Violence fears as protesters set sights on Nato summit

Published on Tuesday 22 September 2009 09:50

PROTESTERS have announced plans to "shut down" a major meeting of Nato leaders in Edinburgh later this year, sparking renewed fears of disorder on the streets.

The Evening News first reported in March that the Nato Parliamentary Assembly was likely to be targeted when 300 politicians fly in to the city in November.

Now a group called the Anti-Militarist Network (AMN) is offering accommodation and medical and legal help to those willing to come to take to the streets of Edinburgh to protest.

Its newly launched website, under the banner of the "Nato Welcoming Committee", labels the Edinburgh International Conference Centre as "The Target" and provides a link to the venue's floor plans.

More worryingly, it also features information on how to organise a military-style blockade, how to make shields from bin-lids or perspex, how to abseil down buildings and a link to a "sabotage handbook".

A statement of intent on the website reads: "We are calling for a mass demo to try and shut down Nato on Friday 13 November.

"The Nato Welcoming Committee will provide a convergence space for activists to converge and stay in throughout the Assembly, as well as providing food, medical services in terms of street medics and a well-stocked medics space, legal support through the Scottish Activist Legal Project, trauma support and other forms of support to activists."

The website advises protesters to bring "warm clothes, noise, banners and whatever else you hope to find", alongside pictures of a wrench, a megaphone, a hard hat and bolt cutters.

However, AMN member Ross Jones, 27, an Edinburgh University student, insisted these symbols were not intended to be inflammatory, but were "common imagery from past and recent protest movements".

He said: "The bolt cutters, for example, represent a non-violent action as they are used to cut through fences.

"The floor-plans are nothing more than a link to information that's already publicly available on the EICC website. The hard hat represents protection against police violence, experienced during past protests."

Mr Jones added that it was presently unclear how AMN intended to "shut down" the Nato assembly, but said co-ordinated planning was under way.

The Nato meeting will be the first international political event in Scotland since the G8 summit in 2005, which saw violent clashes and more than 350 arrests.

Chief Superintendant Phil O'Kane, in charge of policing the event, said there was no indication the AMN was anything other than a peaceful protest movement. He said: "We will be drawing parallels with the policing of major sporting events such as the Old Firm games in Glasgow."