'Secret' file on rally opponents found

by Rob McNeil

A confidential document identifying people opposed to a rally by Osama bin Laden supporters in London was left lying in the street.

An Evening Standard reporter found the document, apparently written by the Metropolitan Police, during the rally in Trafalgar Square. It gives several names, addresses and telephone numbers of people who called police to complain that the rally was being allowed to take place. Some are now afraid of revenge attacks.

The rally was organised by Al-Muhajiroun, the militant Muslim group which has helped recruit Britons to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan. It has openly supported Bin Laden's al-Qaeda group, held responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

The London rally saw sporadic outbreaks of violence between Al-Muhajiroun members and supporters of the British National party and other Rightwing groups. At one point police seized a can and plastic bottle full of petrol from the podium where Islamic agitators were speaking.

One of the women named in the five-page document said: "I called police to register my disgust that a bunch of fanatics were being allowed to peddle their poisonous rhetoric, and instead of getting a sympathetic ear I have been turned into a potential target."

A police spokeswoman said: "We are not able to comment on the document until we have seen it. Officers removed a can and a bottle of what is believed to be petrol from an individual at the rally. The individual was not arrested and no further action was taken by police."