G8 Takes Over Downtown

My wife works downtown in the fenced off zone where the G8 summit is being held this weekend. As of today that area is closed to cars, which meant I had to drive her in. The downtown core has become a ghost town with streets closed off everywhere and police officers with riot gear at the ready on every corner. Because it was early in the morning, it was pretty much just us and the cops on the road. I got her as close as I could, and she set out on foot to cover the last few blocks.

After I dropped her off, I parked the car and took a walk to see if I could snap some pictures. The police were not nearly as friendly as the had been the other day. I couldn't get anywhere near the fence and was told that if I ventured anywhere close to it, I would be "investigated". I tried a couple of different streets and was met with the same resistance.

There is no way anyone is going to get close to the fence or the convention centre this weekend. The closest I could come was blocks away in what I was told was a green zone. If I wanted to venture any further into the red zone I needed to have a reason for being there and I would also need to show ID and be prepared to be searched.

And it was at that point that I decided that I really didn't need those pictures after all and would in fact leave the news coverage to the professionals from this point on...