Britain Is Preparing For a "Summer of Rage"

From the Guardian:

Police arepreparing for a "summer of rage" as victims of the economic downturn take to the
streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has
learned.

Britain's most senior police officer with responsibility for public
order raised the spectre of a return of the riots of the 1980s, with people who
have lost their jobs, homes or savings becoming "footsoldiers" in a wave of
potentially violent mass protests.

Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan police's
public order branch, told the Guardian that middle-class individuals who would
never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger
through protests this year.

He said that banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses
despite receiving billions in taxpayer money, had become "viable targets". So
too had the headquarters of multinational companies and other financial
institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis.

Hartshorn, who receives regular intelligence briefings on potential
causes of civil unrest, said the mood at some demonstrations had changed
recently, with activists increasingly "intent on coming on to the streets to
create public disorder".

The warning comes in the wake of often violent protests against the
handling of the economy across Europe. In recent weeks Greek farmers have
blocked roads over falling agricultural prices, a million workers in France
joined demonstrations to demand greater protection for jobs and wages and
Icelandic demonstrators have clashed with police in Reykjavik.

In the UK hundreds of oil refinery workers mounted wildcat strikes last
month over the use of foreign workers.

Intelligence reports suggest that "known activists" are also returning
to the streets, and police claim they will foment unrest. "Those people would be
good at motivating people, but they haven't had the 'footsoldiers' to actually
carry out [protests]," Hartshorn said. "Obviously the downturn in the economy,
unemployment, repossessions, changes that. Suddenly there is the opportunity for
people to mass protest.

"It means that where we would possibly look at certain events and say,
'yes there'll be a lot of people there, there'll be a lot of banner waving, but
generally it will be peaceful', [now] we have to make sure these elements don't
come out and hijack that event and turn that into disorder."

Hartshorn identified April's G20 meeting of the group of leading and
developing nations in London as an event that could kick-start a challenging
summer. "We've got G20 coming and I think that is being advertised on some of
the sites as the highlight of what they see as a 'summer of rage'," he
said.

His comments are likely to be met with disappointment by protest
groups, who in recent weeks have complained that police are adopting a more
confrontational approach at demonstrations. Officers have been accused of
exaggerating the threat posed by activists to justify the use of resources spent
on them.

Police were said to have been heavy-handed at Greek solidarity marches
in London in December and, last month, at protests against Israel's invasion of
Gaza. In August 1,000 officers, helicopters and riot horses were drafted to Kent
from 26 UK police forces to oversee the climate camp demonstration against the
Kingsnorth power station.

The massive operation to monitor the protesters cost £5.9m and resulted in
100 arrests. But in December the government was forced to apologise to
parliament after the Guardian revealed that its claims that 70 officers had been
hurt in violent clashes were wrong.

However, Hartshorn insisted: "Potentially there will be more industrial
actions ... History shows that some of those disputes - Wapping, the miners'
strike - have caused great tensions in the community and the police have had
difficult times policing and maintaining law and order."

Both "extreme rightwing and extreme leftwing" elements are looking to
"use the fact that people are out of jobs" to galvanise support, he said.

A particularly worrying development was the re-emergence of individuals
involved in the violent fascist organisation Combat 18, he said. "They are using
the fact that there's been lots of talk about eastern European people coming in
and taking jobs on the Olympic sites," he said. "They're using those type of
arguments to look at getting support."

Hartshorn said he also expected large-scale demonstrations this year on
environmental issues, with hardcore green activists "joining forces" with
middle-class campaigners over issues such as airport expansion at Heathrow and
Stansted. With the prospect of angry demonstrations against the economy, that
could open the door to powerful coalitions.

"All you've got to do then is link in with the environmentalists, and
look at the oil companies. They're seen to be turning over billions of pounds
profit in issues that are seen to be against the environment."