JAMES REYNOLDS

ANTI-capitalist protesters are conspiring to cause turmoil at the G8 summit of world leaders at Gleneagles this July by setting fire to lorries on main access roads and building barricades with burning tyres, telegraph poles and trees.

Hard-line demonstrators hope to shut down the transport system surrounding the 850-acre Gleneagles complex, frustrating the efforts of key support staff to attend the meeting such as interpreters and civil servants.

The plans were disclosed after an undercover investigation by a Sunday newspaper managed to infiltrate the radical organisations plotting the disruption.

According to the report the plans include setting fire to an overturned lorry on the A9 - the main arterial route from the north to Gleneagles - and building 12ft-high "gallows" from scaffolding to hoist activists in the middle of busy roads and make it difficult for police to clear them.

They also plan to disrupt the planned Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh during the summit week, using a similar tactic to the "reclaim the streets" protest which saw angry clashes between police and demonstrators on May Day 2000 in London. Organisations plotting the demonstrations include Dissent and the Wombles - known for their distinct white overalls.

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) said: "None of what this tells us is causing us to step back in amazement and draw our breath in with shock. Officers have been trained to deal with it, so we are not sitting up in horror at these revelations, and we are fully prepared for any eventuality."