Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Police cover fears over G8 summit

fwd | 22.05.2004 22:28 | G8 2005 | Globalisation

Sat 22 May 2004 JANE HAMILTON - CRIME REPORTER
Edinburgh Evening News

frontpage of Edinburgh Evening News 22nd of May 2004
frontpage of Edinburgh Evening News 22nd of May 2004


EDINBURGH faces a massive shortage of police cover next year because of an international summit of world leaders planned for Scotland.

All police leave has been cancelled for the first two weeks in July in anticipation of the G8 summit due to be held at the luxury Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.

Up to 1000 officers from the Lothians may be drafted to the area to help provide 24-hour cover for world leaders attending the summit.

But there are fears that security will be so tight around the hotel that mass protests will instead be held in Edinburgh, where many leading financial and government offices have headquarters.

The annual summit assembles leaders of the world’s major industrial democracies - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US - to discuss international economic, political and security issues.

A secret memo, obtained by the Evening News, reveals Lothian and Borders Police have slapped a ban on annual leave for two weeks.

Even officers who have booked holidays in advance next July will be asked to cancel them. As well as assisting in the national security effort, local police are also facing the prospect of thousands of anti-capitalist protesters descending on Edinburgh to demonstrate at the Scottish Parliament, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, banks and foreign consulates.

Scotland has around 15,000 officers - and at least 9000 of those will be required to protect world leaders who attend.

Police sources said planning for the summit was "creating a headache" within the force and already some officers are claiming it is too late for them to back out of holiday plans.

The source said: "As well as coping with the added security for demonstrations and protests, police officers will still be expected to carry out their normal duties and police the city.

"Some officers are already claiming they have booked holidays for next July, but we find that hard to believe, although you can understand people are frustrated.

"The cancellation of the leave will put more pressure on periods either side of July 1-14, and it’s going to be a complete mess with lots of people scrambling to get their holidays."

However, the assistant chief constable in charge of specialist operations at Lothian and Borders Police, Ian Dickinson, said a year’s notice was enough for officers and support staff.

In a memo issued to divisional commanders and department heads across the force, Mr Dickinson said: "In early July 2005, quite exceptional operational demands will be made on the force. I emphasise that these operational demands are unprecedented and will take place in an environment where the threat from terrorism has never been higher."

Mr Dickinson added: "No annual leave will be granted for police officers. Any such leave that may have already been granted may, subject to the exigencies of duty, need to be cancelled."

The memo said support staff would also be affected and exceptions would only be made for staff whose personal circumstances dictate an emergency need for leave, such as marriage or bereavement.

"A restriction such as this can place considerable demands on families - particularly during school holidays.

"It is for this reason I am circulating this requirement with over a year’s notice so that all affected may make plans as far in advance as possible," the memo said.

But a police source warned: "The force may need to implement our full counter-terrorism arrangements, which are very resource intensive on both police and support staff, making everyone almost indispensable."

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said the force could not comment on the issue. Early speculation that the meeting would be held in Scotland has already led to the creation of new anti-capitalism groups.

One states on its website: "In 2005, we want to make the champagne-sipping elite inside the G8 tent sweat. We want them to feel under siege."

Scottish Tory Leader, David McLetchie said: "It’s obviously a very prestigious event to come to Scotland and these plans by the police also illustrate the massive security operation required when the most powerful leaders in the world come together."

The MSP added: "It underlines the dedication of the police service in making sure there is the highest level of security, not only for the dignitaries, but also for the public."

This year’s G8 summit is to be held next month in the US at the five-star Sea Island resort in Georgia.

fwd
- Homepage: http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=584152004&20040522231921

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech