Police increase security for Saturday festivities

Large vehicles to create barriers between key roadways and groups of pedestrians

Extra security measures will be employed by police on Canada Day to protect thousands of Calgarians expected to turn out for celebrations Saturday.

Calgary police are anticipating about 300,000 people could descend on different venues in and around the downtown core between 8 a.m. and midnight.

The focus will be on protecting pedestrian traffic around large gathering areas, said acting Insp. Sheldon Scott of the major events emergency management section.

Scott said police won’t disclose many details about their tactics in advance, but plans are in place to use city vehicles or other large vehicles to create barriers between key roadways and large groups of pedestrians.

The strategy is partly in response to recent attacks in London where several people were killed and scores were injured when a van was driven into pedestrians on London Bridge.

“We’d be remiss not to look at what’s happening in the world,” Scott said.

“But it’s not just because of what’s happening across the world, but because we’ve had incidents in the past where there’s been concerns about impaired drivers or people not paying attention.”

Calgarians can expect an increased police presence at many of the downtown venues and more officers to direct traffic.

Some of the bigger events downtown will be at Olympic Plaza, Prince’s Island Park and Riverfront Avenue.

Some temporary traffic restrictions will be in place, as well as all-day road closures along parts of Centre Street heading into the downtown, Macleod Trail near Olympic Plaza and in parts of the East Village.

A parking ban will be enforced along Memorial Drive between Edmonton Trail and 10 Street NW.

“We’ve been looking at the ways for us to have police presence there, to be deterrents, to ensure safe venues for people attending. That’s all part of the planning process that we’ve done for the last several months to prepare for this,” Scott said.

We’ve been looking at the ways for us to have police presence there, to be deterrents, to ensure safe venues for people attending.