G-20 Summit in Toronto

[Prometheus The Supremo]

what is to stop someone from executing a terrorist attack in toronto outside of the containment zone? while those in the containment zone will enjoy the most security on earth those 2 days, what about the rest of us?

 

[PinkLucy]

just try to avoid getting too close to any killer trees during those 2 days

 

[insertrealname]

The Latest nonsense is they are removing trees "inside the fences"
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...-security-100616/20100616/?hub=TorontoNewHome
I have friends coming to town right after the G20. I wonder what kind of mess they'll see of our city. I'm pretty damn sure they won't be putting things back and taking down the fence very quick.

I'm looking forward to the end of the Harper Administarion.

As I am too--but the Official Opposition are a bunch of frightened little children at the moment... (there is no need for an election with every change of ministry, but that change needs to happen via a vote of non-confidence--the new ministry will be certainly judged on their performance by the electorate, by comparison with Harper's, at the next election).

Anyway, back to the tree uprooting: the CTV report says

In another development that shows how seriously police are taking security, workers removed trees from the G20 summit security zone so that limbs are not used as weapons by protesters.

A selection of trees behind the security fence along Front Street near the Metro Convention Centre are being uprooted as a precaution, police said.

Every tree within the zone is being examined and removed if it is small enough to be moved by two or three people, Toronto Police Constable Wendy Drummond said.

The trees will be replaced following the summit, she said.

This is not quite accurate, according to the constituency assistant I spoke with in Adam Vaughan's office. No trees on city streets (formally City property) are being uprooted, only those on Toronto Convention Centre property, with is somehow not exactly "City property". I didn't want to waste time any further into all this bizarre reasoning, especially with someone who is not responsible for this madness, so I didn't ask more questions.

It really is an incredibly stupid move: seriously, it's quite Monty-Pythonesque to imagine protesters fighting police with tree branches, a sort of post-9/11 fear, I suppose, like that of Macbeth,

I will not be afraid of death and bane,
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.

 

[insertrealname]

what is to stop someone from executing a terrorist attack in toronto outside of the containment zone? while those in the containment zone will enjoy the most security on earth those 2 days, what about the rest of us?

You are supposed to cower in your appartment or house for the duration of the summit: those are the safest places to be, do NOT go outside and mix with other people, Toronto will be the most dangerous place on earth. You may survive if you spend your time locked up in your room, in front of the computer, nibbling Twinkies, reading survivalist websites and communicating through such means as Skype, Twitter, and UT, for truly, the world is about to begin its final dissolution into chaos!

Or something like that--the G8-G20 Integrated Security Unit may give better advice.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

You are supposed to cower in your appartment or house for the duration of the summit: those are the safest places to be, do NOT go outside and mix with other people, Toronto will be the most dangerous place on earth. You may survive if you spend your time locked up in your room, in front of the computer, nibbling Twinkies, reading survivalist websites and communicating through such means as Skype, Twitter, and UT, for truly, the world is about to begin its final dissolution into chaos!

Or something like that--the G8-G20 Integrated Security Unit may give better advice.

you don't think terrorists will try to use this event to to make their invalid mentally diseased points? even if it is not a direct attack on the G20? this is not everyday stuff. there is a higher than usual risk due to the nature of this event. i can see terrorists having a hard-on for causing something in the same city the G20 will be held in just for the association.

according to the constituency assistant I spoke with in Adam Vaughan's office. No trees on city streets (formally City property) are being uprooted, only those on Toronto Convention Centre property, with is somehow not exactly "City property". I didn't want to waste time any further into all this bizarre reasoning, especially with someone who is not responsible for this madness, so I didn't ask more questions.

wouldn't those trees fall into the containment zone? if a protester happens to find his way to one of those trees without being taken out by a sniper, there's bigger issues at hand than tree limb weapons.

 

[Yoshimura]

C'mon, man, only a month+ to go, time to get righteous!

Our building has got the 'Business Continuity Planning' thingy going full blast. Saw some 'protestors' outside Scotia Plaza practicing while headed home on the 504 limo the other day. It's like being inside one of UrbanShocker's favourite operas -- dress rehearsals start in a couple of weeks, sweeties!

Did a little surfing, and I love how the anarchists are trying to co-opt more recent and sexy issues (green, queer, etc.). It's got to be galling to be an unreconstructed Communist and feel you need to throw in with Pride and Sierra Club to get a movement going!

Not to mention the fact that it's got to be truly embarassing to be in one of the most gay-friendly towns on the planet and pretending you're protesting for that group, a week before the Pride Parade. Shake your head.

Anyhoo... I need a serious type to explain to me why this isn't just a ridiculous, ineffectual, yet boring 'protest'. Jn_12?

Truth is that it really is a "ridiculous, ineffectual, yet boring 'protest'."

Are they anarcho-communists? Give props to Sun Tzu for the idea to co-opting other issues and snowballing them into a movement… mix that with Marxism and voila, you have Leninism.

However; the G20 are going to follow policies by the IMF which will affect billions of people. People living within the G20 boundaries have no choice but to take it… sucks.

So the IMF are gonna push SDR's as a new worldwide liquidity pump; creating more obligations to the IMF and moving toward a global currency.

Either we're headed for a global depression or there will be a transition to carbon credits.


Nostradamus tangents.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Now they are removing saplings, to avoid having them available to be used as weapons. They are to be replaced after.

More likely, they are afraid they may join the battle for my precious.

 

[insertrealname]

I agree with your comments on potential terrorist action outside the security zone--it should be a concern, but really, those unforeseeable terrorist acts are the core of how terrorism works, aren't they? In which case, we are better off just to keep our calm and carry on, rather than go crazy over the possibilities--as this WW2 British poster advised:

I was being sarcastic, not about your remarks, but about the whole G8-G20 security mindset that has reached a "logical" conclusion in the view that everything and everyone could be a weapon of terrorism and must therefore be removed from the area.

 

[insertrealname]

I just walked past the railway museum on Bremner - 'they' have dug up all the young trees they planted about 3 weeks ago. Yes, I can just see people pulling them up and throwing them at Mr. Harper! One hopes that some of the Billion Dollars (and growing) will go into new trees.

O.K., I suppose my conversation with the constituency assistant was already outdated by events!

P.S. It may be a suitable time for taking a break by reading some excellent children's cautionary bedtime stories.

UPDATE 2010-06-18:
The G-20 secretariat has announced a tree planting Friday afternoon:

Minister of State Kent to Announce Plan to Green G-8 and G-20 Summits

(No. A/104 – June 17, 2010) The Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), will hold a media event at Coronation and Battery Park in Toronto on Friday, June 18, 2010, to announce the Government of Canada’s plan to green the G-8 and G-20 summits.

He will participate in a planting ceremony for 20 mature trees—one for each delegation visiting the city for the G-20 Summit.

Event: Media availability
Date: Friday, June 18, 2010
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Coronation and Battery Park, Lakeshore Boulevard West and Strachan Avenue, Toronto, Ontario

Perhaps this will be the uprooted trees' replanting ceremony!

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

I agree with your comments on potential terrorist action outside the security zone--it should be a concern, but really, those unforeseeable terrorist acts are the core of how terrorism works, aren't they? In which case, we are better off just to keep our calm and carry on, rather than go crazy over the possibilities--as this WW2 British poster advised:

View attachment 4354

I was being sarcastic, not about your remarks, but about the whole G8-G20 security mindset that has reached a "logical" conclusion in the view that everything and everyone could be a weapon of terrorism and must therefore be removed from the area.

it's hard to keep calm and carry on, at the very least just because of the issues with protests. this is not a usual day in toronto.

 

[insertrealname]

Look, not all protests at this summit is necessarily going to become a riot, especially with adequate preparation and supervision by the various civil organizations organizing marches and other manifestations, but the G8-G20 summit organizers certainly have an advantage if they can justify their security measures in the context of imminent danger of such riots. If they are succesful in reducing the participation of peaceful protesters in such manifestations, then any violence will be all the more prominent in the news reports, which will be another victory for their mind set. Their attitude is summed up as "We know it is your right to demonstrate peacefully over political issues, but we'd much rather you remain silent and stay at home or go shopping in order to save our freedoms from terrorism".

It is precisely because it is not a usual day in Toronto that we should not be cowed into staying home. Allons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé ! (Although I better not quote the rest of the Marseillaise, it's a bit too sanguinary in the present context.)

 

[urbandreamer]

I suddenly realized they should've just held the meeting at the airport, or at some abandoned mall in mississauga--nothing but tarmac there.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I see they've put tall metal fences around those piles of loose landscaping rocks located where Yonge runs under the Gardiner. Last night I noticed that the streetcar shelter at Yonge and King has ben removed.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I found some protester punk's plans for the G20 on twitter. Looks like the security guys have already thwarted his plans.

 

[toraerach]

It seems to me that Canada (and particularly Ontario) has a fear of unruliness. Look at our liquor laws. Look at how much redtape goes into something as simple as Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington. I'm not sure why that is because it's not like we have a long history of loose leashes leading to disastrous events.

When it comes to Ontario specifically, I see this as one facet of our anti-populism, possibly originating in why this province was created in the first place - a refuge from the violent populism of the American Revolution. This results in our intense need to divide the public and private spheres of life - while public disorder is almost universally feared and condemned, what happens behind closed doors doesn't really matter. So smoking marijuana in your living room isn't anyone's business, but cracking open a beer in a park is some sort of atrocity.

To compare: Montreal wins a hockey game, there's looting, no one really cares. The G20 comes to Toronto, a bank machine gets vandalized, UTTER BEDLAM!