CALGARY (CP) _ With willow branches wrapped around their heads, dozens of bare-breasted anti-G-8 activists rolled in the mud at a downtown Calgary park Thursday, singing songs to celebrate Mother Earth.
The colourful, festive atmosphere was like most of the week's G-8 protests -- loud and in your face, but not through your window.
``This has really been a lot of fun,'' said Terri Kirby, an anti-globalization activist who travelled from Vancouver to protest the G-8 summit, a hour's drive west in the Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis.
``We got our messages across, hung out together, heard some decent music and we're free. No one one I know has been thrown in jail.''
Police are also singing success, claiming they found the right recipe for mass protests: preparation, communication, low-key cops on bikes and lots of backup.
All are lessons learned from the past.
```We need to treat each and every summit on a case-by-case basis," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike Gaudet.
``We're very pleased that there's been this commitment obviously from the police, but also from those large numbers of protesters who came here to be heard and seen in a peaceful way," he said.
Calgary's police bicycle brigade was bolstered by RCMP and Waterloo, Ont. officers, who pedalled beside activists as protests wound through downtown streets.
During the World Petroleum Congress two years ago, Calgary police found it highly effective not to erect barriers such as chain-link fences. So there were none here for G-8.
Anti-globalization protests in recent years have been marred by violence -- spurred on by a small number of angry anarchists lobbing Molotov cocktails and smashing storefront windows. At the G-8 summit in Italy last year, one protester was shot dead by a paramilitary officer after riots broke out amongst a crowd of 200,000.
But in Calgary this week, the number of anti-summit protesters was much smaller. Fewer than 3,000 people marched through Calgary last Sunday, often using ridicule and skits to voice their dissent.
``By any means necessary, build the movement,'' activists chanted as they snaked through downtown streets, many decked out in creative costumes and hoisting colourful banners.
American activists say it's wrong to interpret the reduced numbers as a sign that demonstrations are politically incorrect in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
``The main reason is just distance, time, effort and money,'' said Jason Mark of Global Exchange, an international human rights group based in San Francisco, who didn't make the trip to Calgary.
``It's pretty far, and there's definitely a lot of burnout from `summit hopping'.''
Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who held the summit in Kananaskis as a way to avoid confrontations, praised the protesters for their behaviour. He conceded that dissent is part of the political process.
``But the protesters have to be peaceful, as they were in Calgary,'' Chretien said.
There were also satellite protests in Ottawa, Edmonton and New York.
Some observers note that sheer numbers don't make or break a protest.
``It doesn't take much to cause a riot, just look at Halifax earlier this month,'' said Stephen Jenuth, president of the Alberta Civil Liberties Association.
``There were less than 200 people and police used tear gas on the crowd.''
Jenuth was referring to protests at the meeting of G-8 finance ministers, where riot police unleashed pepper spray, rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd.
In Calgary, Jenuth's association had 40 impartial observers taking notes at protests, with many toting gas masks and a change of clothing in their backpacks -- just in case.
Minor charges were laid against three people related to the G-8 protests. A union official was charged with obstructing a police officer at a security checkpoint near Kananaskis and two Americans were charged after anti-G-8 graffiti was spray painted on railway cars.
Activists say their low-key demonstrations prove civic officials were wrong to raise the spectre of mass destruction by protesters.
``In retrospect, doesn't it seem a bit foolish and excessive for them to be announcing months ago things like water cannons and thousands of officers to protect the city?'' asked Ottawa activist Sarah Dover.
``Notwithstanding the fact during the last few days it has been extremely hot and the water cannons could have been cooling us down.''
Some Calgarians agree that security plans were excessive, to say nothing of the reported $300 million summit cost covered by Ottawa.
``Some of my colleagues were afraid to come downtown yesterday, so they stayed home,'' said Tom Basil, an oil and gas engineer.
``But after seeing (Wednesday's) peaceful protests, they realized the riot talk was all hype, and they came back to work today.''
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