Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
On Sunday, more than five thousand people gathered on the lawns of Queen's Park in front of the Ontario Legislature for an impassioned demonstration against the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the subsequent violence against supporters of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi in Iran. With some protesters flying Iran's current flag while others waved the country's flag as it existed before the Islamic Revolution, emotions ran high in the crowd: some argued first with one another, and then—as police moved in to form a barrier at the front of the crowd as several people remonstrated forcefully with the speakers—with the police themselves.
All photos by Miles Storey/Torontoist.
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I don't understand what this has to do with Queen's Park or the Toronto Police Service.
I'm almost certain that Ahmadinejad wasn't aware of this protest and wouldn't care about Iranian ex-patriots if her were aware. I'm not sure what the reasoning is of any nationalist group which decides to use Toronto as venue to protest the goings-on in their former homeland.
Seriously?
Yes, David, seriously. You have upwards of 5000 committed individuals protesting in a way that the man they are protesting against will never hear about. Can you understand the futility of that? It had nothing to do with Ontario provincial politics, or our fine police force, so what was the point?
That's my point.
It's a rally. Queen's Park is a common place for such rallies. Maybe people in Iran will see that the diaspora is interested in what they are doing, and will take that as a sign of encouragement. Maybe the Canadian government will listen to what these people have to say, and will open up their embassy doors to the injured. If you use your imagination you can probably think up all sorts of reasons for why this rally took place.
I know it must suck to be an angry old White dude who remembers when immigrants knew their place.
Thanks for your reply, Ramanan. The first part was quite enlightening. I'm not sure why the need for the closing insult, but I'll pass on that.
I will just say that there is an Iranian Embassy in Ottawa, and that it would make more sense to me to take a protest there, than to Queen's Park. Maybe then the people concerned would have a reason to listen.
And I apologize to anyone who thinks my comment came across as angry, but that wasn't the case.
My guess is that it's easier to organize a protest in Toronto then it it would be to organize a protest in Ottawa, since the Iranian community in Toronto is quite large. I don't think it would make sense to ask thousands of people to drive up to Ottawa for a rally when there are plenty of venues in this city for one to take place.
The insult was because complaints about immigrants protesting get tired. Everyone has the right to free assembly in Toronto.
Hi Ramanan...as part 2 to your simplistic response, let me just say that you know nothing about me. I immigrated to this country as a child...you assume I'm white and pre-judge how you will respond to my comments. Others have assumed me to be Indian, Portuguese, Spanish, Pakistani, various Arab races...I've been chased through the streets of Etobicoke by blonde white-skinned boys with baseball bats calling me a "Packy"--this was all back in the early '70's when minorities really were in the minority, so don't give me this crap about immigrants knowing their place.
All I'm talking about is making your protest count, and if you're going to get 5000 people together, do it in a place that the enemy will hear about.
wessheperd ignorant and stupid people like u make me angry. jus crawl back into the hole u came from and stfu.
Such an enlightened comment.
The point of these protests is media coverage, the more coverage they get the more likely it is that their protest will contribute to the international 'noise' protesting the events in Iran, and the government and those inside Iran protesting are more likely to pay attention to than they would to well-worded letters of contention addressed to an embassy.
As far as I know there have been protests in Ottawa as well as Toronto.
I think the reason protests take place in places like Queen's Park and City Hall is because they are considered public meeting places or commons for assembly. Protests will probably take place in Ottawa too, but this is Toronto and Queen's Park or any other government buildings are typical places for demonstrations.