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G8/G20 June 2010 Protest Watch

zipperhead_cop said:
That just means the gear boxes will wreck stuff outside the perimeter.  No idiot is going to be denied his chance to break windows and throw heavy objects at police from a distance. 

Sucks to be a small business owner along the outer perimeter  :p (Good luck to any Starbucks in those areas)

The same types of clowns who launched their 'affirmative action' at the Olympics and really taught society a lesson... not.

 
This, from MERX (highlights mine - PDF attached if link doesn't work):
".... The intent of this Letter of Interest (LOI) is to invite contractors to express their interest and availability to participate in a project to supply Coach Buses for the transportation of RCMP/OPP personnel and their personal duty-related belongings, to and from various facilities for the 2010 G8 and G20 Summit(s). This service requirement will be broken out into several work streams required to transport varying numbers of individuals, at different times, to a variety of locations over several days. For the G8 Summit, the RCMP/OPP will require approximately 4000 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations. For the G20 Summit the RCMP will require approximately 5600 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations.

The proposed service will be required between June 10th, 2010 and June 30th, 2010 services will mainly be required within the general vicinity of Huntsville, Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Other locations requiring this service include Dryden, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie ...."
Reference Number  PW-$TOR-002-5310
Solicitation Number 08A33-090442/A


- edited to fix title -
 
I've cobbled together all the resource links listed above here - let me know if there's more out there that are useful.
 
Toronto braces for G20 logistics crunch
Late-June summit could cause trouble for commuters, island airport users and baseball fans, as well as downtown residents

Anna Mehler Paperny, Globe and Mail, 2 Apr 10
Article link
When the G20 comes to Toronto in June, it promises to bring not only the planet’s most powerful leaders and a cast of thousands but a slew of logistic and transit hassles in the city’s downtown core.

Subway lines and the underground PATH system pass through a security zone – an “interdiction" area – that will feature identification checkpoints and traffic diversion.

Baseball fans, as many as 40,000 of them, could have a difficult time getting to the June 26 game to see former Jay Roy Halladay pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies because of disruptions to local traffic, the TTC and GO Train service. The GO trains that run directly behind the convention centre will likely be halted at specific times during the two-day summit, depending on the whereabouts of heads of state.

RCMP Sergeant Michelle Paradis, a spokeswoman for the Integrated Security Unit, said none of these services will be shut down entirely due to G20 security, but it's still not clear where there will be delays or rerouted traffic, and what aspects of the PATH will be closed – and when.

“There will probably be restrictions, whether it be traffic restrictions or pedestrian," Sgt. Paradis said, adding that the goal is for transit restrictions to be minimal ....


Limited Access
Ottawa Citizen, 3 Apr 10
Article link
As the dean of activist organizations, Greenpeace ought to be above self-defeating publicity gimmicks, but apparently not. The group did the public no favours by climbing on top of the Parliament Buildings last December.

Briefing notes obtained under an access to information application show that the Privy Council and the RCMP were, not surprisingly, highly disturbed by the security breach.

(....)

The isolation of public officials is certain to define the G8 and G20 conferences coming up in three months in Huntsville and Toronto. Already Toronto is mounting the biggest security operation the city has seen. Businesses near the conference area, from small restaurants to the TD Bank, are telling employees to stay home that day.

The tight security will affect 28,000 residents of the immediate area, plus tens of thousands coming to the stadium just east of the conference, where former Blue Jay Roy Halladay will pitch for the first time since he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Weddings at some downtown churches have been cancelled.

Canada will survive a few postponed weddings. But how times have changed. The CBC recently showed footage from the 1950s of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip touring Ottawa. The royals visited Parliament Hill in an open convertible, with the public lining their route. No metal detectors, just a thin line of relaxed police officers.

We can't go back to those days. But it does no good for Greenpeace, PETA and others to push us into tighter and tighter security, until an American-style cordon of soldiers and fences divides the leaders from the people completely.
 
Taxpayers’ group decries spending on G8, G20 summits
Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service, 4 Apr 10
Article link
It is being billed as one of the largest security events ever held in Canada.

But just three months before the tiny community of Huntsville and Toronto play host to the G8 and G20 summits, respectively, a taxpayers group is questioning whether the-millions of dollars spent to prepare for the events is worth it.

The federal government is expected to spend $179.4-million on security and planning for both summits, which begin June 25 in Huntsville in the heart of Ontario's cottage country and end June 27 in Toronto, about 200 kilometres to the south.

The majority of these funds will go toward the RCMP, with the force getting $131.7-million. The remaining cost is split between the Department of Public Safety, the Department of National Defence, Industry Canada and Canada's spy agency -- CSIS. The Canadian Forces, along with provincial and municipal police forces will also have a presence during the three-day event.

Kevin Gaudet with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said that instead of spending-millions the government should rein in the cost of these "lavish" events, particularly since the country is getting over a recession.

"They shouldn't spend a penny," he said in Toronto. "There's crazy spending going on and we don't need these events. How many times do we need to get politicians together to have champagne and caviar at the taxpayers' expense?" ....
 
This from the Globe & Mail:
Police forces have entered into an alliance to deal with the threat of violent protest at Toronto’s G20 summit with as many as 10,000 uniformed officers and 1,000 private security guards teaming up to protect world leaders.

Federal contract tenders obtained by The Globe indicate a small army will descend on Canada's largest city this June, exceeding the estimated 6,000-police-officer presence at Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics.

The police security will come at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, although police officials would not confirm deployment numbers. Yet federal contract tenders posted online indicate how things are shaping up.

“For the G8 Summit [in Deerhurst, Ont.] the RCMP/OPP will require approximately 4,000 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations,” reads a contract tendered for shuttle buses. “For the G20 Summit, the RCMP will require approximately 5,600 personnel with duty-related belongings to be transported at different dates, times and locations.”

Spokeswoman RCMP Sergeant Michele Paradis said yesterday “we won’t ever give out the number,” of police assigned to the Group of 20 meetings, set to be held inside downtown’s Metro Convention Centre on the June 25 weekend, and the Group of Eight meeting that immediately precedes it at the Deerhurst Resort north of the city.

The RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit, to be buttressed by non-Mountie police officers seconded to the ISU, has the responsibility of protecting VIPs. And several specialized police units -- SWAT teams, intelligence analysts, motorcade escorts -- are expected to fly down from Deerhurst for the Toronto summit.

On top of all that, a new federal “letter of interest” seeks to hire a contractor who can provide airport-style security at various checkpoints.

“The contractor will be required to provide approximately 1,030 security screening personnel to perform pedestrian screening in designated areas,” the letter reads.

The tender doesn’t say where the guards will be stationed, but they are to be outfitted with “Magnetometers,” “walk-through metal detectors,” “X-Ray belt driven scanners” and “hand-held metal detectors.” ....

MERX search:  G8
MERX search:  G20
 
A little bit of organizational detail, courtesy of xtra.ca - highlights mine:
Organizers are calling this summer’s G8 and G20 summits “the largest security event in Canadian history” — more expensive and elaborate, even, than the Vancouver Olympics. The federal government will spend at least $179 million on security, first at the Huntsville G8 Summit and then in Toronto, where the G20 will meet at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

It’s the cost of holding one of the world’s most divisive meetings in a major city, where dissenters cannot be kept out of sight. The G8 and G20 have become flashpoints for protests about social justice, environmentalism and anti-globalization.

Here in Toronto, activists have been planning for the meetings since last spring but kicked into high gear with a flurry of press releases in March. They are working hard to build something as different as possible from the exclusive closed-door meetings of the G8 and G20.

“The G8/G20 represent a small minority of wealthy countries in the world, and their priorities tend to reflect free-market neoliberal economics and imperialist security,” says Marya Folinsbee, coordinator of the G8/G20 People’s Summit, planned for June 18–27 in Toronto. “And so, at the People’s Summit, our intention is to make space available for the voices of diverse communities around Toronto and around the world, to challenge the supremacy of the G8 and G20.”

The People’s Summit is really a conference, backed by a steering committee that incorporates labour, environmental, student and social justice groups. Queers have already received shout-outs in the advance materials.

“I think the G20 is invading space that Pride Toronto created. The Pride festival is being impacted by the G20,” says Folinsbee. “But I think that really the People’s Summit is about solidarity amongst all people who are affected by the oppressive systems that are currently in place. It’s about system change.”

Organizers say they won't dictate the content of the summit, nor will they handle protest plans. A separate organization, the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, will run events and assist protesters.

“We’re supporting transportation, food, communications and logistics to people who are in agreement with our basic understanding,” says Syed Hussan, one of the group’s organizers. That understanding calls for “Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, income equity and community control over resources, migrant justice and an end to war and occupation, gender justice, queer rights and disability rights, and climate and environmental justice.”

What the understanding does not include, however, is any specific agreement on demonstration tactics — admittedly a difficult thing for any diverse group of activists to agree on.

“We believe that there’s a lot of violence that the G8 and G20 are inflicting on communities around the world, and it’s not our place to tell people how to respond to that,” says Hussan. “Our principles are respect and solidarity, respect for people’s responses to the injustice that they face.”

The network will help train marshals, medics and legal observers, help with postering and routing, and may provide some direct-action training.


Groups or individuals looking to submit programming for the People's Summit should check peoplessummit2010.ca for the next round of applications.

The Mobilization Network has no steering committee or affiliation with larger groups but rather a number of open committees. The next meeting will be held April 8, 6:30pm, at the 519 Community Centre. The next open planning meeting for the People’s Summit will be held April 20, 6:30pm, at the Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St.

Protest OSINT links here
 
This, from the PMO:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today the following changes in the senior ranks of the Public Service.

Len Edwards, currently Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, becomes Personal representative of the Prime Minister for the G-8 and G-20 Summits, effective June 4....

From Mr. Edwards' bio:
Leonard J. Edwards

Education

Master of History, University of Saskatchewan
Bachelor of History, University of Saskatchewan

Professional Experience

Since March 2007
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

2004-2007
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

2001 - 2004
Deputy Minister of International Trade

1998 - 2001
Ambassador of Canada to Japan

1994 - 1997
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia and Pacific, then Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade and Economic Policy, Foreign Affairs and International Trade

1991 - 1994
Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Korea

1988 - 1991
Director General, Corporate Management Bureau, Foreign Affairs and International Trade

1983 - 1988
Counsellor, Canadian Permanent Mission to the United Nations (Geneva), then Executive Director, Summits Management Office, Foreign Affairs and International Trade

1978 - 1983
Deputy Director, Pacific Division and Northeast Asia Division, then Deputy Chairman, Secretariat for Policy Planning, International Affairs, Foreign Affairs and International Trade

1973 - 1978
First Secretary and Consul, Ankara, then Political Officer, NATO Secretariat, Brussels, Foreign Affairs and International Trade

1971 - 1973
Permanent Representative, Hanoi, then Desk Officer, East Asia Division, Foreign Affairs and International Trade

1969 - 1971
Foreign Service Officer, International Affairs; then Legal Advisor, Saigon, Foreign Affairs and International Trade
 
This from the Canadian Press:
With the 2010 G8 summit just over two months away, civil society groups from around the world spent Friday meeting with G8 representatives in Vancouver.

Members from more than 60 non-governmental organizations, health, and labour groups met with G8 "sherpas," or top civil servants who advise their respective leaders.

Anti-poverty and climate-change advocates urged leaders to come to the June 25-27 summit in Huntsville, Ont., with meaningful ideas on how to combat poverty and global warming ....
 
This, from the Toronto Sun, shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act.
Canadian border officers are on alert for “professional agitators,” fearing they’ll cause trouble at the G8 and G20 Summits.

More than 10,000 cops — more than the 6,000 required at B.C. Winter Games — will form a security ring around the Metro Convention Centre to safeguard those attending the G20 on June 26-27. World leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, and hundreds of delegates will take part in the Toronto event.

The G8 will be held in Huntsville on June 25-26.

Border officials have circulated photos and are prepared to ban entry of hundreds of hard-core protestors.

Branded “professional agitators” by police agencies, they’re blamed for problems at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh last December, at a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, and Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001.

Toronto city councillor Adam Vaughan has asked Ottawa to post a bond to cover potential damage caused by protesters.

“We haven’t heard anything back from them,” he added.

Vaughan said the event will cost taxpayers millions of dollars in overtime pay to city staff needed to perform summit-related work.

“Almost one-quarter of my ward (Trinity-Spadina, Ward 20) will be in a state of lockdown,” he said.

“There are many businesses and residents who will be affected by this.” Patrizia Giolti, of the Canada Border Services Agency, said officers examine a person’s background and criminal record before they’re allowed into the country.

“Planning to attend a lawful protest in Canada is not in itself grounds for being inadmissible,” said Giolti. “Admissibility of all travellers seeking to enter Canada is considered on a case-by-case basis.”

Giolti refused to discuss the agitators who are redflagged and banned from entering the country.

“Any traveller coming into Canada could be referred for secondary inspection,” she said. “Referrals may be made for a number of reasons.”

Ottawa is funding an RCMP-led task force called the Integrated Security Unit to oversee security for the G20 and the G8 summits.

“This is one of our largest security operations ever,” said RCMP Sgt. Michele Paradis. “Our aim is to showcase Huntsville and Toronto.”

Paradis said police will speak to protestors and urge them to picket peacefully.

Meaghan Gray, of a Toronto Police G20 Planning team, said officers aren’t allowed to take holidays during the summit and many will be patrolling the downtown area.

“Most officers may be downtown but no calls for help in the city will go unanswered,” Gray said on Tuesday. “Protesters who get out of hand will be met with a measured response.”

She said traffic along the Gardiner Expressway to Pearson airport will be subject to delays from motorcades transporting leaders or their delegates.
 
68975b934f73924c57844b4bea53.jpeg

Helicopters land at the foot of the CN Tower during a G20 practice exercise on Tuesday morning.
Photo by Steve Tustin/Toronto Star

This from the Toronto Star:
Downtown Toronto got a taste of security preparation for the upcoming G20 summit Tuesday morning as two military helicopters completed a test flight around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre before landing in front of the CN Tower.

The CH-146 Griffon helicopters were spotted at about 9 a.m. circling the area above the convention centre, which will play host to the international meeting in June.

Canadian Forces Sgt. Maj. Sylvain Gallant said the flight was to test the capability of the landing area between the CN Tower and the convention centre.

The helicopters were flown in from CFB Borden, looping around the convention centre, the CN Tower, and nearby condos before landing on a stretch of grass on the south side of the CN Tower.

After the landing, witnesses reported seeing men wearing black suits getting out of the helicopters and walking towards the centre ....

Ladies and gentlemen.....
bluesbros.jpg

;D
 
milnews.ca said:
68975b934f73924c57844b4bea53.jpeg

Helicopters land at the foot of the CN Tower during a G20 practice exercise on Tuesday morning.
Photo by Steve Tustin/Toronto Star

This from the Toronto Star:
Ladies and gentlemen.....
bluesbros.jpg

;D

I do believe it was these chaps
 
Or these guys?

RayBanMenInBlack.jpg


;D

Although, at least Dan Akroyd is Canadian.  :cdn:
 
PMedMoe said:
Although, at least Dan Akroyd is Canadian.  :cdn:
And it helps that both Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones are still alive  ;)
 
milnews.ca said:
And it helps that both Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones are still alive  ;)

They could always substitute Jim for John.  ;)
 
PMedMoe said:
They could always substitute Jim for John.  ;)

People have tried a couple of times. It just doesn't work. The only thing similar is the name. Nothing against Jim, but he ain't John.
 
recceguy said:
People have tried a couple of times. It just doesn't work. The only thing similar is the name. Nothing against Jim, but he ain't John.

Oh, I agree.  How about John Goodman instead?

18828344.jpg


At least he's still alive.  ;)
 
When men in black were no joke.
"I'm gonna find what it is you love the most and kill it.":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQS16P2m2Lc

Apparently, Farina actually served 18 years on the Chicago P.D. before becoming an actor.

Gotta love the '59 Ford V8!
 
... coinciding with a meeting of G8 development ministers - this, from thecoast.ca:
“Family-friendly” is one term we never hear connected to G8 protests but this year the Halifax-Dartmouth District Labour Council has asked protesters to be safe, not violent. In the past, protests in Canadian cities and around the world have aimed to shut down the meetings, almost at any cost. Not this year, Kyle Buott, president of the labour council, says. “There is no possibility of violence at these protests whatsoever.”

Buott says the group’s goals are to inform the public and to build momentum for the anti-G8 movement. “The leadership of the G8 is responsible for the economic and social policies that have caused the economic crisis that is wrecking the lives of millions of workers around the world,” he says.

Halifax is hosting the Group of Eight (G8) development ministers April 26 to 28 in advance of the June G20 conference in Toronto. However, several local groups say the decisions made at these meetings reinforce the global divide between rich and poor countries. The labour council is mobilizing a “G8 Welcoming Committee” to peacefully object the meetings.

During a Peasants Day event on the Common last week, held in solidarity with the anti-G8 resistance, organizer Aaron Beale encouraged attendees to say “no” to corporate control of food by planting gardens and buying local. Protesters hula-hooped under cloudy skies and munched on free vegetables, pita bread and apple crisp.

Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Brian Palmeter doesn’t expect this weekend’s rallies to be violent. “We’ll be prepared to deal with anything should we be required to, but we hope that people will, if they feel the need to protest, that they’ll come down and do it lawfully,” Palmeter says.

Though this year’s G8 meeting focuses on maternal and child health, the Feminist League for Agitation Propaganda plans to protest the lack of abortion and contraception on the agenda. “We’re critical of the G8’s existence and we’re upset that the agenda of maternal and child health is so narrow,” says member Emily Davidson.

FLAP and others plan to make their voices heard April 25 in Victoria Park at 1:30pm and April 26 in Cornwallis Park at 7am.

Links to (a bit) more detailed agendas for events on 25 Apr 10, 26 Apr 10 and 27 Apr 10.

A bit on FLAP's work:
The G8 development ministers’ meeting will have limited benefits for women, despite its proclaimed focus on maternal and child health, according to Jane Kirby.  Kirby is an organizer with the Feminist League for Agitation and Propaganda (FLAP), a new group organizing a feminist resistance to the G8 meeting in Halifax.

From the perspective of the G8 leaders “maternal health means just giving birth - nothing  else around women’s health or child health matters,” says Kirby. Harper plans to exclude discussion of contraception and abortion when family planning is discussed among the development ministers of the Group of Eight, which includes Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and Russia.

Twenty million unsafe abortions are carried out each year, according to the World Health Organization, notes Kaley Kennedy, also a FLAP organizer.  She finds it unacceptable that abortion access and safety are not on the Maternal Health agenda of the development ministers’ meeting ....

Something of a thumbail manifesto from FLAP attached.
 
This from metronews.ca/halifax:
Halifax Regional Police say they’re “prepared to respond if required” to any protests that might turn violent at next week’s G8 meeting of international development ministers in Halifax.

The three-day meeting begins Monday at Pier 21 and will lay the groundwork for talks on maternal and child health issues for the G8 and G20 summits in Toronto on June 25 to 27.

“We will be monitoring it and responding if required,” police spokesman Const. Brian Palmeter said.

“It’s our hope that should anybody attend, they’ll do so and conduct themselves in a lawful manner, which will preclude any need for police intervention.”

HRP has a Public Safety Unit trained to deal with large groups of people and Palmeter said they would be put into action if required.

About 300 are expected to attend a rally and march in opposition of the G8 meeting in Halifax Sunday at Victoria Park at 2 p.m.

Kyle Buott of the Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council is part of the rally organizing committee and says “there is no possibility of violence breaking out” for what is described as a peaceful, family friendly event.

Buott expects the peacefulness to continue throughout the conference, too.

“It’s a very small, side meeting of the G8,” he said. “We don’t anticipate anybody coming in from out of town.”

Updated 2010 G8-G20 Summit Protests information links page here.
 
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