Halton MP Garth Turner put up the Montebello YouTube video of bootgate (via: stageleft) and got slammed into the middle of next week in his comment section.

The Gazetteer noticed the Quebec police line had their own video cam running, the footage certainly isn’t on YouTube. He also noticed a letter from the NDP to Stockwell Day asking for a public inquiry. Update: That was quick, Stockwell Day has already said no.

“I’ve made the inquiries and there was no RCMP that were involved as far as those three individuals go,” Day told reporters after making a crime-prevention announcement in Winnipeg.

“If people have concerns … there is a complaints process for the RCMP. There is also one for the Surete du Quebec. This incident happened in Quebec, so I imagine people could also file under that complaints process.”

The Galloping Beaver has taken riot control training.   

The second thing that is telling is this:

The RCMP has refused to comment, while Quebec provincial police have flatly denied that its officers were involved in the incident.
But they were involved. They took these three guys into custody! The denial was made too quickly and without contemplating the entire incident. The RCMP refusal to comment is thundering. Not all that long ago a relative of mine in the media relations business (a.k.a. spin doctor) told me that when questioned, “no comment” or “refused to comment” meant one thing - there was something of substance on which not to comment. RCMP public communications officers are well-trained enough to know how such a response sets up further questions. They’re cops. They know a suspect under questioning who does not respond to inquiries is hiding something.

Circumstantial evidence items two and three.

Back to the actions of the three “protesters” and the Surete de Quebec police who took them into custody. Considering the state of the protest line in which the “three” drifted into, they would have presented an elevated threat to the police line facing. The other protesters were bare-faced, unarmed, perhaps a bit noisy, but otherwise presenting no particular physical threat to the police officers tasked with preventing the protest from moving. David Coles, in fact, seemed intent on keeping the protest orderly.

Then three masked, rock-carrying individuals showed up. Under any other circumstance, those three would have been considered a risk to the safety of the police on the line and perhaps the other non-violent protesters. Ignoring for a moment that these three moved themselves into the police line, consider the actions of the Surete officers and the so-called protesters from that point.

…When I did riot-control training, our “mock protesters” were normally other service personnel from another training course. They used to kick, bite and scratch and occasionally leave some hapless guy laying on the ground in the fetal position holding his crotch.

These three “protesters”, intent on hiding their faces, carrying rocks, in rather good physical condition, who would have presented a physical threat and could be expected to put up a fight, suddenly became acquiescent and compliant. In fact, the police didn’t even use the one immobilizing move which is standard in the case of a possible violent suspect - a knee in the middle of the back. In fact, at one point a “suspect” is laying on his side with one of the policemen exposed to a knee in the groin and nothing happened. The switch from masked, armed, potential rioter to law abiding, compliant arrestee is nothing short of amazing.

Dr. Dawg is collecting links faster than a kid grabbing goodies at an easter egg hunt.  He puts up a funny post too.

Questions being raised on every conceivable band of the political spectrum online may prod media to ask more than softball questions. 
They can borrow bloggers and commenters questions, I’m sure people won’t mind.

Creekside  got creative.:^)