The Lawspeaker
03-28-2009, 12:30 AM
G20 summit: Fears that anarchists plan to hijack march
A march involving tens of thousands of people to raise awareness of world poverty and climate change on Saturday could be hijacked by anarchists and masked 'Black Bloc' radicals who are intent on causing mayhem.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01373/excel_1373954c.jpg
Increased security at London's excel centre: The London Metropolitan Police are stepping up security around the Excel centre at London's Docklands Photo: AP
The 'Put People First' march will be held in Central London, organised by an unprecedented alliance of 150 groups, including unions, charities, environmental campaigners, development and faith organisations.
Today's demonstrations will kick-start a week of protests in London ahead of Thursday's G20 summit, when police and business leaders are bracing themselves for across central London.
As many as 20,000 people are expected to march from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park for a rally with speakers and entertainment including Luke Pritchard of the Kooks and comedian Mark Thomas.
However there are fears that the march could be hijacked by anarchists who are known to create tight, hard-to-break blocks which can smash through police lines.
Yesterday authorities were tidying away discarded bricks, wooden stakes and scaffolding poles left on roadworks and building sites so that they cannot be used as potential weapons.
These direct action protesters – in black clothing, motorcycle helmets, steel-toed boots and often carrying shields and truncheons – have been the catalysts for trouble at previous anti-capitalist protests in Rostock, Germany in 2007 during the G8 rally, and at an anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, when hundreds of masked anarchists attacked retail chains including GAP and Starbucks.
Many hardened protesters were said to be flying in from around the world from as far afield as the United States last night to stay in student union accommodation and squats and with British protesters.
In an email to activists last week, the group's leaders wrote: "We are their crisis. Reclaim the struggle for a global community fit for all, not the undeserving rich elite who are happy to see our lives ruined.
"As the bankers continue to cream off billions of pounds of our money let's put the call out, RECLAIM THE MONEY, storm the banks and send them packing."
One anarchist group from Whitechapel, east London, yesterday published promotional a large picture of Sir Fred Goodwin on their website in a target site, headlined "We're closing in – targeting benefit thieves".
The anarchists, marked out by their red and black flags, are planning to meet in Victoria Palace gardens, near the Houses of Parliament, before infiltrating the main march.
After the march, when the anarchists will encourage others to join them, they plan to break away from the main Hyde Park demonstration and set up their own alternative rally at Speaker's Corner at 3pm.
From there they will fan out in the late afternoon and, with some groups planning to force companies to "put out the lights" as part of the planned worldwide hour of darkness to mark "Earth Hour" at 8.30 tonight, as revealed by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday,
Businesses in London are already starting to prepare for the worst by putting up boards over their windows. Yesterday the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly put up boards to protect its windows.
Glen Tarman, who has helped organise the Put People First march, said he had no evidence that anyone intended to break the law or commit acts of violence.
Up to 2,000 police officers are expected on the streets, with all leave cancelled next week. The Metropolitan Police is understood to have established rapid reaction units around the City to respond to the first sign of trouble.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "An appropriate policing plan for Saturday's march has been put in place. If anybody causes trouble they will be arrested."
Campaigners criticised the escalating cost of the summit, after Lord Malloch-Brown, a minister at the Foreign Office, said it could cost as much as £19 million – far outstripping the current £7.2 million policing budget.
Lindsey German, convener of the Stop The War Coalition, which is organising a series of events over the next week, said: "Many millions of pounds are being spent of policing, closing roads, travel and bringing entourages to the UK, but the politicians are fiddling while Rome burns."
Police leave in the capital has been cancelled for the summit amid Scotland Yard warnings that some campaigners were planning disruptions around the City's Square Mile.
Source (thank you Loki): Telegraphy.co.uk (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5062196/G20-summit-Fears-that-anarchists-plan-to-hijack-march.html)
A march involving tens of thousands of people to raise awareness of world poverty and climate change on Saturday could be hijacked by anarchists and masked 'Black Bloc' radicals who are intent on causing mayhem.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01373/excel_1373954c.jpg
Increased security at London's excel centre: The London Metropolitan Police are stepping up security around the Excel centre at London's Docklands Photo: AP
The 'Put People First' march will be held in Central London, organised by an unprecedented alliance of 150 groups, including unions, charities, environmental campaigners, development and faith organisations.
Today's demonstrations will kick-start a week of protests in London ahead of Thursday's G20 summit, when police and business leaders are bracing themselves for across central London.
As many as 20,000 people are expected to march from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park for a rally with speakers and entertainment including Luke Pritchard of the Kooks and comedian Mark Thomas.
However there are fears that the march could be hijacked by anarchists who are known to create tight, hard-to-break blocks which can smash through police lines.
Yesterday authorities were tidying away discarded bricks, wooden stakes and scaffolding poles left on roadworks and building sites so that they cannot be used as potential weapons.
These direct action protesters – in black clothing, motorcycle helmets, steel-toed boots and often carrying shields and truncheons – have been the catalysts for trouble at previous anti-capitalist protests in Rostock, Germany in 2007 during the G8 rally, and at an anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, when hundreds of masked anarchists attacked retail chains including GAP and Starbucks.
Many hardened protesters were said to be flying in from around the world from as far afield as the United States last night to stay in student union accommodation and squats and with British protesters.
In an email to activists last week, the group's leaders wrote: "We are their crisis. Reclaim the struggle for a global community fit for all, not the undeserving rich elite who are happy to see our lives ruined.
"As the bankers continue to cream off billions of pounds of our money let's put the call out, RECLAIM THE MONEY, storm the banks and send them packing."
One anarchist group from Whitechapel, east London, yesterday published promotional a large picture of Sir Fred Goodwin on their website in a target site, headlined "We're closing in – targeting benefit thieves".
The anarchists, marked out by their red and black flags, are planning to meet in Victoria Palace gardens, near the Houses of Parliament, before infiltrating the main march.
After the march, when the anarchists will encourage others to join them, they plan to break away from the main Hyde Park demonstration and set up their own alternative rally at Speaker's Corner at 3pm.
From there they will fan out in the late afternoon and, with some groups planning to force companies to "put out the lights" as part of the planned worldwide hour of darkness to mark "Earth Hour" at 8.30 tonight, as revealed by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday,
Businesses in London are already starting to prepare for the worst by putting up boards over their windows. Yesterday the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly put up boards to protect its windows.
Glen Tarman, who has helped organise the Put People First march, said he had no evidence that anyone intended to break the law or commit acts of violence.
Up to 2,000 police officers are expected on the streets, with all leave cancelled next week. The Metropolitan Police is understood to have established rapid reaction units around the City to respond to the first sign of trouble.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "An appropriate policing plan for Saturday's march has been put in place. If anybody causes trouble they will be arrested."
Campaigners criticised the escalating cost of the summit, after Lord Malloch-Brown, a minister at the Foreign Office, said it could cost as much as £19 million – far outstripping the current £7.2 million policing budget.
Lindsey German, convener of the Stop The War Coalition, which is organising a series of events over the next week, said: "Many millions of pounds are being spent of policing, closing roads, travel and bringing entourages to the UK, but the politicians are fiddling while Rome burns."
Police leave in the capital has been cancelled for the summit amid Scotland Yard warnings that some campaigners were planning disruptions around the City's Square Mile.
Source (thank you Loki): Telegraphy.co.uk (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5062196/G20-summit-Fears-that-anarchists-plan-to-hijack-march.html)