May 27, 2003
Geneva Braces for G8 Summit
The city of Geneva Switzerland is bracing itself for the G8 Summit next week in nearby French lake-side resort Evian. Stores in the center of town and including the famous "rue du Rhône" are being boarded up and shut closed in fear of un-peaceful demonstrators wreaking havoc.
The city of Geneva is expecting up to 300'000 demonstrators (for a city of 300'000 inhabitants). Rumors are flying, such as the cell phone network being cut off if demonstrators get out of hand, to disrupt their re-grouping and organizing on the fly. According to Christian Neuhaus, a popular spokesperson for Swisscom operator, "Swisscom has no intention of disabling their network. If they did, it would only by police order, but we have heard of no such thing".
It's not so far-fetched, as local cellphone networks in Mumbai, the financial center of India, were asked in March of 2002 to disable their SMS service during the day, to help reduce social unrest and avoid the organization of illegal demonstrations, according to Cellular News.
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