statism watch

Mmmmn, yes, the plebes must know their rightful place. Don’t be getting uppity, now, as your pensions and future are drained away.

Geraint Jones, Daily Express
March 1, 2009

Top secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a “summer of discontent” in Britain.

The MI5 logo. Look familiar?

The “double-whammy” of the worst economic crisis in living memory and a motley crew of political extremists determined to stir up civil disorder has led to the ­extraordinary step of the Army being put on ­standby.

MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers.

One of the most notorious anarchist websites, Class War, asks: “How to keep warm ­during the credit crunch? Burn a banker.”

Such remarks have rung alarm bells in Scotland Yard and the Ministry of Defence.

Intelligence sources said the police, backed by MI5, are determined to stay on top of a situation that could spiral out of control as the recession bites deep.

The chilling prospect of soldiers being drafted on to the streets has not been discounted, although it is regarded as a last resort.

What worries emergency planners most is that the middle classes, now struggling to cope with unemployment and repossessions, may take to the streets with the disenfranchised.

The source said “this potent cocktail is reminiscent of the poll tax riots which fatally wounded Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1990”.

Last night Scotland Yard vowed it was ready to face any threat. A source said: “We do have a policing plan in place and we have riot police officers trained for such measures.”

But other senior police leaders fear the force will be unable to cope.

Were that to be the case, the ­Government has a contingency plan to deploy troops on the streets of Britain’s major cities.

A senior source said: “This is a very real, and very serious, problem.

“I can tell you there have been crisis talks in Whitehall about this.

“Half the senior officers in Britain have been warning the Home Secretary about the dangerous effects that reducing police manpower may have this summer, especially in the industrial heartlands.

“We are not just talking about the problems of immigration and British jobs for British worker. We are also talking about mass unemployment.

“In many of our industrial cities, this will not be measured in the hundreds, but in the thousands. With unemployment, comes the risk of increased crime. Some forces, such as South Wales, have publically ­stated they would be swamped.

“Others are keeping it quiet, but you can be sure they are trying to make the Home Secretary listen, ­before it’s too late.”

The “protest season” is due to ­begin on April 1 with the G20 Summit in London next month, followed by the 60th anniversary of Nato in Strasbourg a few days later. May Day is also ­potentially a flashpoint.

Ministers cannot afford to allow ­latent public anger at Government policy to get out of hand if they are to maintain credibility through what promises to be ­Gordon Brown’s most testing period as Prime Minister.

The Stop the War coalition, orchestrating the G20 protest, said: “The first week of April could be a week of world leaders will never forget.”

The British authorities want to avoid a repeat of the rioting that scarred British cities in the 1980s Then, as now, the country was in recession with rising unemployment and deep public hostility to perceived social divisions.

Today that anger is focused on the banks, with their bonus culture surviving despite billions being paid in taxpayer bail-outs.

This has fomented in the outrage over news that senior executives will be rewarded for their failure.

Sir Fred Goodwin, former boss of RBS, has refused to hand back his £693,000-a-year-pension even as the ailing bank announced a £24billion loss last year, the single largest loss in British corporate history.

Early warnings of trouble ahead came from the furore over last months “British jobs for British workers” protest and wildcat strikes across the country.

This week Britain’s most senior police officer warned that the summer could bring a wave of protests orchestrated by extremists in which ordinary people, fired by their own anger and fear at the economic downturn — became “foot soldiers”.

Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Met’s public order branch, identified the G20 as the possible start of a “summer of rage”.

Murray Benham, head of campaigns at the UK-based World Development Movement, accused Supt Hartshorn of “scaremongering”.

“Scaremongering from the police will not stop us because the price for failing is too high.

“People are understandably angry about the impact of the economic crisis on their jobs, savings and plans for the future.”

Source | See Also under Protest: Greeks shut airports, services to protest economy | UK: Police warn of ’summer of rage’ due to recession | Huge protest over Irish economy, pension clawback | Seventh Tamil suicide by self-immolation to protest Sri Lankan genocide | UK: Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub | UK: Why protesters are now stalkers: An object lesson in legal usage creep | Police and farmers clash in Greece, militant group attacks police station | Thousands protest in Russia over financial crisis | Sri Lankans protest genocide at Toronto’s Union Station | France responds to economic downturn with a general strike | Iceland’s government collapses | Montreal in bid to unmask protesters | Anarchists battle police in central Athens | Olympic security boss puts protesters on notice | London Times: 2009 Heralds “A New Age Of Rebellion” | In Iceland, the heat is on | Police fire pepper spray at Iceland protesters | Rioters Were Paid To Provoke the Police in Bulgaria | Mass Protests in Sofia, Bulgaria, After Protest Ban | Protests over Israel’s Gaza offensive held in Canadian, world cities | Worldwide protests urge end to attacks on Gaza | Food, medicine, fuel needed in Gaza, agencies warn | Gaza relief boat carrying former Congresswoman rammed by Israelis | Protests in Canada, Europe, Middle East condemn Israeli attacks in Gaza | Greek Cops Caught on Video Posing as Anarchists | UK Culture secretary wants international age restrictions for web | Protests in Australia over proposal to block Web sites | Russian police beat auto tariff protesters | ‘Greek Syndrome’ is catching as youth take to streets in France, Sweden | IMF Chief Warns Of Riots In Response To Economic Crisis | George Bush shoe-thrower ‘too severely beaten’ for court appearance | Greek protesters seek European support | Army ‘Strategic Shock’ Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest | Amnesty: Disproportionate Police Force Used Against Peaceful Greek Demonstrators | Greek Police Battle Mourners, Memories of Dictatorship after Student Shooting | Zimbabwe tackles cash shortage amid riots and looting | Protesters clear out of Thai airports | Icelanders storm central bank in protest | Thai PM stripped of power as court finds government guilty of corruption | Thai protesters begin ‘final battle’ against militarist government | 5 injured during protest in Iceland over economic meltdown | Beijing peasants bullied, beaten off of family farms by state-developer blocs | ACLU wants probe into police-staged DNC protest | Ex-Italian President: Provocateur Riots Then “Beat The Shit Out Of Protesters” | Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout | Peace activists demand Canada leave Afghanistan | Protesters: Police pepper-sprayed peaceful gathering | Suddenly, Denver ‘like a police state’ | News crew crashes Denver’s DNC ‘concentration camp’ | ‘88 uprising scorched in Burmese memory | Supporters, protesters greet Olympic torch’s arrival in Beijing | Chinese citizens dutifully file protest applications in Beijing, suffer detention | Journalists urge ban on police posing as reporters | OPP officer posed as journalist during 2007 Mohawk protest | OPP threatened natives to end blockade | Protestors added to database of terror suspects | Chinese riot in Shenzen over rape, murder, subsequent police coverup | Police inspector posed as militant protester | Alberta natives protest oil exploration on their land | Anti-terror cops probed Ottawa punk band for Cartoon, Political Speech | Toronto rallies denounce Burma, China regimes | CSIS Spying on Natives, Olympic Dissidents | A Report On the Ottawa SPP Protest, April 19 | Toronto Chinese Rally Turns Ugly–UPDATED With Video | Massacre of the monks in Burma | Burmese monks sent to prison camps | Protesting monks beaten by security forces in Burma, miltary junta buying monk robes | Quebec police admit agents posed as protesters | Undercover cops tried to incite violence in Montebello: union leader | Officers never posed as protesters: Quebec police | Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future

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