Police are arming with pepper spray and stun guns, and some shop owners have bought riot insurance as protesters and oil executives from around the world descend on Calgary. It's a peculiar scene for this conservative Prairie city but plans are in place in case violence erupts at the World Petroleum Congress, where 3,000 delegates from 87 countries will gather for five days starting Sunday. We have a number of options available - from negotiations, to warnings to lift and carry and so on. They could be trained on any unruly environmental and social activists who protest at the summit.
Most protesters say police are overreacting.
We don't want to base our success or our failure on tactics. We want to frame our message of exploitation by oil companies in a peaceful manner. Event organizers find it ironic that hundreds of activists plan to demonstrate because they have made a concerted effort to deal with the protesters' concerns at the summit. We drove it onto the agenda. We felt these issues were 21st-century items and we want to make sure they get broad public discussion.