Here’s a picture (click to enlarge) of cops arresting some protestors; note the possibly suspicious similarity between the protestors’ bootsoles and those of the cops. This is apparently a famous picture but I hadn’t seen it before; see the discussion here.
Cops and victims wearing same boots
Yes it was widely circulated on indymedia and anti-globalization websites.
Tactical boots make great all-weather/all-terrain running shoes. Pretty widely available.
But yeah, it’s weird that two protesters next to each other have the same bootsoles as the cops.
I guess this weakens the force of asking each side to walk a mile in the other side’s shoes.
The picture is nothing compared to the YouTube. If you watch the video, you see the boots aren’t even the give away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow
Authorities later admitted they were police and it was covered on CBC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg