olice cancel G8 protest march
Wednesday, July 6, 2005; Posted: 7:59 a.m. EDT (11:59 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/06/g8.main.ap/index.html
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) -- Police canceled a planned protest march
Wednesday outside the G8 summit after demonstrators smashed car windows,
threw rocks and attempted to blockade one of the main approach roads to
the exclusive Gleneagles resort hosting the summit.
Tayside Police said it called off the march in the village of
Auchterarder, expected to draw 5,000 or more people, on the grounds of public
safety after consulting with organizers.
But organizer G8 Alternatives accused the police of "disgraceful
behavior" in preventing thousands of people the right to stage a peaceful
protest.
"This is a serious indictment of British democracy," said spokeswoman
Gill Hubbard.
Police said they would turn back busloads of demonstrators who left
Edinburgh early in the morning for the march. Chief Superintendent Iain
MacLeod of Tayside Police said so far some 1,500 protesters had gathered
in Auchterarder. He said discussions continued with the march
organizers to see if some compromise could be reached.
Protesters already in Auchterarder were dismayed by the decision.
"How can they call this a democracy if they are not going to let us
take part in a peaceful protest?" said Marilyn Rooney, 54, from the
Scottish town of Alloa.
"There are no troublemakers here, there has been no trouble here and we
have been enjoying a good atmosphere," she said.
The protests had caused apprehension in Auchterarder, a village of
4,000 people 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) northeast of the Gleneagles summit
venue.
More than 100 activists, many clad in black and covering their faces
with bandanas and wearing hoods, streamed from a makeshift campsite in
Stirling in central Scotland, 22 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of
Gleneagles, where some 5,000 anarchists and anti-globalization protesters
are staying.
An Associated Press Television News cameraman said he saw a group of
about 100 smashing the windows of parked cars and throwing stones at
police. Police said a number of officers were injured, with eight receiving
hospital treatment. Tayside Police said 16 people had been arrested in
the Gleneagles area.
Police superintendent MacLeod said about 60 people had been arrested
following the violence in Stirling, and nine policemen had been
hospitalized. He gave no details of their injuries.
Traffic was snarled as police closed the M9 highway, the main approach
route to Gleneagles from the Scottish capital, Edinburgh.
Police in body armor, helmets and carrying shields formed a chain
across the M9 as dozens of protesters ran along the closed highway. Many ran
up an embankment and escaped across fields when they got to the police
line.
In nearby Bannockburn, protesters -- some wearing black crash helmets
and carrying iron bars -- smashed the windshields of parked cars and
threw rocks at police vans. A group linked their arms through inflated
tire inner tubes and charged a line of riot police blocking the road.
Several attacked a police van, hitting it with iron rods and kicking the
headlights as the vehicle reversed down a street.
Demonstrators pulled a protective iron grille from the windows of a
Burger King restaurant and smashed the glass. One slogan daubed on the
wall said: "10,000 Pharaohs, Six Billion Slaves."
Anti-globalization campaigners have vowed to disrupt the summit of the
leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, who meet later
Wednesday at the tightly secured Gleneagles Hotel. British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, who this year chairs the G-8, arrived in a helicopter at
the hotel after flying back to Britain from Singapore, where he lobbied
for Britain's 2012 Olympic bid.
In Edinburgh, Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof greeted 12 double-decker
buses carrying some 1,000 anti-poverty demonstrators who responded to his
call to converge on the city for a march later in the day.
Geldof made a point of distinguishing between the Make Poverty History
supporters and the violent activists clashing with police.
"These are our people. You must not conflate the two. Some come in
peace and dignity and respect, some just come to make trouble. There is no
similarity between them," he said.
Geldof said he planned to travel to Gleneagles at some stage of the
three-day summit, hoping to address leaders. Asked what his message would
be he said: "Get five minutes' sleep, have a cup of coffee and get
Africa back on the road again."
About 50 "eco-warriors" used tree trunks and branches to block a bridge
in the town of Crieff, where some G8 delegates reportedly were staying.
One protester held up a sign: "G8 Democracy has to wait."
In Edinburgh, several small groups of demonstrators in black roamed
through the streets. Police formed a protective line around the Sheraton
Hotel.
July 06, 2005
113 chemical plants (7 in N.J.) deemed deadliest if attacked
BY ROBERT COHEN AND J. SCOTT ORR
STAR-LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON — Terrorists could kill more than a million people through an attack on any of seven New Jersey chemical plants, according to a new congressional study that found deadly threats from lax security in general at chemical facilities across the country.
According to the study by the Congressional Research Service, worst-case attacks on any of 113 plants in 23 states would result in 1 million or more deaths. Twenty- nine of the plants are in Texas.
"The report shows that this is not just a problem along the New Jersey Turnpike," said Andy Igrejas of the National Environmental Trust, a nonpartisan watchdog group. "There are plants that put hundreds of thousands — even millions — of people at risk in the Deep South, Midwest and Western states as well."
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who requested the report and released it yesterday, urged federal action to tighten security at America's chemical plants.
"The Bush administration needs to understand that the threat is not theoretical. There are nightclubs in New York City that are harder to get into than some of our chemical plants," Markey said.
The report was based on statistics from the Environmental Pro tection Agency that are used to as sess the threats posed by accidental release of chemical stockpiles. Neither the report nor the EPA data identified which plants pose the biggest risks.
According to the report, Texas has 29 major targets, the most of any state, where attacks would re sult in 1 million or more deaths. California and Illinois have 13 each; Ohio has eight; and New Jersey and Florida have seven each.
The report also shows New Jersey has as many as seven other plants that, in a worst-case attack, would lead to between 100,000 and 999,999 deaths, plus 20 plants that would cause 10,000 to 99,999 deaths, 20 others that would cause 1,000 to 9,999 deaths, and 46 that would cause 999 deaths or fewer.
Terrorism experts have de scribed the stretch of northern New Jersey between Newark Lib erty International Airport and Port Elizabeth as the most dangerous two miles in America because of its concentration of people, chemical plants, oil storage tanks, refineries, pipelines, highways, rail links, and port complexes.
After several years of resistance, the Bush administration reversed course last month and said it supports regulating chemical facilities that might be terrorist targets. The administration previously had fa vored industry self-regulation.
Robert Stephan, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told a Senate committee that voluntary safety measures taken by some of the largest chemical companies have been insufficient to safeguard communities. He said the administration is "assessing the need for a carefully measured, risk-based regulatory regime," but he provided no details.
Congressional attempts at regulation have been led by Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), who for three years has called for a comprehensive system for companies to enhance security procedures and dis close information about their operations.
Corzine and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, are working on a compromise measure that would give the Department of Homeland Security the responsibility for securing chemical plants.
"The Congressional Research Service survey requested by Congressman Markey shows once again how important it is for the Congress and the administration to stop talking about the potential consequences of a terrorist assault on one of our chemical facilities and act to create tough, uniform security standards," said Corzine, New Jersey's Democratic gubernatorial candidate. "It's time we move on this issue."