HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics
The temperature is heating up and so is park security for G20. The city is under lock down in order to protect the palace summit. Yesterday was rainy and thus very quiet though on Monday I found myself surrounded and questioned on several occasions by bicycle officers dressed entirety in black. Today was unusually hot and humid and I once again encounter numerous of Toronto finest enveloping thee parks all around my neighbourhood. In fact there is such an unusual air about that I was reluctant and specific about which book would come with me to the park. The volume I was carrying on my last encounter had provoked several inquiries so as that I felt best not to carry anything that could be considered radical. Sounds silly but I really didn’t feel like ending up in detainment so I brought Dostoevsky which was the least subversive in appearance so that I could read and feel safe.
This time however was very different and far more intimidating. Sitting in my usual spot in the grass preparing to read my book I noticed an oddly inconspicuous unmarked van with tinted windows making a poor attempt to reverse park down trafficked one was strip. I thought it was funny to see the police officer behind the wheel struggling as the passing driver honked and threw curse words without realizing who he was yelling at. Before I could enjoy the humour of the parking situation the entire end of the park was consumed by nearly identical vans differing only in a choice between three dark colours. It was frightfully dreadful to be sitting with a book in the shade of the park while the perimeter is surrounded by swat teams and fenced off by unmarked vans.
It became difficult to read as various conversations between the officers and several regular park goers were at first rather loud. The tension ceased almost instantly and turned pleasantly casual as the officers were only stopping for lunch. Some of them made jokes with the citizens but mostly they ate regimentally and silently and often unseen. One by one the van doors would opening revealing small packs of cops and then someone would carry out there waste. They all wore black sun glasses and despite some bubbling very military in motion and vanished near as quickly as their surprising arrival. It turned out that a small protest had broke out in the large park across the large road from this one so their was little attention paid to those of us who’d been target back on Monday. Now the cops had some real villains. A group of hippie protestors waving paintings standing in the park. I walked by on my way home for lunch and saw the vagrants and vandals there must have been about 20 of them surrounded by thrice as many officers. I doubt anyone got hurt.
My studio was to hot for working even with the conditioner and two fans, so I went back to the park to finish my book and wait for the sun to settle. There were no signs of any officers on the main strip or throughout Kensington but when I settle down on the grass I noticed someone peculiar. There was a van on the corner only this one had decals advertising some obscure moving company. The driver was in a blue uniform and cap but his darkly shaded glasses seemed strangely reminiscent of the brigades fashion from the morning. He must have sat for an hour before starting to circle the park. He passed me about ten times before resigning to another spot. It was during his second rest that a few people started to smoke reefer and play their guitar not far behind me and not far from the van’s open window.
Sure enough within seconds there was a herd of bike cops flying in from unseen corners yelling “Who’s smoking the pot!” Whoever it was saw them coming because the smell vanished simultaneous with the invasion. However a couple of teenagers who just happened to be strolling by were horded, searched and questioned because one of them was wearing an anti-G20 t-shirt. The kids had a whole bag of the shirts and were going to sell them at the protest but the cops scared them good and the youth zipped up a hoody before he was freed. A hoody over the t-shirt in the hot and nasty humidity.
I was fortunate enough to have this entire affair to occur only two feet behind me. I pretended for a second that this was a normal part of life and attempted to keep reading. I was interrupted by a hovering officer who proceeded to interrogate me. I’ve gotten my response down now thanks to experience and was able to relinquish his suspicion with a single sentence. These guys were not funny, nor did that treat any of us like people as the other soldiers had, and I could sense that they were bored and blood thirsty with out any prey to satisfy their hunt.
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