APEC
APEC is in town, and tomorrow is a public holiday for everyone who works in Sydney, but the boss and I are both planning to go in to work.
They've been getting ready for weeks and weeks. I first noticed all the helicopters buzzing the harbour two weeks ago at Philorum Dilectics. Things hotted up a few days ago as they put up the fence in the northern end of the city to fence in the dignitaries, and then the cops started to appear. Our office is just down the road from the Surry Hills police station, a great grey hulking yet modern building that takes up about two city blocks. There are always cops around, but this week when I walked by on my way to work there were big groups of 20 or thirty of them all walking into the building, and three cop busses parked on the road outside. They've taken over a whole street to have enough room to park all the squad cars. You see swarms of them walking back up from the city in day-glo yellow vests. Our police station must be a central mustering point for all the cops that have been brought in from elsewhere in the city, or the state, or other nations, or wherever. A cab driver mentioned that if you were a thief this would be a great week for you to rob people's houses out west, because there are no cops there.
I've seen photos of the fence but haven't been down to have a look. News stories about the protesters started two days ago. George W. arrived at the airport night before last, and then tonight the news said there were something like 94 separate motorcade movements through the city, each one of which requires blocking off all traffic for some period of time. It's not just Dubya, the leaders of all Asia-Pacific nations are in town, with like 700 minders each, not to mention the members of the press.
Tonight I went to the gym after work (more on how much I love my new personal trainer in another post), and so it was about 7:30 when I left and started walking home. There were cops everywhere. The street was still full of squad cars. I heard a siren going in the distance, continuously, not stopping. And then the helicopter - it hovered over the city and then moved overhead, maybe watching Oxford Street?
I thought, this must be what it's like to live in a city during war time.
Except, when I passed the police station, all the cops standing around on the front steps, like 20 or 30 of them, looked so relaxed, and so friendly, and so Aussie, that I thought, no. A city during war time has soldiers, and they are all like coiled springs and stand tensely and suspiciously. Surry Hills cops are cool. They make this whole APEC seige upon us not quite so bad.
I hope the protesters are nice to them, my cops. I hope things don't get out of hand. I hope the erratic element who will use this as an excuse to do stupid things gets weeded out and subdued quickly, that the rest of the people can exercise their freedoms peacefully and can make their points respectfully and be heard, and that we all get out of this weekend and back to normal soon.
Welcome APEC. Bah.
They've been getting ready for weeks and weeks. I first noticed all the helicopters buzzing the harbour two weeks ago at Philorum Dilectics. Things hotted up a few days ago as they put up the fence in the northern end of the city to fence in the dignitaries, and then the cops started to appear. Our office is just down the road from the Surry Hills police station, a great grey hulking yet modern building that takes up about two city blocks. There are always cops around, but this week when I walked by on my way to work there were big groups of 20 or thirty of them all walking into the building, and three cop busses parked on the road outside. They've taken over a whole street to have enough room to park all the squad cars. You see swarms of them walking back up from the city in day-glo yellow vests. Our police station must be a central mustering point for all the cops that have been brought in from elsewhere in the city, or the state, or other nations, or wherever. A cab driver mentioned that if you were a thief this would be a great week for you to rob people's houses out west, because there are no cops there.
I've seen photos of the fence but haven't been down to have a look. News stories about the protesters started two days ago. George W. arrived at the airport night before last, and then tonight the news said there were something like 94 separate motorcade movements through the city, each one of which requires blocking off all traffic for some period of time. It's not just Dubya, the leaders of all Asia-Pacific nations are in town, with like 700 minders each, not to mention the members of the press.
Tonight I went to the gym after work (more on how much I love my new personal trainer in another post), and so it was about 7:30 when I left and started walking home. There were cops everywhere. The street was still full of squad cars. I heard a siren going in the distance, continuously, not stopping. And then the helicopter - it hovered over the city and then moved overhead, maybe watching Oxford Street?
I thought, this must be what it's like to live in a city during war time.
Except, when I passed the police station, all the cops standing around on the front steps, like 20 or 30 of them, looked so relaxed, and so friendly, and so Aussie, that I thought, no. A city during war time has soldiers, and they are all like coiled springs and stand tensely and suspiciously. Surry Hills cops are cool. They make this whole APEC seige upon us not quite so bad.
I hope the protesters are nice to them, my cops. I hope things don't get out of hand. I hope the erratic element who will use this as an excuse to do stupid things gets weeded out and subdued quickly, that the rest of the people can exercise their freedoms peacefully and can make their points respectfully and be heard, and that we all get out of this weekend and back to normal soon.
Welcome APEC. Bah.
posted by Ellen at 8:24 pm
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