Guardian UK: Britain faces summer of rage - police

[marmar]

Britain faces summer of rage - police
Middle-class anger at economic crisis could erupt into violence on streets

Paul Lewis
The Guardian, Monday 23 February 2009


Police are preparing 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". ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/23/police-civil-unrest-recession

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. they are blaming this on us

you should have heard my cousin the other night Bush this Bush that. They are blaming the USA - thankfully the Bush administration