10,000 rage against the G8 in Edinburgh.
John Vidal and Kirsty Scott, The Guardian
July 7, 2005
A day that began with much of Edinburgh being brought to a standstill by road blockades and continued with running fights in Stirling, ended with a chaotic, anti-G8 march by up to 10,000 people and a battle between riot police and protesters in a barley field.
Last night, police had regained control of the field between the route of the anti-G8 march and the Gleneagles hotel, where world leaders are staying, but they were forced to fly riot police in by helicopter and use horses after the main security fence was temporarily breached.
The police - who include 6,430 officers brought for the event from England - claimed their tactics on the eve of the G8 summit had been "proportionate" and successful. But anti-G8 protest leaders complained throughout the day that the authorities had deliberately made it difficult for anyone to get to Gleneagles to demonstrate.
At one point, the police officially cancelled the march without the organisers' knowledge. Buses and cars were held at roundabouts more than 10 miles away from Gleneagles.
"Frustrations were boiling over by the end of the day. It's not surprising what happened," John Francis, a retired teacher, from Derbyshire, said. "We were just led around the countryside and told nothing."
Many other protesters said they had been forced to wait for hours before being allowed into the village of Auchterarder, where the march started.
In the village those who had made their way through the barricades and the roadblocks gathered in the park, uncertain what, if anything, was about to happen. News filtered through that the march had been cancelled after the skirmishes in Stirling.
"I've walked 12 miles to get here," said a protester, Juliette. "Whatever they say, I will keep walking."
Locals gathered on the street to watch the arrivals. Some opened their doors to those who needed to use the toilet, others gave water, directions, encouragement.
Organisers met with the police and said later it was only a threat to march against the US consulate in Edinburgh that persuaded officers to allow the march to go ahead.
Earlier in Sterling, incidents began just after 2am yesterday morning, when more than 500 people walked out of the "eco-village" protest camp near the town with prearranged plans to stop traffic on all roads to Gleneagles.
Within minutes small clusters of hooded and masked anarchists had clashed with police, attacking police vehicles, ripping number plates off parked cars and tearing satellite dishes from the walls of homes.
The town's Burger King was daubed with slogans and had its windows smashed.
Much of Stirling's town centre was closed off throughout the morning.
The protests got short shrift from Elgar McCulloch, a care worker who was stuck in the centre of town as roads closed around her, with no way to reach the stroke victims she works with in Dunblane.
"This is what you people are doing," she shouted. "Look what you've done. You've disrupted everything. Is this what you're all about?"
However police were unable to stop people running on to roads, sitting down and blocking traffic, before moving off and repeating the exercise elsewhere.
In Edinburgh, six-mile tail backs of commuter traffic brought gridlock to much of the city for more than three hours.
Peter Wilson, the chief constable of Fife Constabulary and president of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said they had been isolated incidents by a "mindless few."
"Their antics are an abomination causing serious alarm to members of the public who are simply trying to go about their daily business," he said.
Evidence emerged last night of how much planning went into the roadblocks.
"We were based in Stirling, but we spent the night in Edinburgh," said one man in his early 20s, who sat down in the middle of the main road to the Forth Road Bridge with 30 others at 6.30am.
"The idea was to stop people getting to the G8 summit. We knew that it would upset some people wanting to get to the march, but we felt it necessary to try to disrupt the meeting.
Most of the blockades were cleared by 11am, but chaos continued on all roads leading to Gleneagles.
Police tactics were interpreted as deliberate provocation by many protesters. "They have done everything they can to scare people away from this protest," said Arthur Romano, from Bradford.
The march, which finally set off at around 2.30pm, was one of the most tightly policed in Scottish history, with more than 1,000 police in evidence on the two-mile route around the outskirts of Auchterarder, and several thousand more held in reserve.
The marchers were led by three police vans along a route lined with officers.
However, although they were allowed to walk to the barriers on the edge of the Gleneagles estate, there were no barriers preventing people crossing the road to the field and, when the march turned down Easton Road in Auchterarder, protesters ran straight into the field. "It was inevitable. It was like an invitation. It was waiting to happen," said Rory, a Dundee protester.
Some locals joined the march. "It's a chance to be involved in something you believe in," said Andrew, 37. He held his phone up, high, above the chanting and singing crowds. "I'm just passing the house," he said, gleefully. "Can you hear it? Can you hear it?"
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