Capital braces itself to break G8's habit of causing chaos

IAN SWANSON
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

SCENES of violent clashes between police and protesters have become an all too familiar images of major political summits around the world.

While leaders of the richest nations are closeted in talks, guarded by massive security, extremist groups use peaceful marches as cover for attacking buildings and starting battles with the police.

Now the authorities fear the violence associated with previous G8 summits could come to Edinburgh when world leaders gather for their latest meeting at Gleneagles in July.

Politicians have been warned of the risk of trouble when up to 200,000 demonstrators take part in a huge rally in the Capital the weekend before the summit.

Police are worried anarchist and anti-capitalist groups could hijack the peaceful protest as they have done in other cities throughout the world in recent years.

At a special briefing for MPs and MSPs, senior police officers showed pictures of the rioting which took place at the G8 summit in Genoa four years ago and stressed their determination to make a repeat does not occur here. The riots in Genoa in 2001 ended with one protester killed by police, more than 200 people injured and around 250 arrests.

Two years later, 50,000 protesters fought running battles with riot police in the G8 summit town of Evian, France, and in Geneva, Switzerland. Lothian and Borders Assistant Chief Constable Ian Dickinson told the politicians Edinburgh would be the main focus for protests as it was the country's capital city and because of an exclusion zone placed around Gleneagles.

Leaders from the UK, the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Italy and Russia will meet at the exclusive Perthshire hotel from July 6-8. Edinburgh University's Pollock Halls student residences are being taken over to accommodate police being drafted in from the Met and other forces to help provide security.

Edinburgh Airport will see massive security as the main transport hub for world leaders and their entourages flying in for the event.

Special measures are being taken to prevent protesters from targeting the Forth Road Bridge.

And the Scottish Parliament and the Palace of Holyroodhouse are expected to be made a secure campus with controlled access.

Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Pringle, who attended the briefing, said the police were taking every precaution to prevent trouble.

"They are looking at what has happened at other G8 summits and saying this could happen again. You have to assume it might happen and therefore you have to take every precaution."

He stressed the "Make Poverty History" demonstration planned for Saturday, July 2 was a legitimate protest by a coalition of churches, charities and other groups campaigning for fair trade for the developing world.

But he said: "The problem is fringe elements gather and become part of it and suddenly there is a breakout group hell-bent on throwing bricks through the windows of bank headquarters or breaking into the parliament.

"We have seen some very ugly scenes at G8 summits and anti-capitalist demonstrations in the past. Let's hope the worst doesn't happen. Let's hope there are lots of police sitting in vans who are not needed. But the resources will be there if they are needed."

Official estimates for the number attending the Make Poverty History march are around 100,000. But police told politicians they were planning for between 150,000 and 200,000. Big-name celebrities like Bono of U2 may take part in the demonstration.

March organisers are working closely with police in a bid to stop extremists hijacking the demonstration. Alex Burrow, logistics co-ordinator for Make Poverty History, said they were still working on the basis of 100,000 demonstrators. And he said: "We are doing everything we can to ensure it is a peaceful demonstration."

Details of the route which the march will follow have yet to be finalised but organisers hope to start with a rally in the Meadows, followed by a march starting around lunchtime, going through central Edinburgh - including the west end of Princes Street - and returning to the Meadows.

Mr Burrow said: "This is a big, broad, mainstream gathering of people. We are the respectable side of British demonstrations. We are not attempting to bring in anti-capitalists."

He said the demonstration would be well organised and planning began well in advance. "We approached the authorities last summer," he said.

But he acknowledged there was a danger of other groups trying to hijack the event.

"That is a risk identified by the police and ourselves," he said.

"People like to use big numbers to highlight their own case and jump on the bandwagon.

"But we are developing a strategy to deal with that on the day. We are working very closely with the police and the authorities."

He said the Edinburgh demonstration was very different from the situation in Genoa.

"We are not right on the doorstep of the G8 meeting. We decided we could not get 100,000 people to Gleneagles so we decided to do something in the Capital, which has a very experienced local authority and emergency teams."

Edinburgh West Lib Dem MSP Margaret Smith said the police briefing at Lothian and Borders Fettes headquarters had included footage of previous G8 summits and some of the disturbances.

She added: "We were given a briefing into what was being done to minimise the possibility, but nevertheless, the police obviously have great concern about what could happen in Edinburgh."

Ms Smith said most parties in the parliament backed the aims of the Make Poverty History coalition, which includes Oxfam, Christian Aid and other major charities.

"No-one in any way wants to cast aspersions against these organisations and what they are doing," she said. And we all believe strongly in people's right to protest, but we want to make sure people can demonstrate safely."

Several European cities have seen pitched battles between anti-capitalist protesters and police in recent years. Recent May Day protests in London have seen running battles and anarchists targeting symbols such as a McDonald's burger bar and a statue of Sir Winston Churchill.

And in June 2001, demonstrators hurled stones, lit fires and looted shops in the Swedish city of Gothenburg as police fought to keep them away from a European Union summit.

Environmentalists and anti-globalisation activists attacked police who had surrounded a protest HQ in a high school nearly a mile from the conference venue.

The violence ended after protesters on the street were dispersed. However, three young demonstrators were shot by police and around 600 people arrested.

Police in Edinburgh are understood to be concerned about anti-capitalist groups and the anarchist group Wombles, in particular. Scottish Nationalist Lothians MSP Kenny MacAskill said the G8 summit made Edinburgh a global target.

"Edinburgh will be the focal point for G8 demonstrators rather than Gleneagles because people will not be allowed to get anywhere near the summit venue," he said.

"Auchterarder may be the nearest town to Gleneagles, but in European terms, Auchterarder is just an extension of Edinburgh. The place to come will be here."

And he said the event was much bigger than the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which Edinburgh hosted in 1997.

"July 2 is a big date - folk don't realise the scale of what is going to happen."

Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald praised the methodical and determined approach of the police in response to the risks associated with the summit protest.

"Everybody who has a grievance or a cause will be attracted to this because there will be so much media attention," she said.

"It will require a high level of policing because we have seen what happened elsewhere. There was a recognition at the briefing this was the biggest test of security and policing operations we will ever have had in Scotland."

But she added: "No-one seemed to be overawed by it, which I found reassuring. They seem to be very positive, well organised and thinking ahead."

Lothian and Borders police said they were happy to facilitate peaceful protest, but added: "We will deal with any hardcore troublemakers if need be."