2009-03-23

Summit police fear attacks on hotels used by the G20 leaders

All police leave has been cancelled in London for the first two days of next month – the summit is on April 2 – and thousands of uniformed officers will be on the streets to prevent legitimate protests from being hijacked by violent activists after indications that there will be the worst public disorder in a decade.

Anarchist groups and environmental activists are already collaborating on a series of demonstrations, which are being advertised with slogans such as “Storm the Banks” and “Bash a Banker”. One website urges demonstrators to “express their rage” and promises “a day of f***ing up the summit and other adventures” on April 2.

The security operation to protect politicians attending the event will be the largest seen in Britain since the G8 met at Gleneagles in July 2005. Some of Scotland Yard’s key security personnel were stranded in Scotland when the July 7 suicide bombers detonated their devices and killed 52 people on the London Underground and on a bus as the meeting took place.

The Times understands that there is no intelligence pointing to a terrorist attack to coincide with G20, but that a detailed anti-terrorist contingency plan has been drawn up.

A senior source said: “We could never rule out the idea that the G8 event might have been the inspiration for the 7/7 terrorists. There’s no intelligence of an attack now but we would be foolish if we weren’t thinking along those lines – you cannot afford to discount any possibility.”

Three police forces – the Metropolitan, City of London and British Transport Police – have joined under a single command structure to prepare for the leaders’ arrival.

Protests begin on the Saturday before the summit with a “Put People First” march in Central London. Police resources will be further stretched when the President of Mexico arrives on March 30 for a state visit that will include attendance at the summit.

The day causing senior commanders the most concern is April 1, on which activists have planned demonstrations focused on the Bank of England, calling for a “mass street party”.

The anarchist Wombles protest group says on its website: “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.”

Plane Stupid, the group that has staged demonstrations against airport expansion, is promoting a Climate Camp in the City on the same day. BP’s centenary celebrations at the British Museum that evening may also attract protests.

The protest organisers, however, are emphasising the flexibility of their plans and have set up text message alert systems to keep their followers informed of changes in the choice of venue or tactics.

A police source said: “To some extent we’re always going to be one step behind them. It will be like dealing with flying pickets.”

Police are confident that they can protect the summit venue, the ExCeL Centre, which is bordered by railway lines and docks and is close to an airport.

The source added: “The protest groups are intent on causing as much disruption to the summit [as possible] but we think a lot of their talk is aspirational rather than achievable.”

There was severe disorder in London in 1999, when 4,000 people took part in a protest against Third World debt, and on May Day 2000 when the Cenotaph and a statue of Winston Churchill were vandalised. The following year, police thwarted a protest by trapping a large crowd of demonstrators inside a cordon.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5927699.ece