[AR_Six]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

And the whole statement in there about it not being the job of the Police to enforce the law is absolutely ######ed, a judge has already ruled that police have an obligation to enforce the law and shut down these blockades.

Also my reaction. Dumbest thing in any article about this so far. Why is it so hard to say "we understand that officers in this situation are simply carrying out their mandate, and while it puts everyone in a difficult situation, that is the intent of a protest - create a difficult situation so as to bring awareness to [whatever it is they're trying to bring awareness to, on which topic I remain murky]".

My sympathy for these protesters which was a bit thin admittedly is fading to zero.

See, at the outset, I had no particular ill-will towards this movement. I simply did not clearly understand what their goal or issue was.

I understand that there is a particular piece of legislation that they want repealed, but I do not know what in particular they find objectionable about it.

I understand that they have environmentalist agenda, but am not clear on what the specific goal of that agenda is - is there a particular project they hope to impede, or just oil production generally?

I understand that they want to start a dialogue with key leaders, including the PM, but I am not clear on what issues they want to hash out in those meetings.

Basically I am fine if you have an issue that you want to protest and raise awareness for. Doing so may rally people to your cause and effect real change, if indeed there ends up being the political will behind it once you've made everyone aware of it. The problem here for me is that I am not being made more aware of anything in particular.

Instead, the "protest" appears to be more of an obstructionist nuisance, an attempt to annoy people into submitting to the movement's wishes rather than winning people over to the cause. That attitude is inherently conflict-oriented, it's the movement vs. everyone else. This is not an acceptable use of free speech or free assembly and these people should be arrested if they break the law in the course of making their political statement.

And I'll add, with the ordinary consequences that result from any violent resistance. Because if they do what they're saying they're going to do - blockade major highways and attempt to produce economic chaos - I can absolutely see violence as a likely result when police end up trying to break them up.