KATE FOSTER
HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

A MASSIVE cordon around Gleneagles during the G8 summit of world leaders will not be enough to stop protesters breaking through and wreaking havoc, one of Scotland's leading security consultants has warned.

Clive Fairweather, who was second in command of the SAS at the time of the 1980 Iranian embassy siege, has raised the concerns following an assessment of the area.

Thousands of officers on duty during the July summit will be used to form a barrier around the 850-acre grounds and a fence will be thrown up around some parts of the estate, amid concerns that protesters will attempt to breach the site to disrupt the meeting of world leaders including Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin and George Bush.

But Fairweather said that despite the security measures small groups of protestors are likely to break in and disrupt events.

Fairweather, who is now a consultant with the security firm Stuart Crawford Associates, has been on the ground in the area on behalf of a private client who owns neighbouring land.

He said: "Gleneagles is unlike the cities of Genoa and Seattle. It's isolated and the police will be able to more or less cordon it off. I don't think it will lend itself to large-scale protests. But protests there will be more individual in nature and I would not rule that out. It's a huge cordon and I wouldn't rule out the possibility of individuals getting in and causing embarrassment.

"However, I am sure that the police will prove more than a match for them.

"Gleneagles is an area which is not easy to reach as it has natural barriers such as a motorway and a railway. There are good sight lines round the hotel. But it is a very big area and every angle needs to be covered. Very small groups could get in and dig up the grounds."

Fairweather added that protesters would also aim for high-profile protests at other nearby landmarks in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.

He said: "They will be most interested in the publicity, and in particular what the cameras can reveal to the international community. They will want the right images, which will be understood worldwide. Therefore the citizens of places like Auchterarder are safe in their beds, but the temptation of places like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling mean something."

The G8 summit at Gleneagles from July 6 to 8 is expected to attract more than 200,000 protesters. Most will be campaigning against poverty and trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa.

However, a minority of anarchists and anti-capitalist demonstrators are expected to try to disrupt the event.

More than 10,000 officers are expected to police the summit, with between 1,000 and 2,000 being brought in from forces south of the Border. Around 100 police officers are now working full time on summit security, led by John Vine, chief constable of Tayside Police. It is thought the cost of policing and other security measures for the summit could top £150m.

Vine is confident that the police can prevent any major clashes with protesters at the summit. He said: "We are trying to police it and ensure it is a secure venue. But we are not going to be shooting anyone or using water cannon. There will be very visible policing.

It's a challenging event but what we have at our disposal is police trained in public order tactics.

It's difficult to say what people will try to do. Clearly Gleneagles will be heavily secured so we will have plenty of police resources here.

"I imagine there will be some people who will want to come to Gleneagles, and if that's part of a legitimate protest we will allow it. If it is something illegal we will stop it. Whether it is allowed to happen depends on their behaviour."

Vine added: "I am hoping we won't make any arrests. I imagine we will only arrest the people we have to.

"I have sat down with the procurator fiscal and the Crown Office to make sure that we have a degree of uniformity across Scotland to our approach. We will be arresting people as a last resort if they are really intent on disorder. We are going to apply the law as we normally do and police officers will be using their discretion."