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Vandalism in Toronto

The news reports are full of pictures of burning police cars, and the streets full of broken glass. It’s depressing, but Stephen Harper just made his case for the $1B security bill.

Doesn’t it seem like security has a disproportionate cost, though? Let’s review the damage: no major injuries, some broken windows, four or five police cars. Other than wondering what the police were thinking leaving their cruisers abandoned on a protest route, I have to conclude that this is all very picayune stuff. Yet the posturing and breathless crisis news coverage makes it sound like WW3 has just started and we’re all going to die. Quick, Steve, send in the army!

No. This calls for a more mature response.

First, the vandalism is a criminal matter, and should be treated as such. The police need a good way to identify and arrest the vandals. Shouldn’t be too hard with so many cameras in the croud, but maybe hitting the first few rock throwers with an identifying paint ball might have a discouraging effect?

Second, this is a story of 75 vandals, protected by maybe a couple of hundred sympathetic protestors, in a city of 3 million disapproving citizens. We need to make sure the vandals know that the rest of us are not on their side, and want to see them locked up for what they’ve done to our city.

Third, there needs to be an effective non-violent way to give air time to people who feel disenfranchised. Not sure how, but to start with, let’s take the approach of inviting protest leaders to meet with the politicoes on condition that their protests are violence-free.

There has to be an effective alternative to giving up civil liberties and paying through the nose for fences and police. Because otherwise, Mr. Harper wins and the rest of us lose.

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