The opening weekend for the The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army, is shaping up to be one filled with, well, warriors. The Royal Ontario Museumannounced recently that the exhibit, the largest Terracotta Warriors show ever to hit North America, will be opening on June 26.
That day coincides with the opening of the G20 summit which runs from June 26-27 in Toronto. The leaders of the worlds 20 largest economies, including US President Barack Obama, will be attending meetings at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
News is just breaking that the main protest zone islikely to be just steps away from the museum. Torontos Deputy Mayor Joe Panatalone just told The Toronto Star that Queen’s Park willlikely bethemain protestarea for demonstraters.
A lot of protests are normally held there and that is a more ideal location, he said. Its close to government, which is the legislature, and secondly, its surrounded by roads on all sides except for the south side. Its self-contained.
Originally the protest area was going to be at Trinity Bellwoods Park, quite far away. During the G20, sections of downtown Toronto near the convention centre will be shut down, with access being restricted to guests, nearby residents, and security. The protest zone is a place, near the shut-down areas, where protesters can demonstrate freely. There is no guarantee that all the protesters will stay in that area.
While Queens Park is surrounded by roads, it is only about 100 meters south ofthe Royal Ontario Museum. The subway line to the museum has a stop at Queen’s Park.
It should be noted that there will be no shortage of modern day warriors in the area. Thousands of police will be on hand in the city and the Canadian Forces recently launched aerial drills over Toronto using helicopters and jet fighters.
This news is just breaking, late in the day, so we will have to wait to hear the museums officialresponse to this development.
It won’t be the first time that a major Toronto exhibition has been affected by political protests. The wonderful Afghanistan exhibit was marred by strike action, and last summer there were protests at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition,
The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army runs from 26th June to December, 2010, at the ROM.