Homeless people living within 2010 Olympic security zones will be removed by police during the Games in Vancouver.

But Deputy Chief Const. Steve Sweeney of the Vancouver Police Dept. says the homeless will be offered space in shelters or given help to go wherever they want, and only arrested if they refuse to move.

Sweeney's comments came at a packed community forum on Olympic security held in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

He and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer, who is overseeing security for the Games next February, ran up against seven years of suspicion and rumour about a police crackdown during the Olympics.

People raised concerns about protests, surveillance and a potential rash of pre-Game arrests.

But Mercer pledged whatever is lawful now will remain so come 2010, and Sweeney said there was no plan to cleanse Vancouver's streets of marginalized people.