This Saturday, construction will start on a three-metre high, five-kilometre long fence in Sydney's CBD to protect leaders attending next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference.

The fence will cause major traffic disruptions throughout the city and local workers and residents will have to go through special ID checks at access points.

But Sydney's Deputy Lord Mayor is appalled by the security measures being taken to protect officials attending the conference and wants to hang a huge banner from the city's Town Hall saying,"Cage Bush, not Sydney". The council will vote on the proposal.

The city's chamber of commerce has attacked the idea as "madness", saying such a decision would be rude and could affect businesses all over Australia.

Just last week, New South Wales police unveiled a new $600,000 water canon, warning that if APEC demonstrators got wild, they would get very wet.

Another visible part of security will be a five-kilometre long, three-metre high steel fence separating the Opera House, Botanic Gardens and a large part of the CBD from public access.

Workers will start building the fence this weekend.

Greens Councillor Chris Harris, who is also Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney City Council, says he wants the council to take a stand against APEC - and particularly against US President George W Bush.

"I'm sitting in Town Hall today and there's Army personnel wondering through Town Hall with all these fancy devices," he said.

"This is the kind of stuff you see in despotic regimes. This is fearmongering, right-wing, red neck stuff that's being [exported] out of America [and] I think we should distance ourselves from it as far as we can.

"We're forcing the citizens of Sydney, the businesses that operate in the city, to forego hundreds of millions of dollars in business to protect one bloke. I just think this is extraordinary.

"So first of all we're asking that council acknowledge that and then the second thing I'm asking council to do is to demonstrate to our citizens how we feel by putting a banner up on Town Hall that says very simply, 'Cage Bush, not Sydney'."

'Irreparable harm'

Patricia Forsthye, executive director of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, believes a banner strung up at Sydney Town Hall would do irreparable harm to the city.

"If what we saw was a 'Cage Bush, not Sydney' sign from the Sydney Town Hall, I think the only conclusion you could draw is that far from being gracious hosts, that we are rude," she said.

"The reality is people around the world people will see the people of Sydney have little respect or regard for APEC, for what it stands for, or for the leaders and in this case and in particular the President of the United States.

"I think that will become the feature of media stories, rather than the significant opportunity we have to promote and showcase Sydney.

"I'm confident that the Sydney City Council will see through this see this as some sort of particular political grandstanding by one particular counsellor, and I hope that's how they treat it."

Other demonstrators have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Hu Jintao could be targets for protests because of Chechnya and Tibet, but those leaders are not on the Deputy Lord Mayor's hit list.

"George Bush is the one that has carried on this, and started this war on terrorism and basically... tried to turn democratic societies into fearful places," Cr Harris said.

But Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore does not think the council will vote to hang the banner.

"I don't support that proposal. I believe that Sydney, the global city of Australia, should be able to host a forum for world leaders," she said.

Cr Moore says she has concerns about the use of water canon and fencing off part of the city, but says the council should concentrate on helping those affected by the security shutdown and not involved in organising protests.

And she says regrettably, most of the security in place for APEC is necessary in an era of global terrorism.

"It seems that it is and I think it's really regrettable," she said.

"I think the days [are gone] when world leaders were greeted by welcoming motorcade, happy faces on the street waving flags and welcoming our visitors - that's the approach I'd much prefer."