VANCOUVER - Amid growing concerns that political protest will be stifled when the world comes to Vancouver this winter, police have taken the unusual step of assuring the public that anti-Olympic signs and demonstrations will not be repressed during the 2010 Games.

But if you advocate violence or other illegal actions, you can expect a visit from an investigator, Vancouver Police Department and RCMP officials said at a joint news conference yesterday.

"I would like to make the record perfectly clear. Our goal for the 2010 Olympics is that they be safe, accessible and welcoming," said Police Chief Constable Jim Chu.

"We want the world to appreciate that Canada is an open and free society that places the highest values on the rights of the individual, not the least of which are the rights to free assembly and speech."

He said police needed to make a statement about their intentions because of increasing criticism from groups that have been warning about a crackdown and loss of human rights during the Games.

"In the past few weeks concerns have been raised about whether individual rights and freedoms will be suppressed during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games," Chief Chu said. "Opponents of the Games, police critics and hopefully well-meaning journalists have all painted a dire picture, predicting exactly what the police are planning to do to take away these freedoms. I'm asking everyone today who is speaking on behalf of the police to please stop."

Without naming any specific critics, Chief Chu suggested police have been unfairly cast in a bad light.

"The scenarios that are described, sometimes simply in an effort to generate fear and conflict, are becoming ridiculous," he said, in apparent reference to complaints police could soon be going into people's homes to remove any anti-Olympic signs.

That criticism was generated by the recent passage of a Vancouver bylaw that makes it illegal, during the Games, to "distribute any advertising material or install or carry any sign" unless licensed to do so by the city.

Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, a member of the Olympic Resistance Network who is trying to strike down the bylaw in a Supreme Court of B.C. action, said the intent of the regulation "is to cleanse the city of dissent," and she has warned police could go into homes to remove signs.

But Chief Chu said that will not happen. "The VPD has no intention of entering the home of any Vancouver resident for sign issues during the Games. We are not the sign police," he said.

He also sought to dispel concerns that protests will be restricted to a few, isolated sites behind barricades.

"There are no protest zones, no demonstration pens and no corrals. No extraordinary efforts will be made to restrict protests or contain them because of the Olympics. ... Protesters are free to gather in any public space as long as their actions are legal," Chief Chu said.

Deputy Chief Steve Sweeney said police in Vancouver are used to patrolling protests and are not about to change their methods just for the Games.

"We have upwards of 150 [demonstrations] a year that occur in Vancouver. ... We have developed a cadre of public order commanders who have got special skills and training ... so that we are able to put in a reasoned and rational response," he said. "We're in good shape when it comes to managing public demonstrations and none of that is going to change throughout the course of the Olympic Games."

But RCMP Superintendent Kevin deBruyckere, of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, said police are not apologizing for questioning anti-Olympic protesters prior to the Games.

He said it is appropriate to interview anyone who makes public statements of the kind made by Gordon Hill, a member of the Olympic Resistance Network, who recently told CBC he would support the bombing of power lines during the Games. Mr. Hill subsequently complained about being interviewed and followed by police.

"When individuals make comments as have been attributed to Mr. Hill ... [they] should be expecting a visit and a conversation with a police officer," Supt. deBruyckere said.