The Police Seem to Be Very Much on Edge.

On Wednesday something very unusual happened. I actually left the house. This little adventure took me past the local railway station where the police were doing a ticket inspection. This routine check involved a van load of riot cops and a van load of dog handlers stopping, sniffing and searching everybody who got off the train and some people who were just walking past the station. Far from being an attempt to catch fare dodgers this is an example of what the police call harassment policing. The idea is that they swamp a designated area and harass everybody in that area in order to stamp their authority on the area and send out the message that the police own these streets. On Wednesday this tactic proved to be so provocative that it caused a fight to break out further down the street. The police, being courageous upholders of law and order, decided to ignore the fight because it looked a bit nasty.

I've heard that these routine checks are being carried out across London and this type of in your face policing is only normally done when the police are feeling very nervous. Taken alongside the polices softly softly approach to the ongoing Tamil demonstration in Parliament Square, the unprecedented suspension of officers involved in the G20 protests and the fact Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick handed in his resignation before anyone had the chance to call for it makes me think the police are now very scared that they're about to find themselves in serious trouble.

Part of the reason for this uneasiness is the upcoming Mayday demonstrations. Police intelligence reports indicate there will be a G20 style demonstration in central London on May 1st. There will also be a large carnival style protest in Brighton on May 4th. The police are especially concerned by the Brighton protest because it is being organised by the Smash EDO campaign whose actions during the Israel/Gaza war brought them to the worlds attention. Also unlike London, Sussex is a rural area with dozens or parks, fields and country lanes for visiting protesters to set up camp. This makes the police think that the Brighton protest will be very large attracting protesters from across Europe and explains why Sussex police were invited up to London to take part in the G20 policing operation. Special Branch are so worried about the Brighton protest that they've gone to the extent of printing up flyers to promote a police brutality demonstration outside Scotland Yard on May 4th. This is an attempt to discourage protesters from attending the Brighton protest.

On top of this messy intelligence picture the police are also getting nervous over Wednesday's anti-terrorism raids. The rumour is that now a full two days after the raids took place they have yet to find any evidence to support the polices claim that the raid was a against a terrorist cell planning to strike over the Easter weekend.