Revolution #008, July 17, 2005, posted at revcom.us
In the first week of July, tens of thousands protested the G-8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. In the face of intense police repression, protesters tore down the fence around the G-8 summit, blocked roads, marched, rallied, and fought the police in the streets. The protests were called by the Dissent Network, G-8 Alternatives, and Making Poverty History.
The high point of the protests was on July 6. Thousands of activists camped out in the town of Stirling and in the countryside. Indymedia UK reported, “After spending a wet night in the fields, forests, and hills surrounding Gleneagles, people woke up and started blockading. Rolling blockades of all routes into Gleneagles started at 6 a.m. and were in place by about 7:30. The primary motorcade route, the A9, was shut down through most of the day.”
Five to six thousand people joined the festive G-8 Alternatives march. Radical activists attacked parts of the perimeter fence around the summit and battled police. In Edinburgh, hundreds of people who were prevented from getting to the protest in Gleneagles took to the streets. According to the BBC, “Their demonstration eventually lasted more than five hours and caused disruption to numerous streets around the center of Edinburgh.”
Over 200,000 people marched in Edinburgh on July 2. On July 4, 2000 people blockaded the Faslane nuclear submarine base. In Edinburgh on the same day, hundreds of youth engaged in running street confrontations with police. On July 5, 1,000 people rallied at the immigrant detention center at Dungavel and demanded that it close.