It’s worth mentioning that counter protest was a critical ingredient in suppressing the convoy in Vancouver. The movements of bike-riding counter protesters forced a route change to a badly picked dead end street that broke up the convoy (and embarrassed them as they slowly backed out in line), while police formed a wall facing what they saw as the threat: the counter protesters.
"In other municipalities, notably Vancouver and Toronto, the police were more proactive and able to blunt attempts to disrupt downtown life."
That's the big thing since the pandemic started, right? Cops leaving the hard right alone to do its thing? The shitty part is that 'leaving hard right goons alone to do their thing because we like the hard right' is more appetizing than 'if we don't get to murder random black people for no reason we're not working anymore'.
"Despite opposition from the police and criticism from the mayor, this counter-protest, which drew in hundreds of citizens, was a much more effective response than anything the police could muster."
Sure. But I think the intervening to shut down the bridge protest is a horse of an entirely different color. Given that lots of the online accounts pulling the strings appear to be hacked accounts that are controlled by untraceable persons, I think we can surmise that that's going to be the Russians, letting us know that they can reach out and touch us too; in exactly the same way the color revolution types and the NSA can hassle them inside Russia. Further, given that the bridges are critical arteries I think it's entirely legit to move on them with the police/military. The equivalent would be shutting down an entire hospital with ER. It's one thing to be an inconvenience to daily life, it's a different matter to actually doing things that result in injuries & deaths.
"It's crucial to see this a Canadian manifestation of a global phenomenon rather than an American intervention in Canadian affairs. "
Although it's also a global phenomenon of the Russians getting back at the West and the Americans via Canada. The bridge stoppage in particular is going to impact Americans.
It’s worth mentioning that counter protest was a critical ingredient in suppressing the convoy in Vancouver. The movements of bike-riding counter protesters forced a route change to a badly picked dead end street that broke up the convoy (and embarrassed them as they slowly backed out in line), while police formed a wall facing what they saw as the threat: the counter protesters.
"In other municipalities, notably Vancouver and Toronto, the police were more proactive and able to blunt attempts to disrupt downtown life."
That's the big thing since the pandemic started, right? Cops leaving the hard right alone to do its thing? The shitty part is that 'leaving hard right goons alone to do their thing because we like the hard right' is more appetizing than 'if we don't get to murder random black people for no reason we're not working anymore'.
"Despite opposition from the police and criticism from the mayor, this counter-protest, which drew in hundreds of citizens, was a much more effective response than anything the police could muster."
Sure. But I think the intervening to shut down the bridge protest is a horse of an entirely different color. Given that lots of the online accounts pulling the strings appear to be hacked accounts that are controlled by untraceable persons, I think we can surmise that that's going to be the Russians, letting us know that they can reach out and touch us too; in exactly the same way the color revolution types and the NSA can hassle them inside Russia. Further, given that the bridges are critical arteries I think it's entirely legit to move on them with the police/military. The equivalent would be shutting down an entire hospital with ER. It's one thing to be an inconvenience to daily life, it's a different matter to actually doing things that result in injuries & deaths.
"It's crucial to see this a Canadian manifestation of a global phenomenon rather than an American intervention in Canadian affairs. "
Although it's also a global phenomenon of the Russians getting back at the West and the Americans via Canada. The bridge stoppage in particular is going to impact Americans.
elm
fun with globalization