ET ISSUE 21612161 Wednesday 25 April 2001

'In your face' police tactics put pressure on May Day agitators
By John Steele Crime Correspondent

FIVE suspected organisers of potentially violent "anti-capitalist" protests in London next Tuesday have failed to respond to letters from the police reminding them of their legal responsibilities.

Scotland Yard does not believe the planners of demonstrations, on the theme of May Day Monopoly and targeted at locations on the board game, will obey any legal orders banning events.

But more letters will be sent this week as part of what police sources say is an "in your face" policing approach to ringleaders among up to 1,000 protesters they believe are bent on violence and disruption in London on May 1, a working day, and possibly the days before and after.

Known trouble-makers will also be followed, overtly, by officers with video cameras to remind them, one source said, "that we know who they are and are on to them".

Yesterday, police released images of undetected people suspected of being involved in violence on May Day last year, many of whom are thought to be planning to return this year.

Sir John Stevens, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said: "There are certain people who were at the demonstrations last year who are still to be arrested. We have some idea who will be there but they will have ways and means of pushing misinformation around and hiding their tracks."

He urged peaceful demonstrators to stay away from London on May 1: "Our officers will do all they can to keep London running smoothly. We are not going to allow criminal activity to go unchecked, and that includes the desecration of our public monuments."

Intelligence suggested that Oxford Street, where protesters have been urged to gather at 4pm, "could be the target of sustained criminality". Sir John said: "Whilst I would not go so far as to warn the public not to go shopping in Oxford Street or other targeted locations, I have a duty to advise prudence and warn that there may well be disruption".

He also gave warning that disruption caused through bogus alarm calls or bomb scares "cannot possibly be considered a legitimate form of protest".

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, backed the Commissioner. Mr Livingstone said: "We've moved away from the days when protest was disciplined and organised by the trade unions or the old Communist party and people followed the route prescribed and success of the demonstration was measured in 'Did you get half a million people?'.

"This demonstration is measured by whether they can engineer sufficient chaos that there will be images around the world of innocent bystanders with blood streaming from their heads."

Up to 10,000 peaceful demonstrators are expected in London, with the core of 1,000 trouble-makers hidden among them. Some evidence suggests that anarchists from abroad may travel to London. The Met has contacted police in Quebec, Canada, the scene of "anti-capitalist" violence.

All leave has been cancelled in the Metropolitan, City of London and British Transport Police forces. About 5,000 officers will be on duty.

Banks, financial institutions and commercial chains such as McDonald's are expected to accede to the police call not to close and hand a symbolic victory to the violent demonstrators.

May Day Monopoly events are planned for King's Cross, Victoria Embankment, Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square and the Strand, and will culminate in a demonstration in Oxford Street.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001