Group of Hub anarchists converges on G8 Summit

[struggle4progress]

<snip>
``We will not fight with the police,'' said ``Sharpie,'' a Great Barrington resident and member of the Boston-based Black Tea Society underground activist group. ``It's stupid. We don't have any guns. Why would we fight with them?''
Authorities reported no incidents during the anti-war march through Brunswick, just a few miles from the exclusive Sea Island resort, where President Bush met yesterday with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The leaders of Canada, Germany, Russia, Italy, Britain and Germany later reached Sea Island for the economic summit, which has been marred by violence in the past.
Towering police barricades and heavily armed officers have sealed off the island, while waterways and airspace are restricted. In Savannah, the city has been turned into a virtual ghost town as many residents left, fearing massive civil unrest that has yet to materialize.
``People have been scared off,'' said Al Booth, an ex-Marine who was among a small number of tourists dotting Savannah's normally bustling River Street.
<snip>
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/06/09/6765316


Feds crack down for G8 meeting
<snip>
The security measures for the summit will be the most extensive in U.S. history, State Department spokesperson Barry Bennett told the Washington Post. Weeks before the protests, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a pre-emptive "state of emergency."
A few days later, the Brunswick City Council passed an ordinance allowing its police department to halt protests during "states of emergency"--giving free reign for authorities to harass and intimidate activists. At least 10,000 law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies are patrolling the summit area--along with the Navy and Air Force.
Rev. Zack Lyde, an associate pastor at St. John, told the Associated Press what he thought of the brigades of police cars and military vehicles cruising around town. "They've been running the streets since they got here," said Lyde. "They're spreading terror like mayonnaise."
<snip>
http://www.socialistworker.org/2004-2/503/503_02_G8.shtml


G8 protesters outnumbered by police, TV cams
Nearly 150 war protestors marched through Brunswick Tuesday, just a few miles from Sea Island, where leaders are now gathered for the G8 summit.
<snip>
This town of 16,000 has been thrust into the international spotlight because of its proximity to Sea Island, where the summit is being held.
Normally quiet neighborhoods are now heavily patrolled by police, helicopters swirl overhead and protestors fill the streets. Some who live here say the whole G8 invasion as they call it has disrupted their lives.
"I work on the island,” said John Evans. “It's hard to get on, Everything's being inspected for bombs or terrorist threats. I just ain't never been through nothing like this before."
<snip>
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1927680&nav=5kZQNn8D



G8 protest a non-event
<snip>
But fewer than 300 protesters showed up in Savannah and Brunswick, coastal cities designated as protest staging areas. More than 20,000 police, federal agents and soldiers have been assigned to summit security. So far, that's more than 66 for each activist.
The world leaders saw none of the marchers as they arrived at the Sea Island resort, encircled by naval patrols and covered with guards. Fixed-wing propeller-driven military aircraft droned overhead as F-15 fighter jets cross-hatched the sky with white contrails.
Throughout the first official day of the summit, the helicopters came: first the low-flying small OH-58 Kiowa scouts with open doors and armed troops scanning the ground, then the larger twin-rotor CH-46 Sea Knights and finally, the stately green and white VH-3D Sea Kings that carried some of the world's most powerful leaders.
<snip>
Naomi Archer, an activist with the G-8 Justice Coalition, said the police were "very friendly," although the military presence made the atmosphere oppressive, she said.
<more>

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/hp/content/shared/news/stories/G8_SCENE_0609_COX.html

[KoKo]

1. This is what it's like to live in a Fascist State. Where world leaders

come into miltary bases and are secretly limousened to a cordoned off secret location, wined and dined and given the royal treatment, while fighter jets, black hawks and armed partrols guard their every movement.

I can't imagine this occurring when Clinton was President. It's just so
incredible to see this, wondering how these world leaders feel being cut off from "the people." And, the economic pain to those in the Savannah area is going to be very bad. This is the height of the tourist season and there was a report in a Savannah newspaper that a hotel on St. Simons had been booked in advance by the Secret Service to keep tourists out and at the last minute they cancelled ALL the reservations without paying. The hotel had been told that the G-8 guests would be renting the whole place so they couldn't book their usual tourist guests.

This is Bush America. I wonder how the Georgians are going to feel when this group sweeps out of town on Friday. Will it be a bitter taste in their mouths or will they just be happy that they were so well protected
from the people trying to protest for good?

[4morewars]

2. Where were all the fighter planes...

on 9/11 ?????

[GemMom]

5. Clinton attended G8 meetings

under same level of security, etc.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/07/21/g8.summit/

[DBoon]

3. Just a practice drill for the real thing

wait till the police state comes to your town!

[tlcandie]

4. That would be NY's GoP vention come September...

fun fun!

[Baltimoreboy]

6. Question: how would you handle security

For world leaders at a major conference?