Judging from Instagram, Queensland police are having a great time at the G20 — for now
The hottest party in the world right now is called the G20 summit and it's happening this weekend in Brisbane, Australia. It's got everything. World leaders. Central bank executives. Motorcades. Protesters. And police — lots and lots of police.
G20 summits always attract protesters, and it's easy to see why. The 20 richest nations on Earth are all getting together in one place to pal around, pose for photos, and design policies that will affect the rest of the world. So whether you're pissed about climate change, war, corruption, whatever — there are a million reasons to get yourself to the G20 and scream your head off.
Australian media are reporting that no fewer than 13 separate protests are planned for Saturday, Nov. 15. Expect arrests. Four years ago in Toronto, police arrested 1,100 people in a crackdown on protesters. Anyone thinking about demonstrating in Brisbane on Saturday should familiarize themselves with the special powers police will have during the summit, such as the right to demand identification without cause for suspicion and the ability to arrest people for non-compliance. These powers were to blame for many arrests in Toronoto in 2010, and it could happen again this weekend, even though some undescribed portion of the $100 million Australia is spending on security was supposed to be spent educating the people of Brisbane about the expansive, temporary stripping of their civil liberties.
Brisbane has been turned into a kind of pop-up police state — so world leaders' motorcades can move unmolested along vacant streets, police barrier-lined streets from hotel to convention center and back again — and the people charged with enforcing that state are members of the Queensland Police Service.
Starting tomorrow, the QPS could start looking REALLY bad in the eyes of the world, depending on how they handle the protesters, but for now, the police seem to be having a pretty fun time at the G20. Or, at least, whoever's running their Instagram account is having a pretty fun time.
Let's what the calm before the storm looks like from the perspective of the QPS. They're doing lots of fun stuff that doesn't involve mass arrests.