TTF slams APEC’s security image
An AAP report says that Australia’s tourism industry has slammed the image that Sydney’s Apec summit has sent to the world, with Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) managing director Christopher Brown saying authorities failed to strike the right balance when given a promotional opportunity akin to Sydney’s hosting of the Olympic Games.
“Empty streets with concrete barriers, high fences and riot squad officers, snipers in buildings and helicopters.” “We just got out of control. . . we just didn’t get the balance right between the imagery and security,” Mr Brown told ABC Radio yesterday.
“It was not the image we should send to the world and I can understand completely why those from the tourism industry, who had thousands of rooms given back and who had no customers for the period in the city……….that there would be a concern today.”
Mr Brown said Sydney residents also felt “totally disenfranchised by their city and largely ashamed of the way their city looked” during the summit, during which a five-kilometre, 2.8-metre high security fence cordoned off the northern part of the CBD, the Opera House and the Domain.
Police also took ownership of a truck fitted with a water cannon – the first of its type in Australia – to disperse crowds.
“I certainly don’t blame the security force for putting the request in for everything, but what I find hard to believe is that somebody said ‘yes’ to everything they asked for,” Mr Brown said.
“I think we should have handled it the way we should have handled the Sydney Olympics, where we properly calibrated a secure environment with a peaceful and friendly image.”
Mr Brown also said he attended the major APEC rally to escort his mother, media identity Jan Murray, who wanted to march, adding, “I went down and watched on Saturday……..we’re talking about a security threat from a couple of art students and a bongo drummer with dreadlocks.”
“It was a disproportionate (police) response.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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