Princess Street?

Where is that?

Did you mean Princes Street?

US Embassy?

There isn't one in Edimburgo.

It would be nice to get some 'reliable' information from all sides. However, this article sounds like the excitable ramblings of 'Kevin the Teenager'.

MPH on Saturday was a great day.

Having adults involved obviously helps.

Do not forget that in the event of police misconduct or criminal activity, legal action is a must. At all of these events in the past, police units were ordered to clear the streets, and rounded demonstrators up by the hundreds, later dropping all charges against them once the need to have the streets clear was over.

This is a pattern of criminality which has become a sad constant to the events.

I'm sure you can forgive spelling mistakes given that this was probably done in a rush in a cybercaf/laptop in the park and all.

And while there may not be a US Embassy in Edinburgh, there most certainly is a US Consulate, in Regent's Terrace.

There is no US Embassy, but there is a US Consulate near the East end of Princes Street.

I thought you might like to know...

They obviously meant princes street:  http://www.scotland-flavour.co.uk/princes-street.html

And here's the embassy in edinburgh:  http://www.usembassy.org.uk/scotland/ (the site mentions the anticipated protests).

Correct me if i am wrong but were the "gas canisters" referred to above were actually sigg type water bottles (blue) and fire extinguishers (red)?

The blue "gas" cans mentioned were actually bottles of water. I dont no what the red ones were

thanks for this post. police pushed us into a violent, unsafe situation. a policeman punched me twice inthe face please see my post on indymedia scotland for more details of my experience - and please post your own.

The actions of the police were completely over the top and ridiculous.

all we wanted to do was dance and have fun, the military style response was aggressive, provocative and a health and safety hazard.

was this a deliberate psych ops operation or totally stupidity?

not only was it a complete waste of public funds, it has squandered all of the good relationship that had developed between the police and the G8 demonstrators.

who ever was in charge of this operation should be looking for a new job today

absolutely outragous
I am physically nauseated still today

to nauseated citizen who wanted to have fun---
you really should've checked out your comrades tactics first ! We're now living under all kinds of new anti terrorism powers thanks to Bush and Bin Laden and if theres no prior notice given of marches at such a sensitive time you can't seriously be surprised if the local bobby calls in the heavies------- by the way;-hope you liked what your mates did to the innocent horses, memorial benches and flowers in their pursuit of full enjoyment!

Hello? Surely it is completely against health and safety to fail to communicate with police about planned "protests". It seems you fail to realise that you are not the only people with rights- others still have to go to work (which incidentally many people ENJOY- wages are ENJOYABLE), and can expect to do so without being harassed by the great unwashed.


Natasha- I'd have hit you harder. Do me a favour, don't breed.

dear natasha
you put yourself into an unsafe and dangerous position. it's time to take a bit of personal responsibility don't you think. as for things being deliberate and stupid, well, yes it seems they were, or rather, it seems that you were.

you forgot to mention Blair

Give me a break, the majority of the protestors on the east side of Rose St were angered (local) by-standards. When a line charges there are always going to be people (good, hard working MEN) who try to protect the pack. When peole are hemmed in, instincts take over. The police were in the wrong. They should'nt have let it get that out of hand, they should have instead accomodated the protest, by letting it march where ever. We are supposedly living in a freely elected democratic society afterall. And marching and protesting are our only way to keep it safe. If we don't fight for whats right where'll we be in 20 years??

What are you, fascists? "I'd have hit you harder?"

It's disgusting to me when people make excuses for the violence and repression of the authorities, blaming the victims. Anyone who stands up against injustice is a hero, not "stupid"--I suppose you'd have everything stay how it is, with the most selfish, destructive people in power, and the rest of us just grateful to get our pitiful wages for complicity. Fuck you.

As for Natasha and everyone else, thank you so much for what you're doing and risking. It's truly beautiful.

people who throw paving stones and bins at policemen aren't innocent victims, they are thugs and hooligans.
the police were protecting the people and buildings of edinburgh essentially from a gang of pissed teenagers, who have the tenacity to send pathetic posts when it all got a bit too scary for them.
contrast mondays mini-riot with the superb march/rally on saturday. i doubt you'll find any supporters of your "beautiful actions" in the people of edinburgh or the passers-by who actually saw what was going on in lothian road or on princes street.

There will always be a few people who belive violence is the way to solve problems (like the G8 leaders who start wars) but their are also many people who went for a peaceful protest that don't deserve to be the vitims of police brutality nor do the inocent shoppers that got caught up in everything. We our supposed to live in a free country with free speech but yet are forced to do every thing our government wants weather it be right or wrong. If people didn't fight for justice then where will we end up?

respect to everyone who has and continues to protest against the G8. I only wish i could be with you

My account of the events of the Carnival for Full Enjoyment are intended to confirm and elaborate on those above. I should also mention that I have made many of these comments to a news team, the comments I later discovered they were broadcast on channel 5 yesterday (The 5th), I have not yet seen the broadcast but my dad's recorded it for me so I cant yet give any opinion on whether the media did or did not put a spin on what I said.

My group (9 peaceful protesters) arrived at Princes street and found ourselves fairly close to the front line of protesters who after a short while decided to try to push through the police line in order to join the larger group of people who appeared to be 'fully enjoying' the carnival further along the street. The push was very nearly a success but unfortunatly the police managed to knock over the majority of the front line, including myself. With many of us trapped underneath each other getting up wasnt an easy task as police violently tried to drag people up, people who were trapped and could not be dragged. We eventually all managed to stand not before a few palms and punches to the face. Once I had stood up an officer pushed me back towards the crowd behind me which wasnt too successful as I landed a little too near a fellow officer of his who took offence to my proximity to his and decided to shout and push me also, of course I tried to explain that I had been pushed by an officer but he didnt care as he pushed me away. I found that many, including my friends were sitting a few metres back in an attempt to hold what little ground we had gained, this didnt last long.

We wound up retreating and attempting to get around the police via streets further north, the police brought in horses, an adversary that few of our small group were willing to face on the grounds of the danger to ourselves and the cruelty to the animals so we kept our distance and attempted to continue around. Police didnt seem too interested in us as they were all headed for the protesters near the horses, understandably.

We managed to eventually rejoin princes street further along, by which time it appeared as though the police were minimal in the area as we looked behind us it was apparent that we were once again fairly close to the front line, this time of thousands of people. The police quickly arived as we moved east. This time the riot police were in the majority. After a short time the police began to charge which worried most of the peaceful protesters, tourists and locals around me. I soon realised that my group had moved towards the park to the south (the name escapes me, something along the lines of princes street park) I saw the last of my friends jump over the victorian metal fence, the route I assumed all my friends had taken and so I followed. I attempted to climb up but found that the spikes designed to stop such actions are far more effective that I had assumed as I managed to pierce my foot on one of them. Bleeding, fearful and confused I eventually managed to hobble up and over the fence. I later found that all but the one of my friends I saw climb over had actually gone through a gate, I had not been able to locate a gate as the crowds must have been covering them. I was treated by a medic and then entertained by a clown who gave me a very tasty lolly pop :D (Gotta love those clowns). I clearly could not walk and luckily was carrying a flag which was good enough to use as a make-shift walking aid. My friends primary concern was now my safety (bless 'em) so I and a member of the group who we had by chance encountered earlier in the day made our way through the park in order to avoid the violence which was clearly errupting now inside the park.

Before continuing with my own story I should take the time to tell you the things Ive heard from my friends of the violence which I was now missing out on (poor me ;) )... I discovered that the attacks by the police (yes I said by the police NOT the protesters) were instigated when our fearless leader (as he so hates to be referred to) had presented a riot officer with a flower (not thrown as I gather many were doing from reading the above report), to which the officer clearly took offence as he attacked my friend who luckily escaped. A member of the black bloc witnessed this event and threw a rock/mud clump (no one is sure which) at the officers in defence of my friend, he missed the chasing officer and hit another at which point all hell broke loose and the police charged. This charge was at EVERYONE including the tourists and locals who far outnumbered the protesters in the park. The person assisting me to escape down the hill towards the rest of the park and safety saw one officer pick up and throw a woman who clearly was not a protester (we're an easily recognised bunch) into a bed of flowers before we managed to get away.

I needed some rest so we informed our friends that we were heading back to the campsite at the Jack Kane centre (who have been fantastic by the way), my friend and myself sat a while on some steps informing people not to go towards the way we had come from unless they wanted to encounter police brutality. Once ready to move on we headed for the gates only to find that the police were holding the entire park (who as I mentioned only had protesters in a minority) captive. After enquiring whether my injury would let myself and my friend (who we decided it would be sensible to claim was my medic as he did indeed have a medic bag with him) leave the park, we were told everyone would be able to leave "in a minute or two" after half an hour we realised the riot officer was lying to us. We discovered that there was no suspision of crime which as I understand it means there is no legal right for the police to hold us, but hold us they did. we saw the previously mentioned nude man walking around seemingly either mentally disabled or on acid - this may well have been part of his 'act'. We were told that some people were being let out one at a time with a manditory search and the police were taking names and addresses (I am not sure if this is legal or not considering we are all under a section 60, perhaps someone could shed some light on this). After hiding his knife (for camping uses only) my 'medic' and I went looking for another exit. We then discovered the rest of our group had been caught in another part of the park, something we had not expected. We advised one member to bury his spray paint and then decided to find an exit. I should also note that there were a great deal of as I said locals and tourists including one man playing tenis with his young son, clearly trying to keep his boy's awareness of the situation to a minimal as this was clearly still a dangerous place to be.

We found that a lot of people were able to escape through a gap/over a wall in the north west corner of the park. We continued on our way, got some food and then decided to go for a pint before once again parting ways (my friends were not done with the day's events though I clearly was).

*NOTE* This next section does not relate to the carnival though many of you may find it interesting.***

We decided to go, as I said for a pint in what we thought looked like a decent enough pub in central Edinburgh, The Deacon Brodie's Tavern. We walked in, bought our pints and sat around the only remaining table, near the men's toilets :-s . We soon noticed that the television back in the main bar area was showing news on the day's events so many of our group decided to go and watch, this lasted all of a minute as the bar staff turned off the television. I personally felt somewhat outraged as we were not causing any trouble or speculation and one person in the bar made a comment somewhere along the lines of 'What kind of censorship is this?' backing up my beliefs that we were not the only ones interested. I went to sit down and my friends came back to join me, once they returned the informed me that we had been asked to finish our drinks and leave the bar. I was outraged. We of course took our time with our drinks, not best pleased with this immoral request. One of our group, a man who looks a little les 'alternative' than the rest of us, was actually sat in the main bar happily drinking away - we all found it most amusing. A few minutes later one of the chefs (A woman who clearly did not want to be doing this) was ordered to close the doors to the area we were sat in and to stand in front of the doors. Our 'fearless leader' comically made jokes of imprisonment through the glass window to the other customers (since we were being kicked out anyway) and we eventually finished our drinks and attempted to leave. On our way out the four foot high landlady and some of her staff felt the need to become violent and start pushing around members of our group. I was last out due to my still hurting foot. The landlady decided to shout at me to get out and not come back (when it was obvious that I was hobbling with a stick) as well as to hurry up to which I replied "I am injured, I will take as long as I bloody want". I spoke with the young worker who had been told to make sure we were gone outside the pub enquiring as to why we had been asked to leave. He claimed it was dress code and we "cant expect to be welcome here looking like that". Since I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans I saw that perhaps the reason was our hair (dreadlocks of various colours, pink mohawk etc.) to which he replied no, it was the way we were dressed. And so I enquired as to why so many other dressed similarly to us were allowed in - he had no answer. Personally I see that the only difference between our treatment and the treatment of other races, religions and sexualities in the past which are now seen as illegal is that we choose to dress as we do and to believe what we believe. So anyone in Edinburgh that fancies a laugh gather some mates and get yourself kicked out of the DEACON BRODIE'S TAVERN which I believe was on Bank Street (though that could be incorrect, not sure).

Well Ive been sat here for an hour or two now writing this and watching news of the Gleneagles events I've now had to miss out on (my friends are there and I'll be finding out about their condition shortly after logging off), my foot's feeling a little better but walking isnt easy. And since I wont be bothering to write all this again anywhere else I'd like to wish good luck to my friends and say thank you to the Jack Kane Centre in Edinburgh for their hospitality (Im in the centre now writing this) and the First bus service for their tremedous, free bus service aswell as the Anarchy Express that got me here from Bath (Well from London, I got a coach from Bath :p) and all the groups and organisations that have made the events here in Scotland possible. Best of luck to you all and Stop the G8!