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TITLE: Quebec City To Pullup Drawbridge to Protect Heads of State At Summit |
AUTHOR: Tom Cohen |
PUB: Chicago Tribune/ Associated Press |
DATE: January 8, 2001 |
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Normand Houle's finger traces a line around the historic ramparts of this European-style fortress on the bluffs above the St. Lawrence River, showing the plan for a new barrier. The towers and walls built to repel invaders of centuries past no longer suffice for protecting 34 heads of state coming for the Summit of the Americas in April. So another wall will be built, this one of metal fencing around several square miles of old Quebec City, says Houle, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Riot police will stand guard along the fence in an old-fashioned show of force intended to prevent a protest movement from disrupting the three-day summit that likely will be the first foreign trip for President Bush. It will be one of the largest security operations in Canadian history, with a perimeter security fence similar to the 10-foot wall of metal wire that surrounded June's Organization of American States gathering in Windsor, Ontario. "If somebody comes up with a better idea, we're going to take it," says Houle, the RCMP spokesman for the Summit of the Americas. "But so far, that is the best." Preventing street clashes like the ones that derailed World Trade Organization talks in Seattle in December 1999 is the main goal, say police officials at the federal, provincial and local level. The planned security zone covers much of old Quebec City's upper town--both inside and outside the fortress walls. It will include six hotels, the Congress Center meeting site, the Quebec Parliament buildings and familiar tourist stops such as the Terrasse Dufferin boardwalk, the Chateau Frontenac hotel and the Plains of Abraham. Access will be tightly controlled, with special passes required to enter the security zone and additional photo identification badges for each summit venue, including hotels. All the Western Hemisphere's heads of state except Cuba's Fidel Castro are coming to discuss expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement and other issues. Organizers expect more than 4,000 delegates and 2,000 journalists, along with thousands of protesters seeking to publicize their anti-free trade, pro-environment messages. It's the big event of the year for activists in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, says Michael Morrill of the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network. A veteran of demonstrations around the world, Morrill is helping organize a "Free Trade Caravan" that will make its way to Quebec informing people about what the protesters contend are the ills of expanding NAFTA. Morrill predicts police will harass demonstrators traveling to the summit and provoke violence. Houle says police will identify and contact protest organizers before the summit. The goal, he says, is to block the small number of protesters who come to incite violence. Mayor Jean-Paul L'Allier is troubled by the tough security plan. L'Allier complains it could hinder city residents from moving freely, prevent peaceful protesters from being heard and make his city police look bad. END |