Terror threat low, protests not banned, security chief says
 
Disrupting Games by breaking law won't be allowed: RCMP
 
By Miro Cernetig, Vancouver SunFebruary 4, 2010
A11
 
 
The risk of terrorism or other attacks aimed at disrupting the
Olympics in Vancouver remains at a low level, the head of security
for the Vancouver Olympics said Wednesday.
 
"There is no threat to the Olympic or Para-Olympic Games ...,"
Assistant RCMP Commissioner Bud Mercer, who runs the 2010 Olympics
Integrated Security Unit, told reporters.
 
As for smaller threats to the Games from the Olympic Resistance
Network, a local group of anti-Olympic protesters who are planning
protests around the Games, Mercer said no citizen would be allowed
to disrupt the Games in a way that breaks the law.
 
"Everyone has the right to enjoy the Games ...," he said. "Not just
the Olympic Resistance Network."
 
Areas near the Olympic Village in Whistler and near the Pacific
Coliseum have been set aside for protesters to assemble, although
those areas have not been marked or fenced off, he said. The "safe
assembly areas," he added, are not meant to stifle dissent, but
rather to provide areas where protest is possible.
 
A slide he presented to the media said "demonstrators may CHOOSE to
use these areas" and that peaceful and lawful demonstration is not
of concern to police.
 
"I've made it very clear, very clear," said Mercer. "If it's legal
now, it will be legal in 2010."
 
On the larger scale security worries, Mercer is getting regular
intelligence updates of possible threats to the Olympics that may
come from within Canada or beyond. He said "the threat level is low
right now."
 
If that low-risk status continues, he added, the Games would be able
to live within the $900-million security budget the Canadian and
provincial governments have allotted to protect athletes,
dignitaries and Olympic venues.
 
In planning the Olympics -- which includes 6,000 police, about 4,500
soldiers and 4,800 private security staff -- Mercer said the Games'
integrated security unit was set up assuming a higher, "medium
level" threat environment. He did not specify what precisely would
prompt a move to a "high level" alert, though usually that would be
based on firm intelligence of a planned terror plot, imminent attack
or an attack itself.
 
In such a scenario, "Plan B" would take full effect, he said,
meaning that extra security forces might be called in from around
the country. Within 72 hours, the Olympics would be under the
tightest security possible and the plan would be in effect for as
long as necessary, he said.
 
With nine days go before the Games begin, Olympic officials have
still not released a list of visiting heads of state or other
dignitaries. But Mercer expects up to 40 such "internationally
protected people," who are given the highest level of security,
although it will not include U.S. President Barack Obama.
 
The White House's decision to send U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden
instead has lightened the security challenge somewhat, Mercer said.
A presidential visit would "have created a security challenge," he
said, but added the Olympics security team could still handle such a
visit if Obama happens to change his mind.
 
mcernetig@vancouversun.com

Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun