War of words already raging on prospect of G20 violence

Published on Monday 30 March 2009 22:47

SHOPS around the Bank of England's headquarters were being boarded up yesterday as final preparations were made for the G20 summit in London.

As it emerged that five people suspected of planning to join protests later this week had been arrested under anti-terrorism laws, thousands of activists from across Europe were converging on the capital.

Threats by anarchists and anti-capitalists to bring chaos to the city have led to some firms and business leaders urging staff to "dress down" to avoid drawing attention from protesters.

But some protest groups are seeking talks with Scotland Yard chiefs, amid claims of "increasingly sensational police predictions" of violence.

Police sources revealed yesterday that five people arrested in the Plymouth area might have been planning to disrupt the summit. Officers have recovered a cache of imitation weapons, including a Kalashnikov rifle and improvised explosives.

A string of protests are planned for tomorrow and Thursday, including parades expected to converge on the Bank of England, a "climate camp" in front of the building and a demonstration outside the summit's Docklands venue.

Thursday's summit, to be held at the ExCeL arena, has been described by Scotland Yard as London's most challenging police operation in a decade. More than 3,000 officers will be on duty, with up to 100,000 protesters expected to stage rallies and marches. Police fear these will be hijacked by anarchists intent on sparking riots, with hardline protesters expected from countries including Italy, France and Germany.

Ian Bone, the founder of the protest group Class War, wrote on a blog: "We hope to control large parts of central London. Whether it kicks off depends on numbers. The poll tax riots were all about 50,000 people who wanted a punch-up. This feels like that."

However, the Climate Camp group said it was concerned that it was the victim of a "smear campaign" ahead of the demonstration. Spokesman Lou Kohner said: "The police are conjuring a picture that would warrant their own use of violence. The only thing we want to do is highlight the root causes of climate change and work on proposing real and fair solutions."

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said not to have a policing operation in place would be to neglect its duty to Londoners.

Brown sets five key tests for economic summit

GORDON Brown yesterday set out five tests that world leaders will face when they gather for the G20 summit in London on Thursday and urged them to "rise to the challenge" of beating the recession.

Speaking after talks with Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, in Downing Street, the Prime Minister acknowledged that tough negotiations remained to be had and promised to do everything he could over the next few days to enable an agreement to be reached.

He said the meeting came at "a decisive moment for the world economy" and he was sure leaders of the world's 20 most powerful economies wanted to come together to fight the recession.

He called for "proper resourcing" of international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF to enable them to help return emerging market economies such as Mexico to stronger growth. This was the first test to be faced by the G20, he said, along with cleaning up the banking system; doing "whatever is necessary" to bring about the resumption of growth; resisting protectionism and boosting trade; and delivering a low-carbon and sustainable recovery.

Mr Brown said: "These are five tests for the G20 summit – the tests the world must pass. We no doubt have some long days of negotiation ahead. These are difficult and complex problems. It will not be easy to reach the conclusions that I believe are necessary for the world economy."

He went on: "This is a decisive moment for the world economy. We can either let the recession take its course and retreat into isolationism and protectionism … or resolve as a world community to fight back against the global recession that is hurting people in every country and every continent."