I attended the rally on Lebreten Flats, the march, and the gathering in front of the Supreme Court building on the day of the G-20 protests. Overall, the experience lifted my spirits and reassured my sense of hope in social progress, but for two exceptions. The first was the misrepresentation of the event by the Canadian mainstream media*, which I won't go on about here. The second was the behaviour of the Ottawa police force.
Chief Bevan stated that he and his force wanted to "balance the interests of public safety and security with those of preserving the fundamental values of democracy". In my opinion, while the majority of the individual officers may very well have been normal people with this lofty goal, I can’t say for sure because of the heavy shields and masks they were wearing. I couldn’t see their eyes. Also, I was distracted by the big sticks they carried. Surely, given the overall peaceful nature of the protest*, this excess was unnecessary. These costumes put a strange psychological distance between protesters and officers, further alienating the two groups of people, upping the emotional stress on both sides, and thus actually compromising the very public safety Chief Bevan and his officers were supposed to be protecting.
Though not unbearably, I felt threatened for my personal safety, for that of other protesters, and for the police, all because of these silly costumes. As protesters and police, we represent the public. (The rest of the public had apparently been duped by the media into staying home).
Was this excess deliberately provocative?
Shame on you, Chief Bevan!
Thank-you,
Laura Brawn
(*ps. despite what CTV News told you, very few protesters are actually
angry male teens with weapons and rocks)