CBD Brisbane and surrounding suburbs declared Exclusion Zones for G20

G20 meeting is going to turn inner Brisbane into Red Zone, literally. Brisbane residents could be corralled inside their homes and barricaded out of their properties during the important meeting which will be held in the city in November. If you live in this area, you will witness one of the most spectacular security operations in your life. But you won't be the only one, the number of citizens affected will be really high, tens of thousands of Brisbanites.

The unprecedented security arrangements will keep road closures secret and effectively trap people from moving around the city. So inside this “exclusion zone” residents will face lockdown, checks and balances who’ll watch G20 cops.

Residents will learn of closures only a short time before and will not be allowed to leave or enter their properties inside the “declared area” except in an emergency. Roads could be closed in the CBD, Spring Hill, South Brisbane, Kangaroo Point, Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills, Petrie Terrace and Milton as the world leaders travel in motorcades to and from the summit precinct.

Police won’t reveal which roads will be closed because details of motorcade routes are kept top secret until the last minute. The only clues residents will have is a large police presence in the street beforehand and details posted on a police website.

The “declared areas” will be flooded with G20 police up to 10 days out from the summit which begins on November 14. The officer-in-charge of G20 planning has revealed thousands of police will be “saturating’’ a 30km stretch in the “biggest security operation ever launched” in the city.

The “Red Zone” that will be locked down for November’s G20 summit in Brisbane can be seen in this link: http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2014/07/11/1226986/227537-9ac6d1f8-08ef-11e4-ac31-28cbd3f83dd9.jpg

“Depending on the arrival times of the leaders, the roads could be closed for up to an hour at a time, and will reopen once we’ve moved the leaders on” Assistant Commissioner Katarina Carroll said.

The height of the restriction will likely come on the evening of November 13, the night before the official beginning of the meeting. On that day, authorities will wait for peak hour traffic to clear before transforming parts of the inner city into mini-fortresses.

She said police were working with protest groups. “But if we receive intelligence that there is going to be violent protest or the threat level changes, well that is a whole new ball game,’’ she warned.

As well as traffic problems, taxi ranks and bus stops will move while the South Brisbane train station will close and some footpaths will be blocked. “I want to encourage everyone to go about their usual business, but people will need to go about that business in a much different way,’’ Assistant Commissioner Carroll said.

“The greatest disruption to transport arrangements will be between Friday, November 14^th and Sunday the 16^th.”Anyway, Carroll said exact changes won’t be known until about six weeks before the summit.

By Santi Ivar

Sources:

http://www.couriermail.com.au

Photo: resources1.news.com.au