How to handle protesters

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-11-18 12:02pm

At a recent police services board meeting, the Toronto police chief Julian Fantino was accosted by a crowd of angry protesters shouting slogans about police racial profiling and unfairness. They were holding signs and screaming that The Man is keeping them down, and they need to make their voices heard.

When asked about this by the press, Fantino effectively silenced the criticism by pointing out that the board meetings are open, and that the protesters were invited to send a representative inside to make a formal presentation. Instead, they seemed to prefer public disruptions. The press ended up reporting his comments in full, while not interviewing any of the protesters since they were obviously not serious about the democratic process.

I just thought that was hilarious.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-18 12:08pm

Why send one representative when a mob army can be used?

Most protestors don't really give a crap about the diplomatic process if they're at those sort of rallies. Usually it's just an excuse to stir some shit up, hell, those May Day protests usually have anarchists simply destroying stuff for the hell of it, even if there were some great meaning to it all.

Of course, no one pays attention to the civil protests either, not news unless it's a bad day in Beirut.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-11-18 12:10pm

That is funny.

What'd these dumb asses do, go to the Dharma & Greg school of washed up nostalgic hippie protesting?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-18 12:12pm

Tsyroc wrote:That is funny.

What'd these dumb asses do, go to the Dharma & Greg school of washed up nostalgic hippie protesting?

The only points they could make would be throwing implements, if it comes down to using rowdy behaviour and violence in the end, it wasn't a real protest. Football hooligans would have as much reason.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-11-18 04:59pm

I spell keep the peace "M-G-4-2"...

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-11-18 05:05pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I spell keep the peace "M-G-4-2"...

bah! N-A-P-A-L-M spells relief for me! Wjat burns me the most, is often after these flaming, glass shattering temper tantrums is that protest organizers bitch about not being taken seriously. Obvoisly the concept of the double edged sword is lost.....

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2003-11-18 10:04pm

I think he handled the situtation properly

"If you want to protest, come in and tell us, please"

It's what I would have done.

Let them know they DO have a voice, just are choosing not to use it, so they look like the assholes they are.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2003-11-19 01:56am

I think that for dispersing protesters shotguns using the beanbag rounds or paintball markers using the CS rounds works great.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-11-19 07:10am

The scary thing is that most people seem to recognize violence is a better mean of gaining something than negotiations. What they fail to see is that the police has specialized units to deal with such things. I remember when the miners were protesting in my city (Warsaw, Poland). A morning protester stroll through the downtown resulted in some heavy fighting between the police and 'rioters'. What is even more interesting, most of the miners were drunk. Guess what? Workers Unions paid for the coaches, paid for the vodka, and then everybody was whining that the police used rubber bullets against them. From what I remember, almost an equal number of rioters and policemen were sent to hospital. Miners had frickin' molotov coctails they threw right next to where I study. And the government did their part - totally ignored the whole protest. Damn, I could rant some more about the stupidity from which every level of Polish society suffers. And it spreads like biomass in UFO: Aftermath too.

Of course normal negotiations with the government would probably have a similiar effect - they would be ignored. And people are getting desperate about losing their jobs. But why on why they demolish my city? The only thing that they have succedeed in - is inspiring hatred upon them from the normal people who saw that bunch of lousy m******rs when they were 'protesting'.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-11-19 08:05am

10 minutes from my house, meet the " Protest Against Lowering Benefits to Single Mothers" AKA PALBtSM it's around 500 mothers (who supposly have children) prostesting (blocking) in front of the PM's office

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2003-11-19 08:10am

Our local professional protesters excuse looting shops as redistributing wealth.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-11-19 08:49am

CJvR wrote:Our local professional protesters excuse looting shops as redistributing wealth.

my favorite is when protesters burn down a McDonalds causing the poor unskilled workers to lose their jobs all in the name helping poor unskilled workers.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-11-19 12:34pm

All that phenomenna, extraordinary specimens of protesting...man, the whole universe should've imploded from stupidity a few decades ago.

Meanwhile, I will organize a "Protest-Against-Other-Protests" in my city where I will advise people to stop bitching about their fate which is their destiny while redistributing wealth to myself. Steal from the rich, give to the poor (which also means me).

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-19 03:33pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I spell keep the peace "M-G-4-2"...

I can spell it 4-5-8 S-O-C-O-M...

Demiurge · Post by **Demiurge** » 2003-11-19 04:18pm

Tsyroc wrote:That is funny.

What'd these dumb asses do, go to the Dharma & Greg school of washed up nostalgic hippie protesting?

Dharma & Greg?

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-11-19 05:18pm

Ace Pace wrote:10 minutes from my house, meet the " Protest Against Lowering Benefits to Single Mothers" AKA PALBtSM it's around 500 mothers (who supposly have children) prostesting (blocking) in front of the PM's office

Do you know what we need? More protest groups with insulting acronyms, like "Students for Halting International Trade" (S.H.I.T.)

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-11-20 07:01am

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:10 minutes from my house, meet the " Protest Against Lowering Benefits to Single Mothers" AKA PALBtSM it's around 500 mothers (who supposly have children) prostesting (blocking) in front of the PM's office
Do you know what we need? More protest groups with insulting acronyms, like "Students for Halting International Trade" (S.H.I.T.)

I want to see that one

and I want to morter the protest

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-11-20 07:59am

I'm just picturing the bit on the Simpsons where Homer is planning to buy the plow truck. He visualises plowing through a crowd of protestors who are blocking the president.

"I'm gonna give these protestors a dose of reality."

In lieu of that, maybe some sort of heavily armed troops storming the place. Immune to rocks and the other crap they throw.

Protestors violence vs Government sponsored violence. Always fun.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-11-20 10:47am

Demiurge wrote:
Dharma & Greg?

It is, or was a TV sit-com here in the US.

Dharma's parents are hard core hippies and often seem to protest things in the old hippie style because of the nostalgia element even if it's not effective. Dharma's dad has serious memory issues because he fried his brain on drugs.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-11-20 05:50pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Why send one representative when a mob army can be used?

Most protestors don't really give a crap about the diplomatic process if they're at those sort of rallies. Usually it's just an excuse to stir some shit up, hell, those May Day protests usually have anarchists simply destroying stuff for the hell of it, even if there were some great meaning to it all.

Of course, no one pays attention to the civil protests either, not news unless it's a bad day in Beirut.

You want outrageous?

People in Portland OR were holding unscheduled marches and protests against the Iraq war.

Portland typically doesn't have a problem with marches and protests, as long as they're notified in advance and the paperwork is filled out. That way, the police know what to expect and can plan accordingly to ensure everyone's safety.

A lot of the protests decided to ignore this process for whatever garbage reasons they might cook up, so the city had to pull in excessive police manpower and equipment everytime there was an unannounced protest to make sure that the situation would not get out of control. This among other things involves paying police officers overtime. Dozens and dozens of officers * hours of overtime = lots of money down the drain because some dipshits couldn't be arsed to fill out the paperwork.

The infuriating thing about it (besides the fact that they decided to go block city bridges... suppose there was an ambulance that NEEDED to get through immediately?) was that some of them surely listed among their reasons for opposing the war and the subsequent occupation the costs of doing so.

Oregon was in a severe budget crunch at the time. Everyone who wasn't living under a rock knew that. The amount of money they cost the city every time they held an unannounced, unofficial, unsanctioned protest was equivalent to the operating costs of the Portland School District for (IIRC) ~2 days.

There were districts closing weeks ahead of schedule in Oregon because they simply didn't have enough money. The protestors most likely thought the money going towards the war could have gone to better things, like education. Yet there they were, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I wouldn't have felt sorry if some drunk driver had decided to just plow through the bastards blocking the bridges.

Mike: That is hilarious. I absolutely love it.

Ryoga · Post by **Ryoga** » 2003-11-20 06:08pm

Hell, why hasn't anyone brought up the real life "Car versus Protestor" event? I think it was for an abortion clinic; some guy in a pickup truck was driving on in, but the protestors started laying down in the road. He didn't brake. *BAH-BUMP!*

Man, I loved that episode of "Real TV".

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-11-20 06:25pm

Ryoga wrote:Hell, why hasn't anyone brought up the real life "Car versus Protestor" event? I think it was for an abortion clinic; some guy in a pickup truck was driving on in, but the protestors started laying down in the road. He didn't brake. *BAH-BUMP!*

I wonder what happened afterwards.

Natorgator · Post by **Natorgator** » 2003-11-20 08:44pm

Ryoga wrote:Hell, why hasn't anyone brought up the real life "Car versus Protestor" event? I think it was for an abortion clinic; some guy in a pickup truck was driving on in, but the protestors started laying down in the road. He didn't brake. *BAH-BUMP!*

Man, I loved that episode of "Real TV".

Somehow, I don't think that's very funny.

Ryoga · Post by **Ryoga** » 2003-11-20 11:42pm

[quote="Natorgator]Somehow, I don't think that's very funny.

[/quote]

You don't? Why not? You lay in the fuckin' road, you take your chances.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-11-21 01:02am

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I spell keep the peace "M-G-4-2"...

I can spell it 4-5-8 S-O-C-O-M...

Your spelling has no style.