Bell: G7 protest in Calgary — one hell of a goat rodeo on the streets
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You pose the question and individuals look at you like you've lost your mind. We should be as righteous as Hamas, they say.
This is told to you mostly by white kids, no doubt hailing from the suburbs of Calgary and Edmonton.
Yes, this is a day where a chant is shouted often and at great volume, comparing the Calgary police to the Ku Klux Klan and the Israeli military.
They are all fascists and racists, man.
Chant it often enough, right in the faces of the cops, and hope the police will make a move and you get the Victim of the Week award.
Then they head down Stephen Avenue. The intensity of the protest rises with the smell of pot in the air, though there is surely no connection.
More than a few sitting out on the patios are not amused.
'I just want to drink my beer,' says one, speaking for many.
The protest heads back to city hall.
'Do you still want to march?' shouts one protest organizer, upon arrival.
It is like asking: Do you want to go for another ride on the roller coaster?
The group, ever smaller, march back down Stephen Avenue, encounter a group with Jesus flags and one Israeli flag.
Cops keep the two groups apart. There is no argy-bargy.
What's left of the protest heads back to city hall for a last hurrah.
An old man sits on an old scooter as the protest passes
'I'm homeless. I'm crippled. I'm Canadian. What about me?' he asks.
No real answer. They're busy talking revolution.
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