Calgarians are overwhelmingly opposed to any protests -- even peaceful ones -- that would hinder them in any way during the G-8 summit next month, an exclusive Sunday Sun poll shows.
The survey conducted for the Calgary Sun by Insight Research shows that while most people would accept peaceful demonstrations, they'd draw the line at any protests that affected the free movement of even summit participants.
And their disapproval climbed even higher if the blockade had any impact on their own circulation.
"If I was militant I'd pay attention to that: if there's any escalation there's going to be a backlash," said Marc Tremblay, Insight's managing director.
Ninety percent of Calgarians polled said they believe there will be protests during the summit in Kananaskis June 26-27.
And 60% thought they would be peaceful, with 31% believing they would turn violent.
Most respondents -- 69% -- in the poll taken between May 13-15 support peaceful protests that hinder neither summit participants, nor the general population.
But 71% of respondents said it would be "unacceptable" to have even a peaceful blockade that hindered circulation for summit participants only.
And 82% said it would be "unacceptable" to have a peaceful blockade that hindered circulation for the summit participants and the general population.
Not surprisingly, nearly all respondents (95%) said a demonstration with limited acts of violence was unacceptable, and a full 99% were opposed to a riot-like demonstration.
Alan Keane with B.C.-based Co-Motion Collective, which helps organize groups for protests and other events, said Calgarians should be willing to put up with a minor inconvenience to allow protesters to voice the other side.
"It's only through breaking the law that some of our laws in the past have been changed," he said. "If there are going to be people blockading the street, so what? You're inconvenienced for an hour."
Keane said that's a small price to pay to ensure the anti-globalization message is heard locally and around the world.
A slim majority of Calgarians -- 58% -- said they believed some form of protest was warranted.
They were more likely to believe that view the younger they were.
The poll is considered accurate within 5.7%, 19 times out of 20.
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