2010-04-23
Toronto Police will be using an old movie studio as a temporary jail in anticipation of likely arrests during protests at this June's G20 summit, CTV News has learned.
The Eastern Avenue location is about five kilometres from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre where the leaders and delegations from the world's 20 leading economies will be meeting on June 26 and 27.
As such, the facility, which will allow the timely processing of those arrested, will be outside the two security zones that will surround the meeting.
"We are doing a lot of work to make sure we mitigate and minimize the disruption," Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said Thursday.
"I'm increasingly confident we'll have the resources in place. We'll be ready."
In terms of a security challenge, officials have said the G20 will be bigger than the recent Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Toronto's downtown is expected to be flooded with Toronto police, RCMP officers and other security officials. The RCMP will be in charge of the inner zone around the centre, which will be surrounded by a three-metre-high, unscaleable fence.
Residents and those working in the area will have to register to get access to their homes and businesses during the period of the summit.
The heightened security will begin two weeks before the summit.
In another sign of how seriously preparations are being taken, the Toronto police's Emergency Task Force dealt with a mock hostage-taking in the financial district this past weekend to practice working with private security.