CALGARY (CP) - With the G-8 summit only days away, Calgary's final security and protest preparations are being nailed down. Metre-high concrete barriers have been erected around city hall to ward off potential car bombers as part of the plan to have anything that could be used as a weapon taken away or secured in place.
Mailboxes - great hiding places for explosives - have been removed from the downtown core and at the University of Calgary campus. The grates surrounding the bases of trees have been welded in place.
Local businesses have stocked up on plywood to nail over windows that could become inviting targets for street protesters.
"I may sleep in the store and I'm going to have my dogs here. We have the plywood just in the event that it's required," said Michael Greenberg, owner of Micah Gallery and Gifts on the trendy downtown Stephen Avenue.
Down the street, the Grabba Jabba coffee shop was taking a simpler approach.
"If there's the tear gas or something or security tells us to go, we'll just close up shop," said an employee named Roxanna.
Police say that given the Sept. 11 attacks, no security precaution can be overlooked.
"We don't know exactly what will happen. We don't have a crystal ball," said Calgary police Insp. Al Redford.
The two-day meeting of the Group of Eight leaders begins Wednesday in Kananaskis, 100 kilometres west of Calgary. Prime Minister Jean Chretien is hosting his counterparts from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
Calgary is the closest major centre to Kananaskis and will host thousands of journalists and G-8 delegates at the main media headquarters in the downtown Telus Convention Centre.
As police put the final touches on security, protesters met behind closed doors Saturday to finalize plans to bring downtown traffic to a standstill Wednesday and artists painted banners and created G-8 leader puppets to hoist in Sunday's community solidarity march.
"This gang of eight leaders is not about democracy at all, but pure power," said Xstine Cook as she put the finishing touches on the eight "vulture puppets" made from garbage bags and topped with the heads of the leaders of the world's eight most industrialized countries.
"They are the vultures of the world, preying off the dead."
Under a baking Alberta sun, a small group of activists formed a circle under poplar trees in an inner-city park to carry out mock scenes of clashes between police and protesters.
"Look what's happening! They are hitting me," protesters cried as they were swatted by fake riot police brandishing rolled up newspapers instead of riot clubs.
About 4,000 people are expected to wind their way Sunday from a downtown park to Olympic Plaza, across from city hall, in a protest march sponsored by the Calgary and District Labour Council.
While the march is expected to be peaceful, some merchants are fearful of a repeat of the street violence between anti-G-8 protesters and police that has marred recent global summits. Last week in Halifax, police clashed and used tear gas on protesters who charged a security fence at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers, one of the many LEAD-
up conferences prior to the main summit at Kananaskis.
But not all business owners are losing sleep over what the coming week will bring. As security clamps down, the tourist trade is heating up.
One store, called Noize, is cashing in by selling T-shirts with a red line through the G-8 logo. There are also shirts that feature a picture of the mountains and the flags of the G-8 nations.
The shirts are so selling fast the store can't keep them in stock.
"When I have them - they are gone," said the storekeeper.
Calgary's security planning has been going on for almost a year. It began soon after Chretien announced after the violence-scarred G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy, that Kananaskis would be the host in 2002.
The prime minister said at the time he was dismayed that street violence had overtaken the message of the Genoa meeting and that the large delegations from each country were making the summits more show than substance.
The remote Kananaskis village, with just one road in and only 400 hotel rooms, is expected to discourage violence and help the leaders stay focused.
Thousands of Mounties and police from across Canada are on hand to keep order in the city and at Kananaskis.
Many downtown businesses will be closed or under tight security during the summit. Protesters, many of whom feel the G-8 agenda furthers the economies of the industrialized countries at the expense of human rights and the well-being of poorer nations, have been busy online rallying colleagues to block roads into the downtown and to hold protest marches at G-8 functions.
One meeting to propose alternatives to the G-8 began this week at the University of Calgary. The G-6B conference, named for the six billion people not sitting at the G-8 table, has brought together non-governmental, labour and human rights groups.
Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, said he hopes the tight security measures don't repress and undermine human rights, adding that Amnesty will watch how police conduct themselves in the coming days.
Calgary police plan to take steps themselves. They are bringing their own video cameras and have lawyers on standby to protect themselves against accusations of brutality or other improper behaviour.
Some Calgarians questioned the need for such extensive security measures.
Luc Rock, 27, a student at the University of Calgary, said it is important to keep any protests from becoming violent but said not all demonstrators are there to make trouble.
"They still have to give people the right to voice their opinion," Rock said.
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