Violence and unrest seem to come as part of any G-8 or G-20 meeting. From the photos and reports, the wonderful city of Toronto appeared to be under siege. Media outlets are reporting more than 500 people arrested.
Sadly, there is a small group of people who marred the peaceful protests. They’ve taken away the voice of those individuals exercising their right to have their voices heard peacefully and re-directing attention away from real and valid issues.
Everyone’s voices including the media seemed to be silenced either by this small group or unfortunately the police. I just got done reading an article in the New York Times about the treatment of protesters and journalists. There is nothing wrong with keeping the peace and containing violent elements within a protest march, but roughing up, or redirection of, or banning journalists from covering the protests is not acceptable. Journalist are there to report the news: the good, bad, and the ugly.
In order to have a true free flow of communication, peaceful protesters should be allowed to voice their concerns and journalists should be allowed to report on the events unfolding. Isn’t that the values our cultures’ are based on?
