BRISBANE and THE G 20 - LIVING IN A GHOST TOWN !

( Beware photo laden post ahead !) 

 

Below is a photo of peak hour traffic on any normal week night in Brisbane.

Our lovely modern city is in the background with the road coming over the Victoria Bridge from the absolute centre of the city to the large busway taking workers home for dinner.

 

 

... and this is what it looks like today (Friday ).



 

Deserted !

This is what happens when you send mixed signals to the people of your city.

 

You cancel all buses entering and leaving the city area.

 

 

All vehicles entering the Central Business District (CBD ) must go through security checks

 

 

like these.

 

 

  This is the main train station in the centre of town at what should be peak hour in the morning !

 

Everywhere you go there are barriers to keep you out

 

 

 



High security is everywhere !

 



 

  

and this is the result - A Ghost Town !

 

 

The inner city streets normally busy seven days a week

 

 

are completely deserted but the businesses are all open for trading.

 

The parklands where citizens in their thousands flock to enjoy the blue skies and sunny days

are eerily quiet.

 

What's going on, you ask?

 In a word, the G20 has come to town.

There are no buses into the city.

The CityCat river  ferries have an exclusion zone right in the centre of the city.

Most car parks are closed and those that are open have huge security, searching cars for explosive devices.

All offices in the city are closed - it's a Public Holiday in Brisbane as workers can't get into the city for their jobs

but the shops and restaurants are open as the weekends are their peak trading times.

 ( paying their workers double time because they are working on a Public Holiday )

 

Important people are arriving

 

 

and obviously bringing lots of luggage with them !

So far the protestors have been colourful and good humoured.

 



 

But the citizens of Brisbane have stayed away in droves.

The hype about all this security has turned them all off going into the city to enjoy the special touches that have been added to make our city look good to the rest of the world.  

 

The bridges are all lit up at night and so are many of the buildings around the city. 

 

The city itself  is looking lovely with the flowering trees putting on a great show.

 

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and some of the street art is truly exceptional

 

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but with a long weekend ahead of us and the thermometer heading for 40 C for the next three days

 

this

 

 

  

is where you'll find most Brisbanites !

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

* photos taken by Tony.  All others from the internet.

FORTRESS BRISBANE



The city of Brisbane is battening down the hatches as it prepares for an invasion.

 

What invasion?

 

The Group of Twenty (also known as the G-20 or G20) is coming to town !

Representatives of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies will soon be arriving in Brisbane creating a huge security nightmare .

The members include 19 individual countries—Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union ( which is represented by the European Commission  and by the European Central Bank.

 

 A huge security presence is tightening its hold on car parks in the CBD, most of which will be shut down.
Every night the sound of low flying helicopters beats down on our rooftop as the Black Hawks and other smaller helicopters fly low over our house towards the night's practice exercise in the city where all sorts of terrible scenarios are rehearsed in preparation.

Soldiers fine tune their G20 preparations in Brisbane's CBD on Sunday night. Photo: Nine News

Obama and Putin will be here, their accommodation carefully planned to minimise the danger of attack from terrorists. They'll be staying on opposite sides of the city.
Whole hotels have been taken over, spruced up and every cranny checked out for the safety of these important people.

A public holiday has been declared as most businesses will be closed, their employees unable to catch public transport to get to their workplaces.



.
The spectre of riots caused by fly-in professional protestors is a very scary thought with memories of the last G20 meeting in Canada fresh in everyone's minds and most citizens of Brisbane are planning a weekend away and certainly not planning a trip into the city.



Now the Mayor and Premier are worried that the possible boost to tourism (which they anticipated from world-wide exposure of the beauties of Brisbane) may not happen if the streets, cafes and parks are devoid of happy citizens enjoying the outdoors which is the image of Brisbane which they want to promote to the world.





I for one will be staying away.

 

Cheers.