Toronto cops justify extreme G20 measures with display of LARPing props, weapons from unrelated busts

By at 12:25 am Wednesday, Jun 30

Toronto Police are on the defensive this week as they attempt to defend their heavy-handed tactics during the G20. To prove the seriousness of the threat to public security, they took police on a tour of weapons confiscated from activists.

Only there's a problem: some of these weapons were taken from people who weren't demonstrators. And some of them weren't weapons -- the police proudly displayed the blunt arrows and chainmail they confiscated from a live-action role-player who was taking the train to a game:

In addition to the arrows - which Mr. Barrett made safe for live-action role playing by cutting off the pointy ends and attaching a bit of pool noodle covered in socks - police displayed his metal body armour, foam shields and several clubs made of plastic tubing covered with foam and fabric.

Mr. Barrett said he was "appalled" at the placement of his chain-mail beneath a machete. He regularly takes public transit from his Whitby, Ont., home to Centennial Park to play the game, called Amtgard, while wearing the 85-pound armour and is worried people will think: "Oh my God, that's one of the terrorists from G20."

'Weapons' seized in G20 arrests not what they seem (Thanks, Adam and Yehuda!)

(Image: Jill Mahoney/The Globe and Mail)

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Cory Doctorow

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