Police attacks at York University

It did take me a few viewings to really notice what was happening.

Camera 2 isn't very clear. At first, the police are approaching the crowd and nothing is amiss. Then, they approach the protesters, milling around soon turns into what seems to be a short scuffle, and then, the police are chasing after a couple of people and wrestling them down.

So, what made the scene go from calm to violent in a matter of seconds? The video isn't clear, partly because the police's backs are to the camera. If the cops had been the clear provocators, surely the press releases from the protest group would have made that abundantly clear, *particularly* because they're in possession of video evidence? Those press releases merely harped on the "asking us to stop protesting isn't a reasonable request" factor -- then they skip ahead to "people got attacked".

So, either they don't know exactly how shit got started, or they were the ones to start it.

This is why it felt surreal to me. But you may well be right - maybe I was a little hasty/naive to assume that the cops were the sole provocators. I did actually hear a rumour that someone had a gun. Since the video didn't seem to show one, I didn't think it was worth mentioning. You're right, though, that it's not that clear and also the cameraman/woman probably had a bias.

The Autonomy & Solidarity website is an on-line network for anti-capitalists who believe that revolutionary transformation will come from workers and oppressed people self-organizing from below and not from the top down organizing of any state, party or union bureaucracy.

So even unions aren't good enough for these people. Judging from their mission statement, the writings on their website, as well as their links list, we're dealing with first-rate wackos here.

I was involved in union activism for years on U of T. Any time there was a protest and some shit went down, the websites and newsletters become filled with stories detailing exactly what went down (not to mention lots of first-hand personal accounts that would come out in casual conversation), particularly in the case of a riot or near riot, and ESPECIALLY in cases where the police acted irresponsibly (e.g. Quebec City + tear gas). These Autonomy & Solidarity nutjobs don't have any of those things.

http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/1131

The media and York story is that protesters punched and threw hot coffee at cops.

So he's not suspended anymore?

What are the "lies" that the media and York U have allegedly been telling? That article merely reiterated that the protest was supposed to have been peaceful, but makes no mention of what actually might have happened, save one comment from a passer-by (i.e. someone who wasn't even directly involved).