Sydney’s Ring of Steel Security Plan for APEC: “Madness”
August 27th, 2007Via: Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
This Saturday, construction will start on a three-metre high, five-kilometre long fence in Sydney’s CBD to protect leaders attending next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference.
The fence will cause major traffic disruptions throughout the city and local workers and residents will have to go through special ID checks at access points.
But Sydney’s Deputy Lord Mayor is appalled by the security measures being taken to protect officials attending the conference and wants to hang a huge banner from the city’s Town Hall saying, “Cage Bush, not Sydney”. The council will vote on the proposal.
The city’s chamber of commerce has attacked the idea as “madness”, saying such a decision would be rude and could affect businesses all over Australia.
Just last week, New South Wales police unveiled a new $600,000 water canon, warning that if APEC demonstrators got wild, they would get very wet.
Another visible part of security will be a five-kilometre long, three-metre high steel fence separating the Opera House, Botanic Gardens and a large part of the CBD from public access.
Workers will start building the fence this weekend.
Research Credit: Mark
