Police exhausted from beating and arresting social activists and poor people at G20

Man directing traffic at King and University during rush hour (Torontoist, Adrian Incogmed)

During the afternoon-long power outage in Toronto yesterday the city was thrown into chaos. Traffic lights didn’t work. People ran out of gas because they idled too long and the gas pumps weren’t working. Elevators failed. The subways stopped.

During the traffic congestion, helpful citizens jumped into the fray to direct traffic by hand. Somebody had to do it. The thousands of Toronto police, RCMP, and CSIS officers who filled downtown Toronto only a week before at the G20 were no where to be found.

“While helping out in this way might seem like one of the more civically responsible things you can do during a blackout, Toronto Police actively discourage it, citing safety concerns.” (Torontoist)

It may be hard to get the police back to their normal assignment after a weekend of excitement in Storm Trooper costumers without much control of their actions.