G-8/G-20 – Toronto Fortress – Under Siege
Posted by Michael FriedmanJun 22
G-8/G-20 – Toronto Under Siege
The leaders at the G-20 Summit in Canada will decide on the mandate and direction of the G20′s future course of action and likely to deliberate on issues like global recovery, the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth; international financial institutions, etc.
As a Canadian and a resident of Toronto I am have been watching the lock down of this city’s downtown population of 2.5 million residents. There are over 5600 police personnel responsible for the security of this Summit. Our military forces in Afghanistan almost match this number. The security alone comes at a cost of over $1 Billion dollars to the Canadian taxpayer. There will be over 70 motorcades of dignitaries arriving at our airport necessitating the closure of 2 highways and countless streets for a minimum of 45 minutes for each individual motorcade. President Obama’s motorcade is anticipated to consist of over 30 vehicles not including air surveillance.
The downtown streets and business area surrounding the convention center of the Summit are virtually barricaded fortresses which will soon be filled with protesters, hopefully peaceful, joining the ever present security forces. Schools, the University of Toronto, office towers, and countless business have been closed this week for this event and the potential inevitable mayhem. The U.S. government has already as of last week issued a travel advisory warning.
So what is my point? It is why is such extreme measures necessary to secure 19 men (G-20 should really be G-19, one seat is left open) whose only goal for this 2 day event is to try and make a better responsible global community. Why is there so much hostility for such an important meeting of 19 world leaders under 1 roof? You comments are very welcomed.
2 comments
Comment by Mike Morgan on June 23, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Interesting post Michael.
If you have a high profile (and many of these have the highest profiles in the world) then inevitably you become a target.
Security becomes a huge priority.
Midge and I once watched Madonna exit the Ritz in Paris and the spectacle of hundreds of people waiting 2 hours for a glimpse plus the dozens of police and sunglass/suit wearing security personnel was amazing. Temporary crowd control was in place – gendarmes on roller blades – it was truly a circus.
Then Madonna finally walked out the front door and without looking up was whisked swiftly into a waiting limo – all of about 10 seconds!!
Thanks for sharing.
All the best
Mike
Comment by Mavis Nong on June 24, 2010 at 4:42 am
Hey Michael,
Thanks for sharing your observations. Yes, it’s only 19 men, but because of who they are, their safety becomes extremely important. So, for events like this, millions of dollars are spent on putting very tight security measures in place.
Make it a great day!
All the best,
Mavis Nong