G8 Protest Banned After Violence Flares

An official march to the edge of the Gleneagles grounds to mark the opening of the G8 summit in Scotland was cancelled today because of trouble involving protesters, police confirmed.

Tayside police banned the march on the grounds of public safety after running battles between officers and anarchists in Stirling earlier.

At least 70 have been arrested and 20 police officers were "walking wounded", said police. A spokeswoman said: "The G8 Alternatives march in Auchterarder has been cancelled following discussions between police and organisers."

The G8 Alternatives group organising the main protest said it was challenging the "unilateral" decison by the police.

Chief Superintendent Iain MacLeod said: "The march has been cancelled because of a number of factors, primarily the level of violence we have seen already today which, in our minds, raises significant concerns as to the safety of the public and the police officers if we were to allow it to go ahead as originally planned."

"We are in discussions with G8 organisers to see if we can reach some solution with the people that are already here."

He added that police were now advising people not to come to Auchterarder.

"Public safety is to be our primary concern here today and that is why we are suggesting to people that they should stay away and keep in touch with the organisers."

"I am sure many of the people here are decent, law-abiding people but it is the hardcore element that we have seen a number of times over the last few days who are completely hellbent on disrupting peaceful protest."

G8 Alternatives accused the police of "disgraceful behaviour" in preventing thousands of people the right to stage a peaceful protest.

Trade unions, pressure groups and anti-war campaigners were involved in the event, which had been given official permission.

"This is a serious indictment of British democracy," said Gill Hubbard, a spokeswoman for the march.

Tayside Police said it decided to ban the march on the grounds of public safety after running battles between police and anarchists erupted on the streets of Stirling this morning.

A force spokeswoman said: "The G8 Alternatives march in Auchterarder has been cancelled following discussions between police and organisers."

The organisers said they never agreed to call off the two-mile march, which was due to take demonstrators to within a few hundred yards of the steel fence which has been erected at Gleneagles, where leaders of the world's richest nations were meeting.

Ms Hubbard said she was trying to meet senior police officers in a bid to reverse the decision.

"This is absolutely outrageous. We had an agreement with the police last week but they have now retreated from that deal.

"This is unprecedented in this country and a serious attack on democracy. Mr Blair and President Bush talk about democracy yet people are denied their democratic rights in this country."

Stop The War Coalition said it did not accept the police decision and urged people to march.

"The police have created an incredibly dangerous situation and have used spurious reasons to cancel this event, which has been planned for months."

More than 5,000 people were expected to join the event, with many travelling on scores of special coaches laid on from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Protesters said they spent hours stuck on coaches and were told that roads were blocked.

The news was met with dismay and anger by some of the 200 or so protesters now gathered in the town's park, the planned starting point for the march.

Marilyn Rooney, 54, a housing executive from Alloa in Clackmannanshire said: "How can they call this a democracy if they are not going to let us take part in a peaceful protest? There are no troublemakers here, there has been no trouble here and we have been enjoying a good atmosphere."

Holly Tomlinson, a 19-year-old student from Bristol, said: "I am shocked that is the decision the police have made and I am disappointed, but I don't see it's putting an end to the march."

Dan Bovill, a 20-year-old student also from Bristol, said: "This is the sort of thing that happens in a Nazi state and is not supposed to happen in a democracy and if anything the police are provoking people."

Police sealed off Auchterarder, the nearest town to Gleneagles, where G8 leaders are meeting, after hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police and attacked shops and other businesses ahead of the summit.

Running battles were fought with police as groups of demonstrators smashed cars with iron bars and shattered the windows of a Burger King.

Anarchists dressed in hooded tops with scarves obscuring their faces hurled missiles at police officers and barricaded roads.

The M9, the major road through central Scotland which leads to Gleneagles, was brought to a standstill as protesters staged blockades.

Trouble erupted in Stirling early today as protesters began moving from an "eco-camp" where they had been based for the last week.

Masked activists rampaged through residential areas, smashing windows and wrenching satellite dishes from walls.

Scottish Socialist MSP Carolyn Leckie said a cancellation of the peaceful march could prove a "very dangerous move" by police and urged protesters not to turn back.

Speaking from Auchterarder, Ms Leckie said: "If the police have cancelled the march then that's purely political. I think that it's what their intention was all along."

But she added: "People are on their way. They will not be put off by the draconian measures of the police."