The O Canada Incident

Here is a video that combines three different views of an incident during the G20 meetings. A crowd stands and sings the anthem O Canada while facing down lines of police in riot gear; as the song finishes the police charge the crowd.

The timing of the police charge was really a reaction to the people sitting down in the middle of the street. Since a standing crowd is easier to disperse than a seated crowd, the police are ordered to charge before the sitting group grows. Note that there are no injuries or even attacks in this video; there is simply a show of force by the police that urges the crowd to move back.

This video reveals tactics in how to move a group of people through intimidation and mild force. If they resist the force would get greater (as seen in other videos) but in this scene the crowd scatters easily. The indignation about the video is that the anthem representing our freedom was sung, followed by proof that we don’t really have freedom.