Tasered and handcuffed, eh?
Friday, July 20, 2007
Why leave Canada without getting a little love from the Toronto police? That's probably what U-20 soccer Chilean players thought.
I wasn't there, but from what some
newspapers reported this morning, 9 Chilean players were handcuffed, some tasered, some pepper sprayed, and some roughed up for disorderly conduct.
Chilean officials, of course, are pissed about the whole thing. And who wouldn't be? But breaking the windows of the bus was probably not a good idea.
I'm sure that in the heat of the whole confrontation mistakes were made, but beating and pepper spraying a bunch of teenagers was a bit extreme.
Worst of all, the action of a few baton-happy cops reflects bad on the whole country: this has been the largest sporting event held in Canada so far, and now this incident will probably be one of the things people talk about.
Future someone: "Hey remember 2007 FIFA's U-20 in Canada?"
Future someone else: "Yeah! Where those Chileans players got beaten by the police?"
Future someone: "I wasn't thinking about that, but now that you mentioned it...Yeah, those dudes got
pwoned."
Sure, law and order is a good thing, but these were kids that had just lost one of the most important games in their lives. A little judgment and self control from the adults in charge (and the ones with the guns) would have been in order. BTW, I wasn't there, so I can't tell if the force applied was necessary, but it doesn't sound like it was.
More news:
- Chile presentará queja tras incidentes
- Gobierno chileno presentará queja formal ante autoridades canadienses
- Soccer team slugs it out with police
I'm thinking new tag line: "We're Canadians, eh? But we will beat the s**t out of you, if you step out of line..." I know, I have a bad sense of humor.
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