-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [smygo] Calgary Police Prepare for Trouble at World Petroleum Congress Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 23:48:06 -0500 (CDT) From: "Clore Daniel C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: Self To: undisclosed-recipients:; Calgary police gearing up for trouble at World Petroleum Congress by CAROL HARRINGTON CALGARY (CP) - Police are arming with pepper spray and stun guns, and some shop owners have bought riot insurance as protesters and oil executives from around the world descend on Calgary. It's a peculiar scene for this conservative Prairie city but plans are in place in case violence erupts at the World Petroleum Congress, where 3,000 delegates from 87 countries will gather for five days starting Sunday. "We have been training our people for what we call protest awareness," said Calgary police Insp. Murray Stooke. "We have a number of options available - from negotiations, to warnings to lift and carry and so on." The "and so on" includes pepper spray, tear gas and stun guns that shoot non-lethal bean bags. They could be trained on any unruly environmental and social activists who protest at the summit. Most protesters say police are overreacting. "This is not a shut-down action," said John Sellers, director of the Ruckus Society, a group that offers courses in effective protesting. "We don't want to base our success or our failure on tactics. We want to frame our message of exploitation by oil companies in a peaceful manner." Event organizers find it ironic that hundreds of activists plan to demonstrate because they have made a concerted effort to deal with the protesters' concerns at the summit. "Twenty-five per cent of all the papers here have to do with sustainable development, the environment and social issues associated with increased production," said Jim Gray, chairman of the Canadian organizing committee for the congress. "We drove it onto the agenda. We felt these issues were 21st-century items and we want to make sure they get broad public discussion." Several activist groups are planning to show up in Calgary, including Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth, Oil Watch Network and the Sierra Club of Canada. On Thursday, protesters were riled when two American environmental and human rights activists from California were detained by Immigration Canada at the Calgary airport. They were shackled, dressed in prison clothes and their papers and computer files were copied. They were told they were being arrested and interrogated for civil disobedience convictions. "It's a bizarre invasion of privacy and a violation of Canada's laws," said Danny Kennedy, director of Project Underground, a human rights organization opposed to mining and oil exploitation. Detained were Carwil James of Project Underground and Amit Srivastava of Corporate Watch, a human rights and environmental group. Formed in 1933 by the world's key energy nations, the World Petroleum Congress meets every three years to discuss technological, financial and scientific issues of the industry. This year, oil barons include Prince Faisel of Saudi Arabia, Sir John Browne, chief executive officer of England's BP Amoco, the world's second-largest oil company, and Dick Cheney, CEO of Haliburton Co., an American conglomerate. "People are coming here to brush shoulders with others, to network among their peers and engage in dialogue and conversation relative to business aspects," said Randy Gossen, chairman of the program committee for the Canadian organizing group. "In the petroleum industry these days we don't do anything unless it creates value." One group that won't be creating much "value" next week are the irate store owners near the summit venues. Their shops will be behind barricades. "It's very disheartening," said Michael Greenberg, owner of Micah Gallery, an arts and crafts store. "We expected sales to be enhanced by this conference but now the roadblocks will stop that." Retail owners like Greenberg were told by police to have contingency plans for the worst scenerio - riots. They have cut plywood to replace possible broken windows, bolstered doors with extra locks, armed employees with letters to get past police barricades and purchased riot insurance for "acts of militia." The conference is scheduled to wrap up next Thursday. Thursday 8 June 2000 Temporary jails ready for arrests by Grady Semmens, Suzanne Wilton, Calgary Herald Calgary police have leased building space to use as makeshift jails as they prepare for potential mass arrests during next week's World Petroleum Congress. Insp. Murray Stooke said two sites have been rented to deal with an overflow of arrests if expected protests against the congress get out of hand. "We've leased premises in advance and put staff into place to process people, handle the paperwork and look after them once they've been arrested," said Stooke. "(They) can be accommodated while awaiting court appearances." Apart from saying the sites are outside the downtown core, Stooke wouldn't comment on where the makeshift prisons will be, or how big they are. "They are a fairly large size," he said. "Basically we're just bringing in our equipment and supplies we have on hand to make sure they are properly housed." Police are preparing for the worst as Sunday's opening of the June 11-15 congress approaches. Anarchists, environmentalists and unionists from across North America and beyond are expected to converge on Calgary to demonstrate against the 16th annual congress. Executives from oil companies around the world and dignitaries including Prime Minister Jean Chretien will attend. A group calling itself the End of Oil Action Committee has set up shop on the fringes of downtown. Web sites have listed Sunday as a day of mass protest and Monday as a day of "direct action" against the global oil industry, followed by three days of continuing protest. Organizers from the California-based Ruckus Society are also in town helping local activists plan marches and civil disobedience. Shannon Wright, a member of Ruckus and an employee with the San Francisco-based Rain Forest Action Coalition, on Wednesday told QR77's Dave Rutherford that demonstrations will be peaceful. "We're here to send a strong message that we have other energy alternatives, we're not here to cause property damage or any sort of violence," Wright said. Wright, who was joined by Alan Keane of civil disobedience trainers Co-motion, was in Seattle last year, when peaceful protests against the World Trade Organization turned violent, and again at the International Monetary Fun meetings in Washington, D.C. Rutherford, known for his conservative stance on most political issues, challenged Wright about her commitment to the cause because she came to Calgary by airplane. "No one is standing up and saying, 'I have personally evolved past fossil fuels,' " she said. "What we're talking about is, as a society, as countries, we're very dependent on fossil fuels. We have energy alternatives and that does not need to be a threat in places like Calgary that are leaders in the oil industry." Regardless, Calgary police continued to prepare for the worst. A group of senior officers were in Windsor, Ont., last weekend, to observe how protests there by about 2,000 people were handled during the Organization of American States conference. Except for about 40 arrests, officials deemed it relatively quiet. Now Calgary police are taking similar steps as Windsor cops, who converted a utilities service compound into a temporary detention centre with portable washrooms, a closed-circuit "electronic court room" and portable cages to hold up to 625 people. Stooke said Calgary police are expecting a similar number of protesters to take to the streets here on Sunday. -- --------------------------------------------------- Dan Clore The Website of Lord We�rdgliffe: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/index.html The Dan Clore Necronomicon Page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/necpage.htm "Tho-ag in Zhi-gyu slept seven Khorlo. Zodmanas zhiba. All Nyug bosom. Konch-hog not; Thyan-Kam not; Lha-Chohan not; Tenbrel Chugnyi not; Dharmakaya ceased; Tgenchang not become; Barnang and Ssa in Ngovonyidj; alone Tho-og Yinsin in night of Sun-chan and Yong-grub (Parinishpanna), &c., &c.," -- The Book of Dzyan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Was the salesman clueless? 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