# To G20 protesters **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276 "2009-09-23T18:59:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276/21 "2009-09-25T17:10:04Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > On what basis? You were betting that their issues would be more coherent than the 9/12 protests. I was wondering whether that bet panned out, in your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276/22 "2009-09-25T18:03:39Z")
I work in Washington, and one day we had some out-of-town colleagues arrive really late for a meeting, because they were in a cab that was just about the last car to get stuck behind some protest that was unexpectedly blocking a major road. The colleagues were telling us about it later, and they were just flabbergasted: “We were happy to see the police arrive – but then they started helping the protestors!” Welcome to DC, guys. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276/23 "2009-09-25T20:20:46Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > You were betting that their issues would be more coherent than the 9/12 protests. I was wondering whether that bet panned out, in your opinion. This being MPSIMS, I’m perfectly comfortable with saying I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276/24 "2009-09-25T20:39:46Z")
Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276/25 "2009-09-26T02:49:01Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > If these are the same sort of stupidheads that turn out at the usual Mayday protests in London, there’ll be a core group of supposedly anti-capitalist types who are really just there to break things\*, with a much larger contingent of well-meaning but naive college types who have turned up for the “event” as much as for any political purpose, and a wide variety of smaller groups there to “promote” their own particular, largely irrelevant left-wing issues. The percentage of people attending with relevant grievances and constructive intent will likely be non-zero but very, very, very small. I held off on saying this until now, but the real troublemakers have been planning to do a bit more than break things. Friend of mine and Mr. Rilch’s is a police officer, and a few weeks ago, he was part of a team that busted a cell of anarchists, foreign anarchists no less, who were stationed in a warehouse on Mt. Washington. I still don’t want to give too much info, but suffice to say, they had the materials for pipe bombs, along with vats of human waste, and under questioning, revealed plans to incite other protestors. When he told us this, I was like, “Oh, good; you squashed that!” But he said, “No, it’s like ants: if you find one group, there’s bound to be others.” We shall see. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-g20-protesters/511276.md?page=1)