A grassroots group opposed to the airport-style security at the Millennium Library says city officials have inflamed the situation.
Sarah Broad lives downtown and volunteers with the organization Millennium For All.
Broad told the city’s protection committee some patrons are staying away from the library because the security plan is intrusive.
“It’s an exclusionary kind of measure,” said Broad.
She‘s calling on city hall to find other solutions, and accuses library and city officials of exaggerating the facts around safety.
“I’d like us to start assuming our neighbours are not our enemies,” said Broad.
“I hear a lot of fear-mongering.”
The city is already in the process of studying whether alternate security measures could be used.
Police Chief Danny Smyth has publicly supported the security protocol at the library.
Earlier this year Smyth showed off pictures at the police board of weapons seized in and around the library, including a hatchet and a pool ball wrapped in tape.
