Police chief fears May Day violence

 http://www.itn.co.uk/news/20010223/britain/18riot.shtml

(tv video version at:
 http://itn.co.uk/news/20010223/video/riotvt.ram)


London's top police officer has warned anarchists are using the Internet to plan a repeat of last year's May Day riots, reports ITN's new media correspondent Fergus Sheppard.

Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens said: "There's intelligence to suggest that a variety of anarchists and other groups are organising anti-capitalism protests on May Day.

"There are strong indications to suggest that planning by protest groups is well advanced and that their intention is to disrupt the everyday workings of London life."

Last year dozens of people were arrested after shops were smashed and protesters clashed with police.

A number of London landmarks - including the Cenotaph - were vandalised during the riots.

One former top policeman, ex-Flying Squad commander John O'Connor, said the Internet was a fertile recruiting ground for hard-core activists.

He said: "I think it is a recruiting ground. Certainly, the main organisers won't be discussing tactics and plans over the Internet.

"That stuff is being fed out for the benefit of those who may want to get involved, and also for the benefit of the police - they are telling them one thing whereas what they do on the day may be something totally and utterly different."

However, some campaigners said the London police chief was overreacting.

Phil Carr, a director of GreenNet - which hosts the Reclaim the Streets website - said: "I think that's an enormous exaggeration.

"I think that the Internet is used to organise demonstrations, and I could think of hundreds of demonstrations that are organised every week in the UK, and thousands world-wide, that's don't involve any violence whatsoever."