Security plans for the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver now include free speech zones similar to those used in Beijing, the DNC and the RNC.

The head of security for the 2010 Games, RCMP assistant commissioner Bud Mercer, told Vancouver city council on Tuesday, however, that protesters will not be required to limit their activities to the areas.

“You’re free to use them, if you like, but anywhere you participate in lawful protest is legal and lawful in Canada. It doesn’t have to be in a free speech area,” said Mercer.

Why have a free speech zone if you can have free speech anywhere?  Oh that’s right, they’re scared of possible violent protests happening.  If you let people know about the free speech zones, most people will go there so they can be corralled easier.

Students have also been banned [pdf] from hanging any kind of poster from their dorm or residence windows, particularly during the torch run, and the police have the ability to enter any residence to remove posters, leaflets, etc. at any time to do so.

So far, the olympics have brought Vancouver additional police power to target homeless for forced relocation because we can’t have homeless people wandering around during an olympic festival.  It has allowed the introduction of CCTV cameras as a temporary measure to protect the public at large.  Don’t worry though, they will become permanent and will be used by law enforcement to continue to spy upon and intimidate Canadians and further erode what civil rights Canadians have remaining.

The Olympics are just an excuse to justify the further encroachment of the government into the homes of individual citizens.