Irish Times : Clashes on Edinburgh streets as Bush hints at hard line

by Ortsak Tue Jul 05, 2005 07:06

Edinburgh brought to a standstill as protesters rally for summit

UP to 1,000 anarchists were blamed for bringing Edinburgh to a standstill yesterday and provoking fierce confrontations with the police.

The centre of the Scottish capital was flooded with hundreds of riot police who fought anti-capitalist protesters repeatedly less than 48 hours before the start of the G8 summit.

With more trouble predicted for tomorrow's summit opening at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, police said that more than 30 protesters had been arrested.

Tom Halpin, Assistant Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, last night accused protesters of "reckless and irresponsible behaviour".

However, protesters accused police of being heavy-handed after several dozen officers, in full riot gear, drew their retractable truncheons as they ran through Prince's Street Gardens, on the northern side of Edinburgh's main thoroughfare, striking onlookers as well as protesters. A cyclist trying to move out of the way of a skirmish was hit with a baton.

Chris Tavner (23), from Manchester, said: "If there is any violent element here, it's a tiny minority and that's it. I've never seen so many police concentrated in one place."

Tensions had been rising all day during the unofficial 'Festival for Full Enjoyment', a series of marches and blockades across the city involving about 1,000 anarchists, clowns, drummers and a troupe with sparkly wings calling themselves the Fairy Army.

The protest began quietly enough, with journalists and police outnumbering the marchers by at least four to one. Marchers blew bubbles, shook bells, waved streamers and scattered fake bank notes. But despite the good-natured atmosphere, the presence of small groups of masked youths, some waving black flags, betrayed a more sinister element. Hundreds of anarchists mingled among the protesters and by mid-afternoon most of Prince's Street was sealed off by riot police.

A handful of officers moved among the crowd photographing people.

In Canning Street, in Edinburgh's financial district, police hemmed in around 300 protesters. One scaled a 25ft wall and pulled a moonie at police below. The police response could not have been more different to the low-key presence at Saturday's well-organised and peaceful Make Poverty History march attended by an estimated 200,000 people.

The turning point came when a scuffle broke out in Prince's Street Gardens, in which anarchists tore up plants from flower beds and threw them at police.

Chuffy Dominguez (18), from Glasgow, who was dressed as a clown, said: "This is unbelievable. The police are baton-charging people who are here today to party on the streets. It's a deliberate ploy to stigmatise anarchists by flooding the place with riot police and penning us in. It's a sad day."

Tricia Tranent, an Edinburgh resident who was in town shopping, said she was horrified by the strong-arm tactics of the police. Pointing at a line of riot police stretched across Prince's Street, she said: "They are asking for trouble. Look at them. They look like a military unit. It is totally over the top. I've seen police pushing people who are doing nothing more than dance in front of them. It's ridiculous."

by Ortsak Tue Jul 05, 2005 07:13

AS the first of hundreds of thousands of anti-poverty demonstrators began to arrive in Edinburgh for a week of protests, the streets of Scotland's capital began to resemble a city under siege.

Up to 250,000 people are expected to take to the streets today for the Make Poverty History march.

In one of the biggest security operations ever undertaken north of the border all police leave in Scotland has been cancelled, thousands of re-enforcements drafted in from England, court cases suspended, businesses closed and hospital staff put on alert to cope with possible violence and mayhem.

Lothian and Borders Chief Constable, Paddy Tomkins, has described the task facing the force next week as the "greatest operational challenge in its 200-year history".

Yesterday the city's official G8 campsite, which can hold 15,000 people, threw open its doors as protesters started to arrive from all over the UK, France, Sweden, Germany and Ireland.

Organisers said there was a "good chance" they may have to extend the boundaries of the site if it hits capacity.

Currently 3,500 people have booked places at the site over the internet and Dissent, an umbrella group for anti-capitalist and anarchist groups, has block-booked 3,000 people to use the campsite, which features showers, fresh water and cooking facilities.

The campsite is only one of a number of locations earmarked as "holding areas" by the city council desperate to control the tide of humanity threatening to swamp the city. Throughout the area most private landlords and letting agents have been busy securing empty properties for fear of squatters and removing tell-tale "To Let" signs.

The Scottish Parliament building and the Royal Palace of Holyrood house have been cordoned off by an 8ft-high security fence patrolled 24 hours a day by uniformed police officers. City centre banks, multi-national firms and numerous individual traders have taken the decision to secure their premises and close for business on Saturday and, in many cases, well into next week.

Potential targets for anti-capitalist protesters such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Bank of Scotland and Standard Life, which all have city headquarters have been advised to take added precautions for the safety of staff.

The National Gallery of Scotland will be closed, as will many of the shops on Princes Street.

Across the city a number of individual designer stores and boutiques, such as Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton, have also decided to barricade windows and shut-up shop.

Alistir Tait, Manager of Alistir Wood Tait jewellers on Rose Street, said: "We are a luxury store with high value stock so we're not taking any risks.

"We will definitely be closed this weekend, and I know of many other business that also plan to shut."

Throughout the capital notices have gone up banning cars from the city centre and advising the public of probable disruption to public transport services.

A large number of taxi drivers have also decided to boycott the streets over the next week.

"A lot of our drivers have decided to stay at home this weekend and others say they will stop working at the first sign of trouble," said a spokesman for City Cabs.

As a precaution, petrol stations have been asked by police not to sell fuel in cans during the summit and more than £100,000 (€148,000) has been spent clearing, bins, benches, scaffolding and road works from the city centre to stop G8 protesters using them as impromptu weapons.

At the G8 summit in Genoa more than 200 needed hospital treatment as a result of riots so local hospitals have drawn up emergency plans to treat high numbers of potential casualties. Extra beds have been made available at the head injuries unit at Western General Hospital and a network of temporary A&E centres are planned across the city to treat casualties during the protests.

"As well as treatment from first-aiders along the route of the march, minor injuries may be treated by specially trained Nurse, Physiotherapist and Paramedic Practitioners," said a spokesman for NHS Lothian.

by Ortsak Tue Jul 05, 2005 07:24

Key points
• Anti-G8 protest in Edinburgh leaves 30 people injured, 90 arrested
• Police cordon off anarchists as they attempt to enter city's financial district
• Hard-core anarchists arrived from across Europe to participate

Key quote
"I think the police in this country are very well trained and organised. If this happened in Italy or Spain, they [police] would have had the weapons out and it would have been very violent" - Daniel Rico, 27, protester from Spain

Story in full HUNDREDS of anarchists brought Edinburgh city centre to a standstill yesterday as they repeatedly clashed with riot police on the eve of the G8 summit in Gleneagles.

Bands of activists from across Europe armed themselves with stones and staves, bottles and bits of ripped-up park benches to attack police as they targeted the city's financial centre and Princes Street.

Lothian and Borders Police urged shops and offices to shut as they moved to contain the demonstrators.

The day of violence left 30 people needing treatment for injuries, including some with broken bones. Two police officers were taken to hospital with injuries but later released.

By 11:30pm last night, police said 90 people had been arrested, many of them foreign nationals, including French, German, Spanish and Danish. However, police said Scots and English arrests were also made.

Hotspots of activity continued into the late evening, but protesters were dispersing and streets were beginning to reopen to traffic.

While the clashes looked appalling, they were not on the scale of Seattle or Genoa. There were reports of some broken windows and vandalism as anarchists made weapons for use against the police, but total damage was light.

The relative success was attributed to resolute but measured policing, utilising divide-and-rule tactics which resulted in pockets of protesters being contained within specific areas of the city centre.

Police last night condemned those behind the so-called Carnival for Full Enjoyment, saying it had been carefully organised and that some of those involved had been bent on causing disruption.

Yesterday's clashes occurred during a series of flashpoint incidents in Canning Street, Princes Street, George Street and Rose Street. They began soon after noon, when demonstrators gathered at the west end of Princes Street under the banner of the Carnival for Full Enjoyment, organised by an alliance of anarchist groups wishing to highlight messages which they described as anti-war and "anti-wage slavery".

The protesters were prevented by the heavy police presence from reaching the city's main financial district and were diverted into Canning St

A stand-off began, during which there were occasional scuffles as some protesters tried to break through the police cordon that surrounded them. One black-clad protester managed to scale a 25ft wall overlooking the street, brandished a black flag and attempted to urinate on police officers.

Anarchists succeeded in causing major disruption as Princes Street was shut to traffic. The police were forced to advise businesses in the city centre to close and most of the shops in Princes Street, including Boots, Next, Gap and Ann Summers, were shut by early afternoon.

Martin Currie, the financial fund managers firm, had three bricks thrown through the windows of its Canning Street offices.

Shortly after 1pm another 200 demonstrators appeared in the west end of George Street and Charlotte Square. Police charged, sending the protesters down Princes Street, where the most serious violence took place.

Police pushed protesters off the street and into Princes Street Gardens but when they attempted to arrest one man, they were attacked with blocks of wood and pelted with flowers ripped from the gardens.

In the early evening, the protests grew more violent, with scores of demonstrators ripping up cobbles in Rose Street and throwing them at police lines.

It appeared the anarchists had been joined by locals intent on causing trouble. Television pictures even showed a boy openly hurling missiles at the line of police. Tom Halpin, the assistant chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, strongly criticised the protesters. "This is not about protest," he said. "This is unacceptable and irresponsible behaviour.

"We are facing a hardcore of determined activists supported by hangers-on. Large numbers having been facing up to the police. They are clearly organised and co-ordinated. We have recovered maps, radios and mobile telephones."

Mr Halpin said many ringleaders were under arrest last night.

"Weapons including stones, staves and other light missiles have been thrown at police officers," he added.

"There is evidence of weapons being brought into the city centre by protesters, despite their apparent outward display of good humour."

Last night, one protester supported the police action. Daniel Rico, 27, from Spain, said he believed the police had shown restraint and said the situation could have erupted into mass violence. "I think the police in this country are very well trained and organised," he said. "If this happened in Italy or Spain, they [police] would have had the weapons out and it would have been very violent."

But the police were also accused of heavy-handedness, as Edinburgh residents became trapped by anti-riot officers outside Bhs on Princes Street. Eyewitnesses reported hysterical children and a pregnant woman weeping as they were forced to wait until police let them through the mayhem.

Green MSP Mark Ballard, who was caught up in the confrontations in Princes Street Gardens, said police seemed to be inflaming the situation by letting innocent bystanders wander into the areas of trouble, then not letting them exit.

Organisers of Saturday's successful 225,000-people Make Poverty History march said that yesterday's events should not be allowed to overshadow the issues at the heart of the G8 summit.