Just like at Valleyfield, the police provoked the crowd's violence at Queen's Park. There were a few people who came prepared to throw things at the police but that had nothing to do with John Clarke and the OCAP organizers. Police could easily have just arrested the handful of troublemakers. Instead, they chose to attack the crowd on horseback again and again. The crowd became so enraged at the police aggression that some of them fought back.
Desperate times provoke desperate measures.
Poor people under Mike Harris are not unlike workers under Duplessis. Their rights have been removed. The government has no interest in listening to them or doing anything to solve the desperate situation facing the homeless. When they asked to be heard they are given barricades and riot police. Let them eat pepper spray.