[LINK] "RCMP to review parliamentary security after rooftop protest"

[rfmcdonald]

Harper's policies haven't been popular, as I've noticed. Yesterday, Greenpeace did a piece of political theatre that incidentally demonstrated serious security issues, as described in Heather Scofield's Canadian Press article.

19 Greenpeace protesters managed to climb two of the Parliament buildings and unfurl huge banners in broad daylight.

The activists, dressed in blue coveralls and white hard hats, scaled the West Block and the entrance to the Senate in the Centre Block - below the iconic Peace Tower - at about 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Some of them then rappelled off the steep roof of the West Block and hung massive banners in English and French reading: Harper/Ignatieff Climate Inaction Costs Lives.

It was a message to the prime minister and the Liberal leader to support tougher greenhouse-gas emission cuts, timed to coincide with the start of the big UN climate-change conference in Copenhagen.

[. . .]

Officers eventually escorted the activists from the roof and used an aerial ladder to remove others dangling on the side of the West Block.

The 19 protesters and an organizer were arrested without incident and turned over to Ottawa police. They will likely face charges of mischief, a police spokesman said.

The mischief did serve a purpose beyond the environmental awareness bit.

"How did they get in?" asked security expert Bertram Cowan of Competitive Insights Inc.

"There was definitely a lapse, no doubt about it. It may be even as embarrassing as the people who crashed the president's dinner party. That's supposed to be a pretty secure area."

Cowan, a former officer with the RCMP and CSIS, was referring to a Virginia couple who slipped past security to attend U.S. President Barack Obama's first state dinner last month, even though they weren't on the guest list.

"Somebody is probably right now on the carpet, trying to explain what happened," Cowan said.

Security on Parliament Hill has been beefed up since the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

RCMP cars guard the entrances to Parliament Hill and patrol the grounds. Anyone entering the Parliament buildings must go through at least one metal detector. Surveillance cameras cover most areas. Only authorized vehicles are allowed on the Hill, and parking in the nearby lots is restricted.

Remember the badly organized if serious Toronto terrorist cell? I'd prefer not to have Parliament destroyed; personal preference, I suppose.