[g8-sheffield] Police prepare to make thousands of arrests at G8

[Chris Malins]

Notice that they refer to arresting 'suspected anarchists' as though it 
were the anarchist beliefs that were a crime in themselves. Anarchist, 
terrorist, who's counting?

adriana wrote:
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml
> 
> *Police prepare to make thousands of arrests at G8
> *By David Bamber
> Sunday Telegraph (Filed: 12/06/2005)
> 
> The Army is preparing barracks and military bases in Scotland for use as 
> holding camps if, as police expect, thousands of protesters are arrested 
> during the G8 summit of world leaders next month.
> 
> The decision to earmark sites where protesters may be held follows 
> warnings from European police forces and intelligence officials that 
> foreign anarchists have already entered Britain and are plotting to 
> disrupt the meeting, to be held at Gleneagles, the luxury hotel and 
> resort in Perthshire, Scotland.
> 
> Senior detectives have told The Sunday Telegraph that more than 50 
> dedicated troublemakers with criminal records have slipped into the 
> country, before the imposition of stringent security measures at 
> airports, ferry terminals and on the Eurostar train service in the 
> immediate run-up to the summit.
> 
> World leaders including Tony Blair and presidents Putin, Bush and Chirac 
> will attend the three-day meeting and police are straining to protect 
> them and keep protesters at bay. There are fears that anarchists from 
> across Europe will mingle with anti-capitalism campaigners in and around 
> Edinburgh, which is expected to be the focal point of demonstrations 
> against the international financial system.
> 
> Their numbers are likely to be swollen by campaigners for African debt 
> relief, who have been urged to descend on the Scottish capital by Bob 
> Geldof.
> 
> According to warnings passed by Italian police to their British 
> counterparts, some Italian protesters intend to dangle themselves on 
> ropes from motorway bridges to disrupt traffic. Italian police have also 
> uncovered plans to overturn and set fire to lorries on the main A9 
> approach road to Gleneagles. Detectives also believe that some 
> anarchists want to blockade the Faslane nuclear base on the Clyde, near 
> Glasgow.
> 
> Detectives in Scotland and at Special Branch headquarters at Scotland 
> Yard in London, say that protest groups including Ya Basta, which once 
> held a squat on a train and demanded to be taken to a financial summit 
> in Prague, have sent "sleepers" into Britain to organise protests. One 
> Italian anarchist known as "The Raven" entered Britain two weeks ago but 
> police have lost track of him.
> 
> Some of the information disclosed to senior police officers by Scotland 
> Yard and MI5, the security service, follows the arrest in Rome on May 26 
> of five suspected anarchists - three men and two women, including their 
> suspected ringleader, Massimo Leonardi - who were planning to target 
> Gleneagles. They revealed that colleagues had already left Italy for 
> Britain.
> 
> In a related investigation, police raided 80 homes in Bologna and other 
> central and northern cities, targeting two further anarchist groups 
> intending to visit Gleneagles. One senior detective who monitors 
> anarchist groups said: "There are close connections between British 
> groups such as Class War and foreign groups such as Ya Basta.
> 
> "We know that some Italian anarchists have already entered the country 
> and are staying at squats and safe houses with British sympathisers. 
> They are planning major violent disruptions to the Gleneagles summit and 
> we will be powerless to stop them."
> 
> The *army bases earmarked to hold arrested protesters include the 
> Dreghorn and Redford barracks, and the bases of the 2nd Division 
> Craigiehall and the 51 Scottish Regiment, all within a 20-mile radius of 
> Gleneagles*. Police are concerned that Geldof's call for a million 
> people to descend on the city will provide perfect cover for anarchists, 
> and fear a repeat of the violence at the 2001 Genoa summit in Italy.
> 
> There, hundreds were injured, one man died after being run over by a 
> police vehicle, and the crowds were eventually dispersed by armed police 
> using tear gas.
> 
> Assistant Chief Constable Ian Dickinson, of the police force which 
> covers Gleneagles and Edinburgh, said: "A million people coming to 
> Edinburgh - it is difficult to conceive how they could all get to this 
> area in the first place and where they could assemble safely. No one 
> wants tragedy to distract world attention from the aims of the 
> campaigners."
> 
> The grounds of Gleneagles and much of the surrounding area will be 
> fenced off and patrolled during the meetings, but one group, calling 
> itself the People's Golfing Association, plans to invade the hotel 
> grounds and golf course and disrupt the first-day photocall of the G8 
> leaders.
> 
> Dissent, a south London-based anti-capitalist group, has called for 
> supporters to blockade roads around the resort on July 6. Some foreign 
> anarchists also intend to storm Edinburgh's leading financial 
> institutions including Standard Life and the Royal Bank of Scotland and 
> stage sit-ins. Police said the plans were discussed at a "conference of 
> anarchists" in Nottingham earlier this month.
> 
> In response, police will mount their biggest ever operation in Scotland, 
> with more than 5,000 officers on duty instructed to enforce a 
> zero-tolerance policy and arrest anyone breaking the law.
> 
> Police intend to set up road blocks in a 40-mile radius of Edinburgh and 
> Gleaneagles and say they will use the Public Order Act 1988 - originally 
> intended to control outdoor raves - to detain people and disperse 
> crowds. Intelligence officers said that S26, an international anarchist 
> umbrella group, originally formed to organise protests in Prague against 
> the International Monetary Fund/World Bank conference there on September 
> 26, 2002 - hence its name - was orchestrating some of the protest actions.
> 
> Class War, a veteran British anarchist outfit, some of whose 200 
> activists have declared their support for violence, especially against 
> property, is expected to take part in protests. The so-called Wombles 
> (White Overall Movement Building Liberation through Effective Struggle), 
> the largest of the three, is an anti-capitalist group formed in 2002.
> 
> A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland 
> said: "We will be properly prepared for any eventuality. We have said 
> all along that, while we will facilitate lawful protest, we will deal 
> with anyone who wants to cause disruption."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> G8arrestsupport mailing list
> G8arrestsupport at lists.aktivix.org
> http://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/g8arrestsupport
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk/
> http://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/G8
> g8-sheffield mailing list
> g8-sheffield at lists.aktivix.org
> http://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/g8-sheffield