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Author Topic: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto  (Read 9137 times)

Rocco Penny

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I was reading a piece in the NYTimes about police arresting peaceful demonstrators(along with a few violent ones)
Two policemen held a reporters arms as another struck him in the stomach with his fist,
I hope they are sued, fired, and go to hell.
I know though,
THEY"LL GET AWAY WITH IT.
I'd love for once to see the cops get what's coming to them.
I was just so mad I can't just act like this didn't happen.
I was run out of a public park for taking photographs just last week by a couple of our "finest"
I hope these b*****s get what's coming to them...
Beating a reporter has got to be a crime.
He didn't resist, he didn't refuse, he didn't do anything but report.
I hope these s****s get what's coming to them...
Sorry for the misspelling but I'm so mad I could spit

[Topic language has been edited by a moderator]
« Last Edit: June 28, 2010, 04:47:41 pm by Chris Sanderson »
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Rocco Penny

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2010, 06:06:33 pm »

After calming down a bit and reading more about the incident,
I apologize for my outburst.

This should be approached in a calm, professional way by a competent attorney and the guy that got beaten.

The PROMINENT, CANADIAN reporter that witnessed the incident also heard the police talk about the man they beat as having been a smart@$$ all week.
It turns out he was asking hard to answer questions, and the police were going to make him pay for that, so they beat him.

The police as jury judge and executioners is where we're heading.
A little street justice huh?
Gosh this is out of control both in the US and Canada.
Anyone caught beating anyone else will be jailed.
Over and over the cops do it and they walk.
Don't say it's part of the job.
Stress, split second decisions regarding life and death,
THESE MEN CHOSE THEIR BED
reporters report.
Now the media has to wear protective armor to thwart beatings by the police?
Yep that's what I'd do,
wear full contact boxer's protection,
a helmet, a torso protector, braces on my legs,
Or better strap into a wheelchair and make em cut me out.
I don't get it.
Why do we keep letting the police beat people, capture the beatings, video evidence, and let the cops walk?
I would love to see the overzealous members of law enforcement weeded out on their first incident of brutality.
One strike, your out.
Give them jobs they deserve,
like sorting screws...
« Last Edit: June 28, 2010, 06:12:43 pm by Rocco Penny »
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Joe Behar

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2010, 08:16:06 pm »

Quote from: Rocco Penny
After calming down a bit and reading more about the incident,
I apologize for my outburst.

This should be approached in a calm, professional way by a competent attorney and the guy that got beaten.

The PROMINENT, CANADIAN reporter that witnessed the incident also heard the police talk about the man they beat as having been a smart@$$ all week.
It turns out he was asking hard to answer questions, and the police were going to make him pay for that, so they beat him.

The police as jury judge and executioners is where we're heading.
A little street justice huh?
Gosh this is out of control both in the US and Canada.
Anyone caught beating anyone else will be jailed.
Over and over the cops do it and they walk.
Don't say it's part of the job.
Stress, split second decisions regarding life and death,
THESE MEN CHOSE THEIR BED
reporters report.
Now the media has to wear protective armor to thwart beatings by the police?
Yep that's what I'd do,
wear full contact boxer's protection,
a helmet, a torso protector, braces on my legs,
Or better strap into a wheelchair and make em cut me out.
I don't get it.
Why do we keep letting the police beat people, capture the beatings, video evidence, and let the cops walk?
I would love to see the overzealous members of law enforcement weeded out on their first incident of brutality.
One strike, your out.
Give them jobs they deserve,
like sorting screws...

Rocco,

Might I suggest that you give this yet more thought?

I'm not justifying any of these actions, but there is the other side as well. Maybe in the interest of being balanced you should also write that the people that vandalized storefronts and private property as well as setting fire to 3 police cars, while wearing balaclavas, should be subject to the one strike you're out rule?

The fact is, there were tens of thousands of people protesting. By far, the majority were peaceful and law abiding, but there were others as well.

I live in Toronto and I can tell you that what I saw, in terms of both police actions and protester actions had both perfectly justifiable and completely wrong aspects.

By all means, lets have a discussion about this, but lets do it in a rational manner. In much the same way we should not allow police to be judge, jury and executioner, we cannot assume those roles either. Neither one of us has all the facts in this case.

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Robert Roaldi

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2010, 08:10:35 am »

I tend to be cynical about these kinds of things, even though I'd prefer not to be. The entire week seems almost to have been choreographed, as if everyone knows their stage directions and acts accordingly.

If you put up barriers, you know you will get nutcases trying to bust them down. My guess is that this is counted on, by all sides. It's a necessary part of the show. At some level, it's useful to get footage of people breaking windows, because it makes it look like the money spent on security was justified. Also, by comparison with the violent louts, politicians end up looking good, not always an easy thing to achieve. All the politicians involved are members of their countries governing parties, so parading around while being protected by mean looking police probably makes them feel important. Can't help feeling it's part of a re-election marketing campaign. I am pretty sure than any agreements of substance and resulting documents were arrived at and signed months ago. The weekend event itself cannot really be a "working" weekend, in the sense that I understand work.

Then there are media semi-professional rioters whose only purpose is to taunt police in the hopes of generating a backlash while cameras are running. There are plenty of agendas to go round. It's difficult to trust anyone's motivations.

At the G7 (I think) meeting in Montebello Quebec several years ago, it was revealed that undercover masked police tried to cause a riot but that the demonstrators objected and tried to calm the provocateurs down. Sounds like a Hollywood script except it was caught on YouTube and later discovered to be true, a truly amateurish and dumb police stunt, whose purpose is beyond me.

Then, in the middle of all that, are truly dangerous wackos with guns and bombs. Them, we should arrest and lock up for a long time.

I read a good suggestion elsewhere that if they really wanted a secure meeting location, why not use a military base, or a prison.

The Canadian government spent $1 billion dollars on this show, a large figure. But now people are talking about something else entirely, a nice distraction isn't it? Whenever I read about some crisis du jour in the media, I always wonder what else is going on today that they don't want me to know about.  In an e-mail I sent to a friend about this, I said that I hated being so cynical. She replied that it's not possible to be cynical enough.
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Horatio

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2010, 08:33:14 am »

My feelings were of disgust that all the wanabee photo journalists who have witnessed scenes of photographers putting their lives on the line in war zones stood around with their precious cameras getting photos to post on their flicker account.
Please explain to me why not one of them tried to prevent the idiots from smashing windows and burning cars.
Perhaps if they had banned together taking photos of the cowardly Black Bloc changing their clothes and taking off their bandannas and masks and put these  these photos on the front pages for all to identify.
I suppose their would have been a backlash because they did not get a model release.
 
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DarkPenguin

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2010, 09:16:49 am »

Quote from: Horatio
Please explain to me why not one of them tried to prevent the idiots from smashing windows and burning cars.

They don't want to get hurt?
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Rocco Penny

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2010, 09:24:36 am »

The reporter that was assaulted has reported from Palestine, in violent situations, numerous times.
He weighs 140 pounds.
He had a press credential that the police had recognized up until that time, was told his official papers were going to be approved, and was just standing.
He didn't resist.
He in fact begged the police not to beat him.
This was all witnessed by a very well known and respected journalist that has hosted nationwide candidate's debates on television.
The witnesses have corroborated the victim's version of events.
I believe it would cost less than the billion dollars the government has already spent, not to mention the millions this particular lawsuit will end up costing
to rebuild any shops or mcdonalds that gets vandalized.
I just don't get it.
Why do we keep letting the police beat people and get away with it?
Like the nuclear arms race when I was a kid.
It just goes against human reasoning.
What a bunch of rubes.

A racket pure and simple.
Both the g-20 and the billion dollars for the police
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ckimmerle

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2010, 11:25:54 am »

Quote from: Horatio
Please explain to me why not one of them tried to prevent the idiots from smashing windows and burning cars.

Ummm...maybe because it's a photojournalists job to record an event as opposed to alter it?

And for you journalism cynics out there, please spare me the whole "journalists alter an event just by the nature of their presence" argument. That they're presence has a small affect is agreed, but in most cases it's negligible. These anarchist idiots are little more than immature kids without a clue as to what they're really protesting against. They're sole purpose of being there was to break things. They would have smashed windows and burned cars whether photojournalists were present or not. Hell, some of the black-clad woosies actually attacked photographers for recording their actions.
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Horatio

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OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2010, 11:47:58 am »

There is a big difference from the respected and talented photo journalists and the many who think they are.
I for one have the upmost respect for the photo journalists displayed here: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_p...d=7-10052-10755
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lightstand

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2010, 02:37:15 pm »

Here's a link about police and photographers on the lighter side:

http://newsarse.com/2010/08/06/terrorists-sick-of-being-treated-like-photographers/
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RFPhotography

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2010, 08:38:11 am »

I know this thread is a little old now, but I'm just reading it for the first time.

Rocco, phrases like 'prominent Canadian' and 'well known and respected journalist' are about as useful and credible as the phrase 'unnamed sources'.  I live about 30 minutes outside of Toronto.  I didn't read all the coverage of the G20 but a reasonable amount of it.  Never saw or read anything about an incident involving a 'prominent Canadian' journalist being beaten by police.  You'd think that'd be news, particularly right here. 

No link to a story.  No link to photos.  If this was that big an incident, there has to be at least one story on it somewhere.  There has to be at least one photo of it somewhere.  Cite your source(s).  You say you read it in the NYT, where's the link?
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Rocco Penny

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2010, 08:31:08 am »

I know this thread is a little old now, but I'm just reading it for the first time.

Rocco, phrases like 'prominent Canadian' and 'well known and respected journalist' are about as useful and credible as the phrase 'unnamed sources'.  I live about 30 minutes outside of Toronto.  I didn't read all the coverage of the G20 but a reasonable amount of it.  Never saw or read anything about an incident involving a 'prominent Canadian' journalist being beaten by police.  You'd think that'd be news, particularly right here.  

No link to a story.  No link to photos.  If this was that big an incident, there has to be at least one story on it somewhere.  There has to be at least one photo of it somewhere.  Cite your source(s).  You say you read it in the NYT, where's the link?

Hey there, to begin;
there is a common push in North America to build a portion of the middle class from what can only be called turning military research and technology inward.
Fighting our own citizenry.
Cameras on every corner, everyone spying on everyone.
This police brutality as a means to further a skewed game(G20)
is part and parcel to giving jobs to people that prbably haven't, and won't ever produce anything of value their entire lives.
Not to say cops aren't necessary, I know bad people won't be stopped by anything else,
Just cops as a means to build the middle class off of those least able to defend themselves is corrupt to the core.
Here's the links:  I'll update you when the Canadian Govt. has to pay this man millions for the idiotic actions of those animal policemen
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/28/g20-rosenfeld-police.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/27/toronto-police-attack-pea_n_627042.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/world/americas/28security.html

If you need me to,
I can find the quote by the prominent Canadian reporter who witnessed the attack, and more importantly the events leading to it...
« Last Edit: August 29, 2010, 08:33:40 am by Rocco Penny »
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Rob C

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #12 on: August 29, 2010, 10:36:04 am »

I like the Van Gogh chair; why not post that instead? Oh, it's not a VVG one after all.

Rob C
« Last Edit: August 29, 2010, 11:52:59 am by Rob C »
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RFPhotography

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2010, 08:15:22 am »

there is a common push in North America to build a portion of the middle class from what can only be called turning military research and technology inward.
Fighting our own citizenry.
Cameras on every corner, everyone spying on everyone.
This police brutality as a means to further a skewed game(G20)
is part and parcel to giving jobs to people that prbably haven't, and won't ever produce anything of value their entire lives.
Not to say cops aren't necessary, I know bad people won't be stopped by anything else,
Just cops as a means to build the middle class off of those least able to defend themselves is corrupt to the core.

Wow!  Nothing more need be said.
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Rocco Penny

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2010, 11:31:07 pm »

Wow!  Nothing more need be said.
OK
I'd agree
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Rocco Penny

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #15 on: August 30, 2010, 11:33:07 pm »

I like the Van Gogh chair; why not post that instead? Oh, it's not a VVG one after all.

Rob C
coming from you I'm blushing

Hey Rob did ya get the computer/forums issue resolved?
OK thanks for saying anything-
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RFPhotography

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #16 on: August 31, 2010, 07:27:27 am »

OK
I'd agree

You may agree, but really you don't.  We're saying 'Wow' for entirely different reasons.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #17 on: August 31, 2010, 07:51:46 am »

The attack on the journalist was witnessed by Steve Paikin of TVO's The Agenda (www.tvo.org), and he hosted a one-hour episode of the program the week after the G20. The guy who was beaten up appeared on that panel discussion, but I've forgotten his name. I don't know if the episode is available on the web site, but they will probably replay it at some point. It was a good program. The public affairs programs on TVO are among the most respected on television; other networks pale in comparison.

The impression I came away with, after the discussion and the rest of the reporting, was that although that journalist has had numerous previous run-ins with authority, in Israel and other places, and to the police on the ground may very well be a "pain in the a**", it did not seem to me that what Paikin witnessed in that particular incident was of such importance or public danger that it needed coercive police tactics. I was not there, of course, so this opinion is not of much value. I can only speculate on why there wasn't such a response earlier in the day when guys in masks were actually really violent and were destroying storefronts and police cars, all incidents that received a lot of media exposure probably because it makes for good TV news images.

When you spend that much money ($1 billion) and have that many police on duty, I think it's a fair question for the public to ask why there was such a reaction against a guy asking taunting questions when hoodlums with weapons were allowed to smash stuff up. I am unfortunately of a suspicious mind when I see this kind of stuff. It all seems like propaganda to me. If the media were able to get footage of hoodlums smashing up cars and storefronts, well, I can't believe that was a complete fluke. They knew where to look, or were tipped off, or took a good guess based on their own sources on the street, or all of the above. If they could manage that, I would expect the same from well-funded law enforcement. So when things are allowed to happen, I can't help wondering if some purpose is achieved by allowing it to happen. Are we seeing truth or is it a media chess game between people who love rioting and the authorities? After all the data, I do not feel that I have enough information to make a judgement.

The only personal account I received was from the young girlfriend of a friend's stepson. She was working downtown on that Saturday, near College and Yonge, who was pushed up against the wall by police 2 or 3 times after leaving work and had been trying to find out what subway and bus services were still operating. I cannot conceive how anyone could have mistaken her for someone who is a threat. I am getting more and more cynical as I get older, and would prefer to be proved wrong.
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Rob C

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #18 on: August 31, 2010, 09:58:50 am »

Rocco, stop blushing; it's unbecoming at your age.

No, the computer seems fine everywhere else, but when I use these boxes to write posts or replies containing quotations, as soon as I go beyond the original space within the little box, the latest typing starts to vanish below the limit and I have to keep scrolling etc. until I lose my mind. Or just give up. Or just carry on regardless of how innacurate the typing turns out to be. Which bugs me.

I did try using the copy'n'paste in Word technique and it works, but then I lose sight of the piece to which I want to respond, and that's just as bad, as I end up writing about something quite other than what that post might be about. Life's a bitch, right enough.

Ciao -

Rob C

Rocco Penny

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Re: OUTRAGED! Photographer/journalist asaulted by police in Toronto
« Reply #19 on: August 31, 2010, 11:58:39 pm »

Rob,  I have had a few problems like the one you describe,
usually arising from my trying to be clever.
Disconnect from the internet,
default all of your browser settings in control panel, mozilla, IE,
EVERYWHERE
default settings.
Same when you go online to your website,
default all the forum settings.
Did it worK?
Or did you just lose all your history etc for nothing?
Also delete cookies and histories passwords etc, only if you know your passwords,
otherwise all is lost
OK I think I shall mostly listen to you from here on.
Mr. Roaldi,
it was a real pleasure to see you jump in here with a most tenable position.
Of course we know nothing of what the photographer did to finally make the police mad enough to beat him.
All we know is two policemen held the 140 pound reporter as another punched him in the stomach with his fist.
That's what we know happened.
Who cares what the reporter said?
Not me.
His press ID was recognized until the cops decided he was a troublemaker.
Didn't matter if he was asking why the police were arresting peaceful demonstrators as they allowed the rioters to run loose through the street just hours before?
They wanted to quell the demonstration, they led the press away before they did, they beat this one defenseless 140 pound reporter because they didn't like his questions.
Tough luck for the reporter HUH?
Seems like public opinion sees the gathering of a lightning rod group in well advertised large metropolitan venues,
with the billion + spent on security,
the subsequent millions spent on covering the event in the media and the lawsuits arising from the event
as a giant waste of money and a furtherance of the fraud we all experience daily
« Last Edit: September 01, 2010, 01:04:58 am by Rocco Penny »
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