Security failings at G8 Summit
Jules Woodell | 08.07.2005 11:07 | G8 2005 | Analysis
Camping in the South Ochil Hills just 2 miles from the Gleneagles Hotel we exposed a security lapse that even a fairly amateur terrorist could have exploited.
On the Night of Tues 5th July 2 of us elected to camp in the South Ochil Hills rather than stay with friends in Auchterarder. We got a lift up into the hills and climbed onto a ridge overlooking Gleneagles, arriving just as darkness fell. At this position we were just 2 miles as the crow flies from the Hotel and it was clearly visible with it’s perimeter of security lights.
We collected wood from a nearby plantation I fully expected our activity to draw attention as there was very little fallen wood in the young plantation we used a torch to find it, making us visible from the valley. When we had a good pile of brushwood we lit our “beacon” which flared up very brightly for a good half hour. We sat behind it, expecting to be challenged, a couple of helicopters flew past, following the route of the valley but no one came.
In the Morning we watched the complex and saw Tony Blair’s helicopter arrive, landing by the hotel, still no one came to check us out; we then packed up and walked back to Auchterarder. Where the minor road into the village crosses the A9 we were stopped at a police checkpoint and searched.
We were told that we were being searched under “special provisions” we were not told what order was in place and a request for a written record of the search was refused on the grounds that this “is not the law in Scotland” (a lie). The officers also took the liberty of examining papers in our bags and on discovering an Arundhati Roy book they asked a series of questions about our intent to protest. We told them we had camped and they said they had seen our fire in the night.
I find it remarkable that we were left to camp and to draw attention to ourselves in a position from where even a crude homemade mortar could have reached the G8 and that we were still unchallenged when the leaders began arriving. While we may have been checked out visually from a distance we camped on the edge of a plantation which could have been used to obscure quite large objects.
As events only a day later showed, intelligence alone cannot prevent a terror attack, so this level of complacency is very surprising! It appears that the thousands of police in Scotland are merely there to deal with protestors and that a determined terrorist would in fact have had little difficulty in attacking the G8.
We collected wood from a nearby plantation I fully expected our activity to draw attention as there was very little fallen wood in the young plantation we used a torch to find it, making us visible from the valley. When we had a good pile of brushwood we lit our “beacon” which flared up very brightly for a good half hour. We sat behind it, expecting to be challenged, a couple of helicopters flew past, following the route of the valley but no one came.
In the Morning we watched the complex and saw Tony Blair’s helicopter arrive, landing by the hotel, still no one came to check us out; we then packed up and walked back to Auchterarder. Where the minor road into the village crosses the A9 we were stopped at a police checkpoint and searched.
We were told that we were being searched under “special provisions” we were not told what order was in place and a request for a written record of the search was refused on the grounds that this “is not the law in Scotland” (a lie). The officers also took the liberty of examining papers in our bags and on discovering an Arundhati Roy book they asked a series of questions about our intent to protest. We told them we had camped and they said they had seen our fire in the night.
I find it remarkable that we were left to camp and to draw attention to ourselves in a position from where even a crude homemade mortar could have reached the G8 and that we were still unchallenged when the leaders began arriving. While we may have been checked out visually from a distance we camped on the edge of a plantation which could have been used to obscure quite large objects.
As events only a day later showed, intelligence alone cannot prevent a terror attack, so this level of complacency is very surprising! It appears that the thousands of police in Scotland are merely there to deal with protestors and that a determined terrorist would in fact have had little difficulty in attacking the G8.
Jules Woodell
e-mail:
julesw@ntlworld.com
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