Could the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance Have Been Stopped Before the G-20?

The Hamilton Spec has published an article on Peter Hopperton, the apparent leader of a group called Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance (SOAR). I had never heard of them before but after reading the article I googled the group and it would appear that they were planning to raise hell and promised to do so on their website.

I heard of others questioned beforehand. Were these guys?

Their motives are good, including environmental action, but their means are not helping anyone.

On May 11 they stated: ... We are calling ourselves Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance (SOAR), and this June, we want you to hop to Toronto ...

With so much advance publicity and a 1.3 billion dollar price tag for security, why weren't they prevented from "raising hell" instead of having to be round up afterward?

According to Joe Warminton in the Sun:

Who made the decision for police to stand down despite the fact the city was under attack? And why? Was it a police decision or political? These should be the cornerstone questions of an external review surrounding the chaos of the G20. After all, police officers were trained to stop the Black Bloc anarchists, were appropriately equipped and massively manned.

As downtown Toronto witnessed burning police cars and a small group of thugs on a rampage, a police source tells me the only thing that stopped the officers from doing that was an order telling them not to. They tell me they could have rounded up all, or most of them, in no time. I have had several frontline police officers tell me they were told not to get involved. But even before that decision was made, says one insider, there was mass confusion and indecision. "The orders went from engage to, no, don't engage to engage to, no, don't engage,' " said an officer. "It was an absolute shambles. Everyone was talking over each other on the radio. Nobody seemed to know what to do. It was just a mess."

The officer said that eventually there was "a clear order from the command centre saying 'Do not engage' " and, at that point, smelling weakness and no repercussions, the downtown was effectively turned over to the vandals while police, up to 19,000 strong, were ordered to stay out of it.

Fortunately, the "thugs" don't represent the majority of protesters at the G-20 who were peaceful, anymore than the police officers who attacked the innocent, are representative of all law enforcement.

One thing that did appear real was a police video surveillance image of the actual bad guys all huddled together in black clothing prior to the destruction. Why didn't police brass act right then and there? After all there were only a few dozen of them against 19,000 strong. This picture shows the police brass knew the location of the real culprits and were tracking their movements. Why didn't they let their people just nab them right there with the same zero tolerance Toronto has for parking violations. (Warmington)