A thin blue line of police bicycles is all that will stand between G-8 protesters and their downtown targets, with not a metal fence in sight, say police.
The present plan for no fences is part of a non-confrontational attitude being adopted where possible by city police security forces planning for the G-8, said Insp. Al. Redford.
Police are confident officers in the mountain-bike unit can provide a barricade of bicycles with wheels locked, which is effective and instantly able to be moved as events dictate.
"As we saw with the World Petroleum Congress (WPC), the bicycles form a barrier, yet there's nothing menacing about them, and the only protection the mountain-bike officers have is a standard bicycle helmet," said Redford. "This is a real mobile, low-key, non-confrontational tool we can use for just controlling movement and assisting in movement."
Redford quoted the work done by the mountain-bike unit during a march by protesters at the WPC when they were able to move ahead to each intersection to ensure no one got hurt. But just because police don't plan to use fences to cordon off parts of downtown at the moment doesn't mean fences aren't still available for use.
"It could all change very quickly," said Redford.
"It's all predicated on intelligence and incoming information."
Redford said if intelligence suddenly indicated huge numbers of protesters were about to descend on downtown and fences were needed, they would be there.
"We're ahead of the game," he said.
City police are co-ordinating security inside Calgary for the two-day, June 26-27 G-8 meeting, while the RCMP is in charge of security for the Kananaskis area, where the conference is being held. Protesters are expected to hold demonstrations related to the G-8 in both locations.
Police officers from eastern forces who will assist Calgary teams in handling demonstrations have begun training sessions at a former military base at Penhold, near Red Deer. Since September, at least 1,400 Calgary officers have undertaken one-day sessions training in full riot gear, including carrying bullet-proof shields and learning how to deal with potential problems with protesters.
Training includes learning how to form a "snatch squad" that would act as a human wedge to force into a crowd and remove a trouble-maker.
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