Well this is a nice little racist article "7 out of the last 11 suspects held foreign passports" despite the fact that virtually all the photographs depict people at least as white and as european as the average english person. I guess they threw in the communist reference to tar anyone who didn't fall into the foreigner category.

Yes see also very similar article - ANARCHISTS PLOT MAYDAY RIOT - in yesterdays also Murdoch owned Sunday Times.Once again the Press boys doing the softening up job for the cops as they do every year.

March 18 2001 BRITAIN





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Anarchy rules: police fear the violence of the past two years will worsen as groups of foreign protesters descend on London in large numbers. Photograph: Dylan Martinez


Anarchists plot London Mayday riot
James Clark, Home Affairs Correspondent





POLICE are bracing themselves for tens of thousands of anarchist protesters in London on May 1 after uncovering detailed plans for violence.

The so-called Mayday protest has descended into fighting, vandalism and arson on the past two occasions it has been held. Monuments have been defaced and shops and offices attacked.

Police believe this year's event - the first to be held on a working day in the capital rather than a bank holiday - is set to be the biggest, with as many as 300 groups taking part. Last year's attracted an estimated 150,000 people.

Demonstrators from America, Germany, France and Turkey have been told to come to London for the 2001 event, rather than holding protests in their own cities.

For the first time the event will see anti-globalisation demonstrators teaming up with animal rights activists, anarchists and others in what police fear could become an annual protest event for organisations from across Europe and America.

One group is calling its event "Mayday Monopoly" and is issuing "an invitation to play". It says: "The Vision: An unlimited number of players transforming the streets of London with a life-sized game of Monopoly played on Tuesday, May 1, 2001.

"As we celebrate this year, we should remember that by acting collectively we have the power to bring the whole game to an end."

Tactics uncovered by police include:


Turkish communists who will try to lure Metropolitan police officers into baton-charging women and children by falling back behind them after pelting officers with missiles. They are planning to arrive in London at Waterloo station.

Animal rights activists who will stage a separate march, targeting companies linked to animal experimentation. It is understood that they will include members of the Justice Department, a loose coalition of pro- violence animal rights groups that has claimed responsibility for sending booby-trapped letters containing razor blades soaked in rat poison.

The use of small hit squads of anarchists and "eco warriors", co-ordinated by spotters with mobile phones. They will be directed to locations away from the police. Their task, according to one internet-based instruction, will be to "cause as much damage as possible and then scatter".
Targets will include the City premises of a leading insurer and a merchant bank that paid its staff £1m-plus bonuses at the end of last month. Attacks are also being prepared on the Royal Bank of Scotland, because of its financial support for Huntingdon Life Sciences, the Cambridgeshire firm which uses animals in experiments.

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has cancelled all police leave for three days before and two days after the protest. Reinforcements may be drafted in from neighbouring forces.

He has told senior staff there must be no repeat of the attacks on monuments seen last year. The statue of Sir Winston Churchill, the Cenotaph and other monuments that were attacked last year will be boarded up and protected by riot police.

There is also a possibility of the Square Mile - London's financial district - being closed in a "ring of steel" through which only those who can prove they work or live in the area will be allowed to pass.

In last year's London riots 95 people were arrested, including Britons, Dutch, Kurds, Italians, an Ecuadorian, Greeks, a Singaporian, a Portuguese, one New Zealander, Turks and two Americans. Damage to property was estimated at £500,000, and the violence led to 12 being injured, including three police officers.

At one of the most vicious anti-capitalist protests - during the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, Washington, in November 1999 - there were more than 400 arrests, 40 injuries and £1.5m of damage was caused to the city centre. An estimated 30,000 protesters from around the world attended. Yesterday 50 police and 70 protesters wre injured in clashes outside a global forum on internet technology in Naples.

Special Branch is aware of plans for further co-operation after May 1 in which GlaxoSmithKline, the drug firm, is to be targeted by those who attacked staff working for Huntingdon Life Sciences.

The article in the Sunday Times is sickening. It contains gross errors and is an example of concerted propaganda mis information. Where this all comes from I don't know.

I would like to see the police press releases which have prompted the recent series of newspaper articles. Much information in the recent coverage is attributed to 'intelligence sources' - is this the police / state / MI5/MI6??

Is it part of the publically declared 'war of attrition' against campaign and direct action groups anounced after the June 18th carnival against capitalism / global day of action in 1999? Is it designed to put people off from participating in mayday events? Is it a wider attack on the current anti-capitalist / anti-globalisation movement? Is it just lazy journalism? Is it preparing the way for a police clampdown or future use of the newly enacted Terrorism Act?

Answer - all of the above no doubt.

The so-called Mayday protest has descended into fighting, vandalism and arson on the past two occasions it has been held.

police fear the violence of the past two years will worsen


mayday demos have happened on loads of occasions - the year before last there was a peaceful occupation of a tube train in London (reclaim the tube) decorating the carriages, playing music and partying, giving out leaflets etc in support of tubeworkers

last year, yes there was violence but it was a small part of the overall day - it certainly was not what the police and certain newpapers now seem to term 'the mayday riots' in their attempt to rewrite history.


Police believe this year's event - the first to be held on a working day in the capital rather than a bank holiday - is set to be the biggest, with as many as 300 groups taking part. Last year's attracted an estimated 150,000 people.


it's got to be a typo error 'cos no one in their right mind would say 150,000 people took part in last year's london mayday events. The figure was closer to 3-5000 depending on who you speak to. Perhaps the writers got mixed up with events in other countries... either way it's still an astounding error... you also wonder if anyone had the job of editing this article.


Demonstrators from America, Germany, France and Turkey have been told to come to London for the 2001 event, rather than holding protests in their own cities.


"have been told..." a phrase which is used to suggest there is some sinister high command that controls groups throughout the world - some emails sent by individuals may well _encourage_ people to come to london, but there is no question of groups being 'told' to go to london.

This echoes previous reports in the newspapers (which one assumes came from a police press release or an 'intelligence source') that "15,000 european anarchists" and "terrorists" would descend on london intent on violence... 15,000!!! yeah right - The demonstrations against The World Bank and IMF in Prague last year (2000) could not even draw those numbers - this is nothing less than black ops state propaganda - no other conclusion is available to explain these ludicrous claims stated as privileged intelligence facts.


For the first time the event will see anti-globalisation demonstrators teaming up with animal rights activists, anarchists and others in what police fear could become an annual protest event for organisations from across Europe and America.


er hello??? hello? what was the June 18th (www.j18.org) 1999 demonstration all about then?? Since then we've seen hundreds of corporate media articles over the last couple of years saying there is a new movement uniting causes etc etc Then to add insult to injury...could mayday become an annual protest??? good grief! Mayday has been an annual day of protest / carnival for thousands of years! and in it's recent history in the previous century up to this new millennium it's been an annual day of demonstrations throughout the world.

(perhaps what they mean is that demonstrating in london on mayday might become an annual protest event for organisations from across Europe and America - but that's a little hard to believe!)

I'm not going to comment on the items listed under "Tactics uncovered by police include:" except to say that in a few paragraphs they manage to parade a huge diversity of 'potential'/'unconfirmed'/'planned' violence, tying together foreign groups apparently intending to use children as shields with animal issues equalling razorblade violence, redefining "eco warriors" (previously used in a more sympathetic 'swampy' road protest manner) as planners of damage (note the repeated internet reference to "one internet-based instruction" again alluding to some high command planning violence - 'indtruction') and pushing the line that "Attacks are...being prepared".

It's a hell of a read!

Kind of reminds me of last year's pre-mayday newspaper coverage which claimed mayday would see violence on a bigger scale than that seen at the J18 demonstration in the city (and we all know that was utter nonsense - last year people did the fluffy RTS carnival gardening thing in parliament square and danced around a maypole peacefully all day - until a small number of people in a crowd moving up Whitehall trashed the (unguarded) macdonalds which allowed the police to move in in force to trap the rest of the crowd in Trafalgar square where most were kept for the rest of the day! the media attention afterwards focussed on the spraycan graffiti on the cenotaph and was hugely disproportionate to the actual events on the ground - one strand of thought says the press (and to an extent the police) had built up such hysteria before last year's mayday that they were forced to follow through with their outrageous propaganda or face looking very stupid indeed).

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has cancelled all police leave for three days before and two days after the protest. Reinforcements may be drafted in from neighbouring forces.

There is also a possibility of the Square Mile - London's financial district - being closed in a "ring of steel" through which only those who can prove they work or live in the area will be allowed to pass.


Oh yes - it's all exactly just like last year with all police leave being cancelled in london. They don't mention it here but other newspapers have recently said the army may be placed on standby (Last year before mayday the Evening Standard ran with the headline "Army On Standby for Riot" - I mean blimey! The army needed to tackle people planting sodding turnips?!? - even the trouble that was seen last year was absolutely no where near any level of disturbance that would require military intervention on the streets).


In last year's London riots 95 people were arrested, including Britons, Dutch, Kurds, Italians, an Ecuadorian, Greeks, a Singaporian, a Portuguese, one New Zealander, Turks and two Americans.


Many articles last year and several so far this year (esp the News of the World) focus on nationalities... surprisingly the sunday times here loses an opportunity to weave fascist nazi groups into the tapestry of the story, a tactic that appears in many articles about anti-capitalist demonstrations.


At one of the most vicious anti-capitalist protests - during the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, Washington, in November 1999


Good grief!

YES Seattle is remembered as vicious, but it was the actions of an out of control POLICE force pepper spraying, tear gassing, and clubbing peaceful protestors doing nothing more than sitting in the road - the images of the cops firing rubber bullets at point blank range, removing locked-on peoples goggles to squirt pepper spray directly into their eyes are images I will never forget - the cries of "the whole world is watching" was true and condemnation of the police violence came from around the world... but history can be so easily rewritten in a single line of text.

This so called 'news' report makes me SICK!!!

I urge everyone to write a letter of complaint about this article both to the sunday times and to other newspapers.

The sunday times has been the main newspaper to peddle
propaganda against protest movements over the last decade including the now classic 'RTS stockpiling illegal weapons' story - they have been criticised in the past, they should not be allowed to get away with an article like this.

I am not too sure what the legal implications are for publishing photos of 'suspected' - note - troublemakers - in a national paper. I have a feeling this could be against an individual's human rights and may be illegal. Any one know?