Young saplings a security threat, police say

Young saplings that line downtown sidewalks are the latest casualty of the G20.

As was done with trash cans, newspaper boxes and bus shelters, police are now removing the young trees partially out of concern that they might be ripped out and used as arsenal by violent protesters.

‘They’re being removed for a couple of reasons: They’re young and require metal stakes to support them – obviously a security issue. Number two, they can be easily damaged or destroyed, and ultimately used as objects to either injure or cause damage,” said Const. Wendy Drummond, spokesperson for the summit’s Integrated Security Unit.

The trees will be replaced after the summit, she said.

Among the saplings to be uprooted are the ones within the security perimeter — assumingly out of range from anyone looking to use Mother Nature to cause a ruckus.

But it’s not all about keeping the trees from becoming projectiles, she said.

“Trees in full bloom have obscure views and observation is key in a lot of our policing.”

Comments

[LG]

The Conservatives have carefully crafted an 'us and them' mindset that they want all Canadians to adopt. Good civilian = never protests anything the conbots want or have on their agenda. Bad civilian = protests of any format that may undermine the agenda (much of which is hidden and undemocratic).
They align themselves with famous Canadians (photo ops and glowing articles) and come down hard on the the bad civilians - which are, of course, ordinary Canadians that resent the obvious movement toward a police-state or what many feel amounts to a dictatorship.

[umback]

I say we just level Mississauga. Completely. burn it all. Then the police will be able to see for miles around. We could do it cheap - Like the Israeli's do to the palestinians! just knock their houses down with bulldozers and explosives, then screw them out of any compensation! Terrorists are like pokemon, y'know - you gotta catch 'em all! And there are so many extremists in Canada, over 30 million law abiding extremists!

[David Dossett]

Glad to see all those dangerous saplings being uprooted for the Toronto G8 summit. Yep, you are always hearing of gangs running around with tree branches, holding up banks and convenience stores..... Oh yes, also glad to be spending millions on the "Lake Fake" - after all, it's not like there are any natural bodies of water nearby....

[SomeoneinTO]

You people are ridiculous! Could you be whinging any more about an international event happening in our very own city? Look at yourselves in the mirror and ask yourselves if you wouldn't be criticizing other venues for not having their acts together to host such an event.

It's 2 days for Pete sake...suck it up!

[RM]

Interesting how most of you are blaming Harper for the removal of the trees and the security measures. He is not the one calling the shots as far as security goes. The RCMP, CSIS, US Secret Service, FBI, Toronto and Peel Police and various private security contractors are the ones making the calls. Harper doesn't even make the final approval for measures, the RCMP does.

Its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

[Dorian Douma]

I very much doubt that the trees will be restored after the summit - even with the massive budget devoted to the preparations. I also doubt whether they'd ever be used as weapons.

I love how metaphorical it all is. Having wrecked forests worldwide, the G20 doesn't even want saplings in its immediate surroundings. It's like they're allergic to health.