Violent World Cup Vandals

[bcholmes]

I should probably just stop reading the toronto community on LJ; the comments there make me weep for the city.

But... there's a comment, today, complaining about people making a ruckus after the World Cup final game. And someone joined in saying "Frankly, after all the shit this past month in Toronto. I'm just glad to see a gathering of joyful, celebrating fans vs looting, violent scumbags."

It makes me think: it's like these people have no idea what the atmosphere inside one of these protests is like. You bump into a bunch of your friends; you get to snerk at the zanier fringe elements of the gathering; and laugh at the creative ways that people are expressing their opposition. People gather to express their anger at the system, but I don't find them angry.

Comments

[trouble]

Maybe they're referring to the police? :D? :D?

Okay, probably not. :(

But yes, that's been my experience at protests, although Halifax protests are tiny.

[maize]

I totally see what you're saying. But playing Devil's advocate here, from an outside perspective on both issues, say you're neither a protester nor a sports fan, the majority of what you have to go on is that the G20 protests left flaming police cars, shattered windows, involved people urinating into storefronts, etc., whereas the post-World-Cup celebrants did not involve any such destruction in Toronto that I'm aware of. (I've also not been following news the past few days, so ignore me if I missed some stories on that.) Also, much of the footage people from a diversity of perspectives have shown from the G20 protests involved altercations and clashes, whether that footage is intended to show police cracking down with unnecessary force on peaceful protestors or to show violent protesters looting or attacking police. Given that those have been the big protest in the media and the big sporting event in the media, I don't know that it's surprising that people draw, from an outside perspective, the conclusion that the protests are angrier events.

[bcholmes]

No, I get it. I understand how people arrive at those conclusions. It was just a bit of an a-ha moment for me to really get it.

[19_crows]

agreeing with maize here. Someone I know from the internets lives in Toronto and was writing about the restrictions and the protests. How the police shut down so much of the city, closed movie theatres, etc. She had no problem with the protests but some of them were violent - whether it was police cracking down on peaceful protests, or "outside agitators". She talked of masked protesters breaking windows, and that sounded angry to me.