CALGARY (CP) _ On both sides of the line, police and activists at the Kananaskis G-8 summit are preparing not only for possible street clashes, but also for their day in court.
With the meeting of world leaders set to begin Wednesday, a team of volunteer lawyers is on standby, poised to defend activists who may be charged with rioting, mischief or causing a disturbance.
All activists are being urged by a legal collective to write the phone number of a legal help line on their hands so that it is handy if they get arrested by police.
``We are here for anyone who needs legal advice or legal representation because what we've seen at previous mass mobilizations (is) the police usurp their powers,'' said Sarah Dover of the G-8 legal collective.
``In our experiences in the past they arrest or brutalize people.''
The legal collective has 15 lawyers, 10 protest observers and 25 volunteers to answer phones.
``Legal collective, this line may not be secure,'' is how volunteers answer the phone, suggesting police may be listening in.
Most of the lawyers who volunteer their services specialize in criminal law while others are experts in immigration and labour law and civil liberties.
Observers carry cameras to record altercations with police during protests and are available to appear as witnesses later in court.
Although leaders of the Group of Eight countries are holding their summit in Kananaskis, Alta., a village tucked in the Rocky Mountains one hour's drive from Calgary, anti-summit activists are organizing protests in Calgary.
They hope to clog the roads leading into the downtown early Wednesday -- the first day of the leaders' 30-hour meeting.
Insp. Al Redford of the Calgary police said they, too, have their own lawyers on hand for advice. The 1,400 officers also received training for mass protests and are armed with manuals to address powers of arrest, security zones and use of force.
G-8 activist organizer Yori Jamin, 26, said he has already hired a lawyer because he figures he'll be the first one hauled off the street.
``In past actions, organizers of these mass mobilizations get targeted and arrested by police,'' said Jamin.
Redford dismissed that as speculation: ``They can think what they want.''
If there is trouble, Calgary's legal system has cleared the decks.
Prisoners at the local Spy Hill jail have been transferred to clear the way for potential G-8 lawbreakers. Court hours have been extended to 16 hours a day, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Redford said jailed G-8 activists are in for a pleasant surprise.
``I mean, for a jail, it's very nice facilities -- lots of phone booths there for them to do their calls, and a decontamination centre.''
But he noted those detained may be in jail for ``a long time'' before being formally charged.
``It all depends on volume,'' he said. ``If you arrest a lot of people we just don't have the resources to sort it out really, really quickly,'' he said.
So far, Calgary police have arrested only two G-8 activists -- Fransico Singh, 22, of San Diego, and Lindsay MacKinnon, 21, of New York.
They were charged Saturday with mischief after allegedly spray-painting anti-summit graffiti on railway cars.
On another protest front, court action is already underway.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is going before a Calgary judge Tuesday arguing the city has violated its constitutional right of free assembly by rejecting a its request for a permit to hold anti-G8 rallies in city parks.
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