Parts of Sydney have effectively become a ghost town

[unhappycamper]

The headline: Golf with Rice hit by APEC summit lockdown
Reuters
Published: Wednesday September 5, 2007


It seemed like a good idea at the time ... a round of golf course diplomacy with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has succumbed to the security stranglehold at an Asia Pacific summit in Sydney.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had challenged Rice to a game at Sydney's Rose Bay Golf Club on Saturday while their leaders thrash out deep and meaningful answers to issues such as world trade and climate change.

~snip~

"It doesn't seem a good use of our security resources ... to be protecting us playing a game of golf, so I thought it was better to give it away."

Parts of Sydney have effectively become a ghost town with a huge steel and concrete fence sealing off an exclusion zone where leaders of the 21 Pacific rim economies will meet over the next few days.

Armed police are patrolling the streets and the harbour waters, helicopters buzz constantly overhead and snipers have set up in key positions, much to the frustration of Sydney residents who have complained of draconian measures.


Rest of article: http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Golf_with_Rice_hit_by_APEC_summit_l_09052007.html

[Stephanie]

1. Sounds like NYC during the Republican Convention

George Bush, the Crawford Coward.

[murielm99]

2. Can you imagine

what the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are going to look like during their convention?

Minnesotans are always "nice," but how nice will they feel when their communities become a police state?

[Bitwit1234]

3. The little coward does not want to show the world his YELLOW complexion.

[partylessinOhio]

4. Remember when he claimed to be a "uniter" not a "divider?"

:-(

[partylessinOhio]

5. It is a ghost town of high barriers:

Pedestrians make their way through a maze of 2.8-metre
high security fences in Sydney, 04 September, as
security is stepped up ahead of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Sydney is in
virtual lockdown from September 02-09, with some roads
and train stations closed, many shops shut and 07 September
declared a public holiday to encourage residents to leave
the city for the weekend.