The lure of the clash is escalating protests
It took an alleged assault on a police horse and manure flung at a cop for the Toronto Police Service to finally acknowledge what has been evident to many for quite some time: Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have become increasingly aggressive, increasingly confrontational, increasingly disruptive and increasingly haywire.
Also obvious to anyone who’s been monitoring social media is that some individuals — including those historically antagonistic towards police — are attending these protests, not because they have any vested interest in what’s happening in Gaza but because they can’t resist the lure of a clash.
Six months now since the cold-blooded Hamas raids into Israel — a patently terrorist incursion, a massacre that claimed upwards of 1,200 lives — with no end in sight to either Israel’s retaliatory military operations, which have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians according to the Hamas-run health ministry, or the day-after-day, week-after-week of rallies around the world that have also seen flat-out attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, as if they are collectively responsible for the horrors being inflicted on Gaza’s civilians. That’s classic antisemitism.
In Toronto, policing the demos has come with a price tag of some $4.6 million in overtime alone, as Deputy Police Chief Lauren Pogue (Community and Safety Command) told a press conference Friday. Scores of officers have been diverted from their normal duties to maintain law and order at the protests — to, in fact, protect the civil rights of demonstrators and mitigate risk to the public — while simultaneously struggling to maintain core delivery of services to the city.
“We want to ensure that people have the right to free speech and that their Charter Rights are protected,” said Pogue. “But I’m also here to tell people that if they’re going to break the law, if they’re going to assault our police officers, or assault our police horses, there will be consequences and people will be arrested.”
Thus far, three individuals are facing charges over the mayhem that erupted during last Saturday’s demo at Gerrard and Parliament. A fourth person, a female, is being sought for allegedly striking a service horse with a flagpole.
“Policing such events in a free and democratic society presents unique challenges,” continued Pogue. “We respect the right to assembly and to expression but it’s crucial to understand that these right are not limitless. There are laws and regulations that must be adhered to. And it’s the responsibility of Toronto police to enforce them.
“Despite our repeated warnings and cautions, some protesters on Saturday refused to co-operate or follow police directives. This culminated in physical aggression towards our officers, a serious departure from the principles of lawful demonstration.”
Pogue continued: “These actions are anything but peaceful. They jeopardize the safety of everyone involved, including those who got caught in the fray and had no intentions of engaging in altercations with police.”
If these protests have now very much gone sideways, moving from public inconvenience to something far more combative and hostile and targeted — as one of the demonstration organizers on Saturday basically threatened to take the clamouring to places of Jewish worship — the flaccid police response is largely to blame. Across upwards of 500 demos over these many weeks, they’ve been far too tepid and exacting towards the rabble-rousers.
Cops have since Saturday been upbraided for purported over-policing the event, even for deploying the mounted unit that has always been critical to maintain order at rallies.
Mounted officers have superior sightlines to spot trouble brewing; Pogue estimated that one police horse is comparable to 10 officers on foot. Further, the very presence of these horses generally discourages threatening conduct. People back off. At least one individual, however, allegedly didn’t.
What kind of person strikes a horse with a flagpole?
Policing these events has been a thankless job. Politicians, especially, should be prudent about taking a peremptory side. I’m referring specifically to the six city councillors — two of them members of the police board no less — who’ve signed a letter implying the right to protest has been traduced. Which is so far from the truth that it’s almost laughable.
Exploiting the community tensions are the usual suspect firebrands — Marxists, anarchists and the like, who’ve never met a mobocracy they couldn’t stoke — along with the Pro-Palestinian incendiaries, all mixing in with more well-intentioned protesters.
“There are individuals consistently involved in the protests who act as agitators and who are confrontational and violent,” said Pogue.
“What we have seen … is some people showing up on a regular basis who in fact are agitators. We recognize that the vast majority showing up are there for a cause and to speak out and to be heard. But again, we have agitators in the crowd and we have seen an escalation.”
Liaising with organizers in advance of a planned protest has sometimes been effective, sometimes not. They’re not compelled to co-ordinate with police. And some are clearly seeking to cause as much havoc as possible. That’s the whole point.
Expect more of the same this weekend and next weekend and next weekend and …