Anarchists plan jubilee mayhem

Protest groups join forces to disrupt Queen's celebrations and bring May Day chaos to the capital

Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir
Sunday March 24, 2002
The Observer

Anarchist groups are planning a series of disruptive actions across Britain this summer that will endanger the Queen's jubilee celebrations and cause running battles with police on May Day, The Observer can reveal.
The Movement Against the Monarchy (Mam) is co-ordinating a summer-long campaign, which will include an attempt to take control of London's Millennium Bridge on 4 June while the Queen is attending a service in nearby St Paul's Cathedral.

Activists plan to let off powerful fireworks to try to disrupt the ceremony, and to unfurl anti-monarchist banners. 'We can't wait for public apathy to destroy the monarchy; we have to take direct action,' said one organiser at a London meeting last week, attended by The Observer .

Other protests are also planned across Britain as the Queen tours the country to attend events being held to mark 50 years of her reign. In the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds, where the Queen is scheduled to arrive on 17 July, Mam activists plan to launch fireworks near her motorcade. 'The point is to make as much noise as possible,' said Shaun Gratton, one organiser of the Wombles, a highly organised anarchist group involved in the planned demonstrations.

In Sheffield, Mam activists are similarly planning to disrupt the Queen's visit. 'The idea is to repeat the sort of thing that happened in London last May Day if we can. That day, the anti-capitalists shut down the city. With the monarchy celebrations, we would ideally like to do that to every city in Britain. Basically, wherever she goes, she would be met by chaos,' said local organiser Bob Silby.

Identical campaigns are being hatched in Arbroath in Scotland, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Durham, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Warwickshire and Manchester. Police sources have vowed that the protesters will not be allowed to disrupt the jubilee events.

Special Branch officers are monitoring individuals and gathering information from internet sites and chatrooms used to discuss anarchist and anti-globalisation issues. Intelligence will be passed on to regional forces. 'We will stop anyone from causing trouble,' said one police source.

At a safe house for the Wombles in north London, members of the group would not give their full names, but told The Observer of plans to disrupt jubilee events. 'Regardless of what the police might think they can do, a full-on and organised attack against the Queen's movements would throw the whole celebration into panic,' said one activist called Rachel.

'The Queen is as bad as any conglomerate I can think of. As bad as Nike or Starbucks. So we are working to make this a jubilee event for her to remember,' said Stuart.

Many activists behind the anti-jubilee protests will also be involved in this year's May Day protests on 6 May, which will aim to bring the wealthiest and busiest areas of central London to a halt. Last year thousands of protesters brought Oxford Street to a standstill, costing local businesses millions of pounds. Police forcibly contained the demonstrators, earning them condemnation from human rights groups, but the tactic was successful in preventing large-scale rioting.

This year May Day organisers plan to split their protest into many small groups in a bid to avoid being hemmed in by police. Unlike last year, details of meeting places and times will not be widely circulated, but instead will be decided at the last minute and passed by word of mouth to avoid police monitoring.

The Observer has learned that the May Day protesters, expected to number at least 5,000, will be targeting the Mayfair area of the capital. While thousands of protesters will be intent on peaceful demonstrations, a hard core, thought to number several hundred, will target banks, fast-food chains and other multi-national firms with branches in the area.

'May Day is one of the main reasons why we exist as a movement. Nothing would stop us holding it,' said one Womble.

Police have hacked into several May Day internet discussion groups, forcing one to close down, and are launching massive preparations to prevent any widespread violence. As last year, all police leave will be cancelled in the run-up to the protest, with around 5,000 officers on the streets of the capital.

Police are set to use rapid-reaction mobile units to keep track of protesters' movements and respond quickly to any trouble. 'If people want to approach us about a peaceful protest, we can talk to them. But they never do when it comes to May Day,' a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said.