The campus will be the venue for an address by US President Barack Obama, described by the White House as a major speech on American leadership of the Asia Pacific. The clampdown on the city was highlighted yesterday when the police commissioner extended the summit’s “declared zone” to cover the main University of Queensland campus, and the adjacent Brisbane River and surrounding areas. He emphasised the bipartisan support for the summit within the political establishment, noting that the event was originally assigned to Brisbane by the former federal Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman aggressively defended the lockdown, declaring that it would pay dividends by displaying Brisbane as a safe “world city” for investors and tourists. A water cannon is ready to use against deviating demonstrators, along with several “sound cannons”-giant vehicle-mounted speakers that blast ear-piercing shrieks. Participants are banned from wearing masks, holding megaphones or carrying large banners. While police claim to have permitted 26 planned protests, they imposed severe restrictions and issued dire warning against any departures from approved venues or routes. Under the guise of preventing terrorist attacks on the event-although police say none have been identified-and averting violent protests-none has been specified-the security operation is designed to both prevent demonstrations near the summit and condition public opinion to such a repressive atmosphere. Judging from the near-deserted streets, however, and the interviews given by young people to the World Socialist Web Site, many residents felt intimidated, alienated and disgusted by the security blanket surrounding the G20 gathering, and by the summit itself. Queensland Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett said residents would “notice a sea of police” and “snipers on buildings” but should feel reassured, because this is “one part of the security planning required to make sure leaders have a safe and enjoyable stay.” Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland, is providing a rehearsal ground for police-state conditions. This is a deliberate show of force, backed by multitudes of security guards, plain-clothed police and intelligence agents, foreign security detachments and a military presence in the air and at checkpoints. They are monitored via a new “state-of-the-art” security operations centre, giving what police chiefs boasted was “unprecedented footage” for an Australian city. Hundreds of surveillance cameras have been activated, transmitting images from streets, buildings, airport terminals and police drones and helicopters. To shield 4,000 G20 delegates and officials, the operation involves at least 6,000 uniformed police on active duty and 2,000 military personnel, mostly on standby. Pedestrians were warned that police were ready to use special powers, which can include conducting strip searches, ordering people to leave declared zones and making mass arrests. The measures being taken to protect the government leaders-at a cost officially approaching half a billion dollars-stood in stark contrast to the impact on ordinary working people, who faced three kilometres of barricades, street closures and shutdowns of educational and cultural facilities. This was already taking place yesterday, well before the arrival of most of the leaders of the world’s 19 largest economies, plus the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and other global financial institutions. Snipers are on the roofs of hotels, Black Hawk helicopters hover overhead and military aircraft, including F/A18 Super Hornets, have criss-crossed the sky. Police buses, dark vans and motorcades are a constant sight.Īll the police are armed, and most are wearing dark blue para-military uniforms. Others are patrolling on horses, motorbikes or bicycles, or in squad cars. Much of the inner city and the adjoining Southbank precinct, where the event is being staged, resembles a ghost town, with police outnumbering people on the streets.Įverywhere throughout the centre of Australia’s third biggest city, large groups of police are present, some with dogs. Brisbane, the venue of this weekend’s G20 summit, increasingly looks like a city under police occupation.
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