G8 Summit Dead Protester

Last month, a protester was killed at the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy.  One reporter managed to get pictures of the whole incident.  The concern in Canada is that the G8 summit is scheduled to be here in Canada next year.  What are we going to do to avoid this kind of controversy?

The last times we hosted major summits were brutal.  We are still paying the costs of the APEC summit of 1997.  I'm sure we, as taxpayers, spent more on legal fees for the public inquiry than we spent on hosting the summit.  Quebec City was recently a fenced fortress, to try to keep the protesters out.  They might as well have put up a paper-maché fence: it would have lasted about as long.

Protesting is a serious hobby (I wouldn't call it a business, because there is not much profit to be made).  The pictures show protesters in ski masks, hard hats, gas masks, and protective armour to protect against the batons and other weapons used by law enforcement.

I shudder to think of the legal repercussions if a protestor was shot and killed in Canada.  We had four years of a public inquiry and lawsuits as a result of Hughie and the Pepper Spray.  Imagine the lawsuits and years of inquiries we could have if a protestor was killed!  I'm sure a lawyer could make a good living by relocating regularly to cities hosting summits and waiting for the business that results from the conflicts that will inevitably occur between protesters and police.

My question is this: why are protesters so eager for public inquiries and lawsuits?  They know what they are getting into.  They dress for battle, they provoke the battle, and they then want a public inquiry after the battle???

The pictures from Italy show the police vehicle up against a wall, protesters on the one side breaking in the windows with a four foot long two?by?four and the soon?to?be killed protester about to throw a heavy fire extinguisher through the already broken back window.  Not surprisingly, the officer inside has his pistol drawn.  (I think it is fair to say that he is acting in self?defence.)  The pistol is pointed at the head of the guy with the fire extinguisher.  I don't know what he was thinking, but if it was me, at that point I would back off.  He didn't, and was shot twice in the head.

In Canada, you could count on a lawsuit from the family.  They might even win.  In the U.S.A., the guy's family would probably win the equivalent of the lottery. 

I can't imagine why a person committing a terrorist act, threatening to assault a police officer with a potentially dangerous object, who is stupid enough to continue in the face of a loaded gun, should win anything other than a Darwin Award.  (For those of you that don't know, the Darwin Awards are a humourous gag, awarded to the people who as a result of their death, have done the most to improve the gene pool and advance evolution.)

But that's just my opinion.