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[Cheddarius]

That's not what is depicted. There are videos of people just minding their own business, singing O Canada, sitting down on some grass, whatever. It's not like they were belligerently blockading the route to a nearby riot zone. Why would police attack these people and not the people jumping on police cars, or, at the very least, anyone actively blocking the path to said people?

[Heron TSG]

Grakelin, assuming that people didn't watch the videos because it sent them a different message isn't very nice. Sure, the police did bad things at times, but stress is a powerful force.

That's not what is depicted. There are videos of people just minding their own business, singing O Canada, sitting down on some grass, whatever. It's not like they were belligerently blockading the route to a nearby riot zone. Why would police attack these people and not the people jumping on police cars, or, at the very least, anyone actively blocking the path to said people?

Because the police aren't everywhere. The rioting happens in places out of reach of the police oftentimes.

[Cheddarius]

Couldn't they at least drive to the rioting and have policemen clear the roads they need to get through or summat? I simply see no reason why the police would forego arresting rioters and looters in favor of attacking peaceful protesters. Clearly they did, but... why?

[ed boy]

Situations like the ones the police are in are impossble to know what they're like until they've actually been experienced. Sitting at home, it's easy to say "go for the ones doing dangerous things and leave the rest alone", but in practice such instructions are ridiculous. I've been in situations a bit like these, but on a much, much, smaller scale, and even instructions like "go for the ones wearing red shirts and leave the rest alone" become incredibly hard to follow in practice. I wouldn't be able to explain why, though: the experience is incredibly hard if not impossible to communicate.

[fenrif]

Couldn't they at least drive to the rioting and have policemen clear the roads they need to get through or summat? I simply see no reason why the police would forego arresting rioters and looters in favor of attacking peaceful protesters. Clearly they did, but... why?

Because the rioters weren't there, and they have to charge headlong and attack someone!

Situations like the ones the police are in are impossble to know what they're like until they've actually been experienced. Sitting at home, it's easy to say "go for the ones doing dangerous things and leave the rest alone", but in practice such instructions are ridiculous. I've been in situations a bit like these, but on a much, much, smaller scale, and even instructions like "go for the ones wearing red shirts and leave the rest alone" become incredibly hard to follow in practice. I wouldn't be able to explain why, though: the experience is incredibly hard if not impossible to communicate.

I've been in riotous situations. I saw people tipping over trucks, and setting them on fire, i saw the security and the rioters, the people throwing stuff, the people in black body armour... And I managed to not attack people sitting down singing out of some sort of confusion.

Also it's extremely easy to tell the difference between people sitting down and singing and people smashing and looting and burning things. Aside from that you're implying that police having any semblance of reason, tactics, restraint, or anything is "riduculous" in these situations... if that is the case then they are only ever going to make things worse. You're basically saying that once they're in that situation they're going to (and should be expected to) behave like the worst of the rioters, attacking anyone in sight because they have no idea what is happening, and can't be expected to follow even the most basic of orders, or show any kind of restraint.

[ed boy]

I've been in riotous situations. I saw people tipping over trucks, and setting them on fire, i saw the security and the rioters, the people throwing stuff, the people in black body armour... And I managed to not attack people sitting down singing out of some sort of confusion.

When you were in the riotous situation it was different than for the police. They are under great pressure to intervene, whereas you would not have been.

[fenrif]

They're under great pressure to intervene, but they're also highly trained professionals (one would hope anyway).

Besides, being under pressure to intervene doesn't make it any more chaotic or confusing than it is normally. It's not like its a completely different experience for them than anyone else, its the same situation. Just because it's their job to be there doesn't mean everything is suddenly riduclously difficult to understand.

You have to hold them to a higher standard than normal people, its part of the job. You seem to be asking me to hold them to a lower standard than everyone else involved.

[Heron TSG]

It's not like its a completely different experience for them than anyone else, its the same situation.

I'd imagine that it'd be like being the one running the lights and sound systems for a concert, as opposed to watching the concert.

[fenrif]

It's not like its a completely different experience for them than anyone else, its the same situation.

I'd imagine that it'd be like being the one running the lights and sound systems for a concert, as opposed to watching the concert.

Probobly a better example would be people running security at a concert, but I can see your point I suppose. It's probobly a bit different. But not so much that it'd completely fry their brains and cause them to go berserk at whoever happened to be nearby.

Though I guess it depends on the band.

[optimumtact]

That's not what is depicted. There are videos of people just minding their own business, singing O Canada, sitting down on some grass, whatever. It's not like they were belligerently blockading the route to a nearby riot zone. Why would police attack these people and not the people jumping on police cars, or, at the very least, anyone actively blocking the path to said people?

Bastards, no wonder the police attacked them. How could they?

[Phmcw]

"It's a difficult job" is no excuse for fucking it up.
and it's not a particularly stressful situation that is shown on the video.
When you know what a policeman have to go through, I find it difficult to believe that the felt treathened.
I think it was deliberate, to dissuade further protest. I also think they gave the black block all the latitude they needed to give the other protesters a bad name.

[C4lv1n]

2 things!
1. The video doesn't show everything, it was pretty stressful, and peaceful protestors were let go.

2. The riots weren't a big deal, your average montreal hockey riot is worse. 4 cop cars got torched in the G20, it's usually closer to 10 in your average hockey riot.