http://www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,473520,00.html

The ringleaders of this year's May Day anti-capitalist demonstration in London plan to hand themselves over to the police in protest at alleged harassment of activists.
Organisers of the loose alliance of anti-globalisation, environmental and animal rights groups will turn themselves in on 30 April and challenge police to arrest them.

If enough people take part in the Spartacus-style action, they could clog up London's police stations on the eve of one of the most important operations of the year. The anti-capitalists believe the police will be forced to release them without charge.

The stunt has been conceived by the so-called 'Wombles' - identified by the police as the driving force behind this year's events.

The White Overall Movement Building Libertarian Effective Struggles is a direct action group inspired by European anarchists who wear boiler suits padded with bubble wrap and polystyrene to protect them from police batons. The mass arrest is designed to cause maximum embarrassment to the Metropolitan Police, who have so far failed to seize any of the demonstration's organisers.

One Mayday Monopoly organiser said many people in the alliance believed they would have to go public to rebuff police claims that this year's demonstrations are organised by a 'hard core' of 1,000 activists bent on an orgy of violence. 'It is very provocative for the police to warn anyone peaceful not to turn up,' he said.

Activists said last night that members of the anti-capitalist movement had been approached by police officers to act as agents and that activists had also been visited at home and threatened with arrest. A group of anti-capitalists who were stopped and searched by officers at Stansted airport in March after a demonstration in Milan have begun legal action against the police. The Met last night refused to confirm reports that it would be sending uniformed police to monitor and film a key bi-weekly meeting of activists in the King's Cross area of London planned for today.

This year's event has been named 'Mayday Monopoly' after the property-buying board game. Targets on streets around the Monopoly board such as Pall Mall and Mayfair have been identified on a website and a glossily produced 'game guide.' Police have have not identified the producers of the Mayday Monopoly material

This week the organisers will print a leaflet outlining actions to take place on 1 May. A group of animal rights protesters dressed as Mary Poppins will feed the birds in Trafalgar Square to protest against the ban imposed by Mayor Ken Livingstone, while in Mayfair campaigners will build a cardboard hotel to protest at the plight of the homeless.

Allegations have also emerged that police have targeted freelance journalists with close links to the activists. Roddy Mansfield, a producer working for Channel 4, was last week refused entry to a Scotland Yard press conference held by Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mike Todd.