Make the G8 History Blog

G8 witness appeal

The G8 Legal Support Group writes: At the recent G8 protests in Scotland there were some 450 people detained by the police. These are different from arrests, as the police in Scotland have the powers to “detain” for a set length of time. We know of a number of people who were detained and then released, so the number of arrests is far less that 450. However, we don’t know how much less as it was difficult to get details. So, we are putting a call out for a number of requests.

G8 policing condemned

The G8 Legal Support Group has released an initial statement on the policing of the G8 protests in Scotland in early July and it makes grim reading. The group claims that during the protests, police detained or arrested more than 700 people, of which some 366 people were charged with one or more offences. The statement goes on to criticise the "draconian bail conditions" imposed by Scottish courts on protesters, which not only barred their further involvement in any demonstrations but also "forced those not resident in Scotland to leave at an impossible speed, making the conditions impossible to comply with. As a direct result of this tactic, some people were rearrested for breach of bail." The most alarming aspect of the Legal Support's Group report is its assertion that those people unable to give a UK address "have been remanded in prison, even though in all the cases we are aware of, none faces serious enough charges to result in a prison sentence even if convicted."  See the G8 Legal Support website for the full statement.

Gleneagles Demo: Send in the Clowns.

Gaius. There were three types of official looking yellow bibs on the Gleneagles demo. Two comprised our friends the Old Bill, a little disorganised and anxious for once, and the G8 Alternatives stewards, totally disorganised and incompetent. While protesters were busy reclaiming the fields outside the Hotel to stop the summit, G8 Alternative stewards (staffed mostly by everyone’s favourite liberals, the SWP and their allies, who’ve been trying for months to get a seat at the table with Geldof and Bono), were busy telling people to get back on the road, and stay on the agreed route like good boys and girls. After all, they needed to rush back to the field to hear the reassuring tones of Lindsey German and Chris Nineham, who were there to address the masses at 4pm (and it was already 3.30!!!).

Police make good on their promise to 'get the Wombles'

Stuart Hodkinson. As the central London terrorists were going through their final preparations to detonate deadly explosive devices and kill innocent working class people in revenge for the Iraq war, at least 1500 London Met officers were working with more than 10,000 fellow officers from around the UK to shut down the streets of Scotland and stop protesters exercising their right to dissent. And it is tonight becoming disturbingly clear that the police's public threat, as reported here on Sunday. to target the anti-capitalist group, the Wombles, has been delivered. Using information from a reliable poster on Indymedia, what follows is a deeply disturbing account of how a small network of well-known activists have been subjected to a week of intimidation and harrassment in which rights and liberties we are supposed to be defending against the terrorists have been ripped up by the police themselves.

The blockades begin

Stuart Hodkinson in Edinburgh. They were massively outnumbered by the 10,000-plus police officers brought in from every corner of the UK. Their movements in and to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Gleneagles were heavily curtailed by police use of Section 60 powers to randomly stop and search people for offensive weapons without grounds for suspicion and road blocks on every major route into and out of Gleneagles. To top it all, after nearly a week of glorious sunshine, the Scottish heavens opened and it, as the locals would say, "pished it down". Yet against all odds, it is tonight clear that although not the spectacular shut down  originally sought, around eight thousand alter-globalisation protesters combined clever orienteering with a helping hand from the police to cause major disruption on the opening day of the G8 summit in Gleneagles.

Don't fence me in

JJ. First wet day and have spent it with the midges out in the middle of nowhere. Dungavel detention centre to be exact. This was one of the key protests that I wanted to make sure that I attended and, with certain reservations, it's been a successful day. The first thing to say is that the police have been practising for tomorrow. Not simply awkward, irritatingly interfering and intimidating but also flexing their muscles disrupting transport.

Crane stoppers protest against 'Brownwash' of anti-poverty movement

Stuart Hodkinson. At 8.30am this morning, three protesters hung a banner off a construction site crane near Edinburgh's North Bridge demanding 'No More Brownwash' in response to the successful co-optation of the aims and message of Make Poverty History by Gordon Brown and the UK government. The development campaigners from Brighton World Development Movement (WDM) wanted to get out a message from grassroots activists that New Labour is not a defender of the poor and has no intention of delivering the Make Poverty History agenda. The activists came down at 6.15pm and were immediately arrested.

Carnival for full policing

Stuart Hodkinson. After the political whitewash of Saturday's Live 8 and Make Poverty History, today saw the first serious protesting against the G8 summit in Scotland. The non-violent blockade against the Trident nuclear submarine base in Faslane passed off peacefully without incident. But at the originally Carnival of Full Enjoyment in Edinburgh, the streets of the Scottish capital experienced a very different reality with thousands of police shutting down the city and then physically turning on protesters, resulting in over 30 similar injuries when people were forced to jump over spiked railing at West Princes Street Gardens after being baton-charged by riot police.

Home truths: local reactions

Natasha Grzincic. On the streets of Edinburgh we caught up with some natives to find out what they thought about playing host to the G8 and the tagalong protesters. Staff at jewellery shop Fraser Hart on Edinburgh's main thoroughfare Princes Street told us on the weekend that they would be closed on Monday 4 July for a 'city holiday' (still trying to determine if that's official or not), which was good news to them as the anarchists were in town and 'they're scary'. Other shop staff took a different approach, many putting 'Make Poverty History' posters in their windows, or else pointing out they were a family run business, and thus not deserving of having their windows smashed a la McDonald's in Seattle.

Chaos, boxes and light relief

JJ. Am taking a break from the Carnival of Full Enjoyment to bring some rather scattered thoughts. As I set off this morning it was clear that Edinburgh people were very keen to let me know I should "watch myself" as "today is the day of the anarchists", which sounds more like a Hollywood film than a protest.