The police are much more effective when they've got the assistance of the public. The easiest way for legitimate protesters to keep their protests from being over-run by anarchists is to help the police arrest the anarchists.
If the marchers raising their issues don't want to see riot police rushing crowds, don't want to see police cruisers burning in the streets of Toronto, don't want to see people's shops and businesses smashed by hooligans, well there is in fact something that those legitimate protesters could do about that.
I am not saying that I would not help the police if I could. But I would be there to protest my cause, not to hunt BB.
Hunting the BB is what the police get PAID to do. Stop crime, or solve crime, either when it is occurring (especially in front of their eyes!) or afterward.
Seeing as these hooligans were a minority of protesters, it boggles the mind that the police did nothing to stop the carnage. If a reporter can get a pic of someone smashing in a storefront, where was the police to stop that occurrence or arrest the perpetrator after the incident?
Whether by accident, or design, a number of protesters using Black bloc tactics were not stopped from creating general carnage. This detracted from the otherwise peaceful protesters that gathered.
I get jumped all over when I suggest that it might just be by design,
especially when taken into account that this kind of thing has been tried by other police services before. Like I said, it is NOT that far fetched to believe that this might be the case again.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion.