to be the protest coverage headline of the decade. Tea Partiers would never be given this kind of soft glove, sweetness and light treatment even for something as innocent as a hiccup lacking an, “Excuse me!”…much less for setting cars on fire! Here’s a portion of the story…
TORONTO – Black-clad demonstrators broke off from a peaceful protest and torched a police cruiser in the financial district and smashed windows in a shopping district after veering off from the planned protest route. ** A group, dressed all in black, smashed the windows of a bank, a coffee shop and some stores before heading to an area where Canada’s largest banks are headquarted, smashing restaurant windows there. ** Police with shields and clubs earlier pushed back a small group of protesters who tried to head south toward the security fence around the site of the G-20 summit. Some demonstrators hurled bottles at police.
Gag me with a bulldozer! The rest of the article went on to extol the virtuously peaceful protest march held by all of the non-“vandals”.
Here’s another account of the day’s festivities:
G8 riots erupt in downtown Toronto,” by Etan Vlessing – The Hollywood Reporter
TORONTO — It wasn’t the G20 Summit pictures world leaders wanted as they gathered Saturday in Toronto for a meeting of major industrialized and developing nations. ** Canadian news networks offered non-stop breaking news coverage of black-clad demonstrators fighting pitch battles with tactical riot police in the city’s downtown core. ** As Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper wrapped the G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario, TV news crews followed masked figures in Canada’s largest city as they attempted to break through police lines and a security fence meant to shield world leaders assembling for the larger G20 Summit. ** As bricks and rocks flew, bank and shop windows were smashed and riot police donned gas masks and formed blockades. ** Projectiles were also hurled at production vans belonging to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and CTV, two TV networks with production headquarters within a stone’s throw of the security zone. ** There were also reports of news photographers being attacked, and their equipment damaged, as they attempted to take photos of the violent confrontation.
please note that many of the people protesting did conduct themselves with dignity
The lack of general coverage, at least in newsprint thus far, is unusual for these events…recalling the riot of newspaper reporting and 24/7 TV coverage on the G8 when Bush was president.