29 June 2005 17:58
http://scotlandtoday.scottishtv.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=8175
Anti G8 activists today invited the media to visit a massive protest camp that they are building on a disused farm on the outskirts of Stirling. The site, beside the River Forth has room for up to 5000 people and it appears that many hundreds are on their way.
Eighteen miles from Gleneagles, protesters are constructing an environmentally friendly eco-village - an example they say of how the world should be run. Anna from South Lanarkshire is there with her three month old daughter Roisin.
She said: "It's gonna be a safe, family atmosphere here."
Asked if it was about the world that you would like to see for your daughter, and everybody else, she replied: "Yeah, it's about creating a world that you want, whilst also saying no to the world that you don't want."
Some of the protesters hope to disrupt the summit by blockading roads near Gleneagles. They say violence does not figure in their plans. Gavin Simpson from Stirlingshire is a veteran of past G8 summits. He said: "We can actually close down the G8 peacefully, we don't have to have a riot. I was shot at and tear gassed in Genoa, and I don't want to see that happening in the streets of Edinburgh or Glasgow".
The camp will be run on a consensus basis. Everyone has to help out in the vegan kitchens - today it was the turn of a 16-year-old from Findhorn near Elgin.
Kira Emslie said: "If people do get violent I'm going to stay away from that, because I don't think it's a positive way to put across the message. We want them to hear that we want a more peaceful world, we don't want war."
The camp has room for 5,000 protesters. The 60 who have arrived so far are well organised, resourceful . No one knows how many more are on their way.