I think too many people are looking at the situation far too much in black and white when it's all shades of grey... remember everything happened very quickly and police had to make fast decisions - some of which will obviously be strongly debated for a long-time. A couple thoughts on the various players.
Thank you!
Your earlier post and your assessment above are some of the best analyzes I read.
I am very disappointed with the police and Bill Blair because I know they have been a progressive, approachable force, especially since Miller forced out Fantino (I wouldn't want to imagine the weekend with him in charge). Disappointed because I saw the somewhat hostile protest march on Friday and saw a huge build-up of police forces, but very little actual violence and very few arrests despite many potential showdowns. The police were polite and even friendly (but firm) with bystanders up to Saturday afternoon - the time I left work (I had to work Saturday and Sunday, just this weekend) to head for the suburbs, ending up on a GO Transit bus because that was the only quick way out (by this time, the subway and GO trains and TTC surface routes were all shut down, I got on one of the last GO buses out) of what I sensed was going to be a deteriorating situation. Disappointed is the right word.
I support some sort of inquiry, if only to learn from the mistakes and sort out the biggest questions surrounding the fog of the weekend that was. I looked at the Facebook page that was calling for one, but won't join, partly because of all the avatars like "F--k the police" - that's not helpful.
I think part of the problem was that everyone was caught off guard by the "Black Bloc", and there was likely a too-tempting urge to over-compensate for that (exhibited by public comments as well). There were also many different police forces in town, working in mixed groups (different cultures, issues of confusion, perhaps poor direction), plus fatigue, plus that temptation all contributed to the bad calls made at the Novotel and at Queen and Spadina. I see a lot of grey as well.
I also think the G20 was not worth it. There was no consensus on the big issues apart from perhaps dangerous rushes to cut in the name of austerity. The real, legit, protesters with real issues were not heard. Hundreds of thousands of people experienced disruptions (and some were wrongfully detained), businesses were hurt, apart from hotels. The police lose face, deserved or not. This was a disaster on so many levels.