The line in the sand has been drawn over "solidarity village."
Anti-G-8 activists have issued an ultimatum to city hall: approve a site for the village by this afternoon or else risk "confrontations" during next month's summit of world leaders.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier, however, says city officials will not allow themselves to be "bullied" by the activists.
"If we have not heard from the city by Friday at 2 p.m. . . . we will abandon all efforts to plan an organized, controlled event," said Les Steel, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
Should confrontations break out during the summit, the city will have to "deal with the consequences," Steel said.
"It's insulting to Calgarians with this demand and threatening attitude," Bronconnier said Thursday. "These are the same folks who have known about G-8 for almost the past year. Now it's demands and threats and bullying tactics -- and the city has to come up with a suitable location? I don't think so."
The village is meant to be a peaceful gathering point for up to 15,000 activists during the June 26-27 summit.
Activists applied last week to use Shaw Millennium Park downtown, but that was rejected by the city.
John Chaput, the city's G-8 manager, said officials are still willing to entertain other site suggestions.
Don MacNeil of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers union in Edmonton said the dream of a solidarity village will die today unless the city acts immediately to approve a site.
"We were trying to find a new way to do a protest and we were frustrated every step of the way," MacNeil said.
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