| Although not
as aggressive and antagonistic as in
London, the Toronto Police Intelligence
Unit took photos of protestors using
high-powered zoom lens cameras and video
equipment and made only an occassional
attempt to approach the crowd. For the
most part, the police stayed a
respectful distance from the crowd and
were never any closer than 60 feet.
But, in London on July 9, the police
service had a different approach, and
that was to engage protestors, or
suspected protestors (or how about
anyone who didn't look like they were in
the Gay Pride march), and used video
cameras to take photos from only a few
feet away.
- Straightman harrassed by 5
police officers
Often, the officer with the video
camera yelled out insults at suspected
protestors and threatened that they
would be arrested. On several other
occassions, he would go up to a
suspected protestor, point at him or her
in a threatening manner, and verbally
abuse the individual in order to get
their attention so he could take a clear
photo. |
- Anyone who looked normal got his
picture taken
This is tantamount to an invasion of
privacy and police intimidation. When did
it become illegal to stand and the
sidewalk and watch a parade? Wasn't that
1930s Germany or even earlier in the
Soviet Union. Weren't these the tactics of
STASI and the KGB?
The police, under the inauspicious
tenet of 'community policing,' have now
undertaken a plan to harass and terrorize
citizens by using intrusive measures (i.e.
your photograph in secret police files) as
a deterrent against social dissent.
- London "Hate Crimes" Bozo
Terry Wilson (left) notice he is not
wearing anything signifying he is a
police officer. Instead Terry Wilson
harasses people in the crowd, and when
asked for his badge by people he is
harassing he just walks away.
The prognosticators of the neo liberal
police-state understand that the average
citizen will not want to participate in
displays of social protest for fear that
their picture will be published and they
will lose their jobs and livelihood.
Don't think for one minute that the
Orwellian prophesy of the shackles of
totalitarianistic big brother has past us
by. We have entered a new age where rights
and freedoms are merely the fantasy and
myth of a bygone age.
|
