Calgarians who fear for their safety during the G-8 are shrinking in number as it approaches, a survey shows.
And while most expect there will be protests, few people expect to change daily routines for the June 26-27 summit.
A random phone survey of 519 Calgarians last week showed 91% expected protests, though slightly less than half of people expect violent demonstrations or protests.
And 25% of them said they would fear for their own or their family's personal safety, down slightly from when the same question was asked in February and November 2001.
"We've noticed there's been a lot of media coverage over the last few months about security measures taken and there have been international events that have attracted less violence than before," said Jon Hartenberger, principal with HarGroup Management Consultants, which did the survey.
"What is most surprising is what people's intentions are, how it might impact on what they do.
"People aren't really going to change their daily routine."
Slightly more than one-third of them, however, will avoid certain areas of the city during the summit.
But just 4% plan to leave Calgary and 6% to stay home from work.
"Calgarians are pretty pragmatic about the whole event," he said.
Terrorist attacks were deemed a likelihood by 18% of respondents. And 52% said they strongly or somewhat supported the event.
The independent survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5%, 19 times out of 20 and was conducted between June 11 and 15.
And while most protest groups say they're interested only in peaceful demonstrations, one is predicting the "cycle of violence" will continue.
A news release from the Anti-Globalism Action Network, which describes itself as an ad hoc collection of anti-globalism activists, said because the root causes of the protests haven't been addressed, violent protest will erupt again.
And the group suggests protesters will likely be met again by "repressive counter-measure" such as rubber bullets and tear gas.
FAST FACTS
* WHO: The G-8 consists of eight countries; Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
* WHAT: The summit will focus on two main issues -- fighting international terrorism and coping with the challenges faced by the people of Africa.
* WHEN: June 26-27.
* WHERE: Prime Minister Jean Chretien chose Kananaskis to host the G-8, ostensibly for its informal, retreat-style setting but more importantly for its relative isolation.
* WHY: Africa is the only continent where poverty is rising. Over 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa's 659-million people live below the international poverty line of $1US a day. Post Sept. 11, terrorism has become a priority for developed countries around the world.
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