TORONTO

He is doing a remarkable impression of Alfred E. Newman from the old Mad magazine — the cover boy who’s mantra was “What, me worry?”

Such is the infuriatingly relaxed attitude of Joel Bitar, the New Yorker in the prisoner’s orange jumpsuit who doesn’t bother to stand up in court where he stands accused of being the “second most prolific rioter” from Toronto’s shameful G20 chaos of 2010.

Why are you smirking, young man? Three years may have passed but the long arm of the law has nabbed you just the same and these are 24 serious charges that you face, much more than the simple “property damage” your supporters would have us believe.

But then this is the smug anarchist who tweeted last year that “it’s crazy to see people be what society wants them to be, but not me” and “anarchy is direct democracy.”

Waiving extradition and surrendering to authorities a day earlier, the handsome 27-year-old was accused by Crown Elizabeth Nadeau of being a Black Bloc member who wreaked $400,000 of “very serious” damage to several downtown businesses and endangered the lives of people nearby, including the infamous attack on police squad car 766 at Queen and Spadina with an officer trapped inside.

Nadeau told the justice of the peace that the Crown was consenting to his release on $100,000 bail, $45,000 of it in cash. “This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” she told the court.

Bitar is to return to his New York City address, refrain from participating in any protests in Canada and not associate with eight people, many of them fellow G20 defendants and suspected Black Bloc members.

Among them is Dane Rossman, the fifth and final outstanding American accused of G20 destruction who was to have an extradition hearing in Phoenix Wednesday.

All five Americans are alleged to have caused more than $750,000 in G20 damage using Black Bloc tactics — donning dark clothes and disguises to turn a peaceful protest into an anarchists’ violent mob attack only to later shed them to meld back into the crowd.

Led by Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux, a team of investigators scoured social media posts and spent months using facial recognition software to sift through more than 500 videos and 40,000 photos to find the suspects they believed were responsible for most of the shameful rampage through our city on the Saturday of the G20 weekend.

According to Giroux, there is a “massive” collection of photos that allegedly capture Bitar in the act after a peaceful protester followed and photographed him before and after he took off his mask. “He was just Joe Citizen,” Giroux said admiringly of the photographer. “He will be testifying.”

Bitar was arrested by U.S. federal marshals on Valentine’s Day and later released on $500,000 bail with an ankle bracelet as he awaited an extradition hearing. Instead, he changed his mind and decided to fly to Toronto and surrender.

His fellow activists are outraged that a “political demonstrator” is being forced to answer charges of mere property damage. But that’s hardly the whole story.

Just before 3:30 p.m. on June 26, Staff-Sgt. Graham Queen was in his car at the rear of what had been a peaceful protest. Smoke started billowing from inside the crowd and a mass of people suddenly turned and began moving toward him.

Bitar, charged with assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, is alleged to have used a hammer to smash the windows of Queen’s cruiser. He’s also accused of jumping on another police car near King and Bay and of throwing a rock that smashed through the window of a police minivan.

His long list of charges also include damage to restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses, such as taking a pick-axe to six panes of glass at Commerce Court.

Now he’s been put on a plane back to New York and there we hope he’ll stay until he must darken our city once more for his preliminary hearing. And what’s life like for the downtrodden anarchist who rages against the capitalist machine?

Surprisingly cushy, it seems.

According to the supportjoel.com website, Bitar is a doorman and prospective nursing student who lives in Manhattan with his mommy and daddy.