British police in early G8 evidence gathering

IssueDecember 2004 - February 2005
News

Trident Ploughshares report that one of their pledgers - a Swedish national - was detained and questioned for three hours about next year's G8 actions

The woman, who had a warrant for non-payment of a fine from a previous Faslane protest, flew into Scotland in early November. In order to to ensure that she didn't get picked up unexpectedly on future visits, she waited to the back of the queue at immigration at Prestwick airport and then told the officers that there was a warrant out for her. This then made them responsible for getting her to court.

But before taking her anywhere she was questioned for three hours by two uniformed police officers. What they were most keen to know was whether she was coming to the G8 summit next year, who else was coming and what the plans were. She was also asked if she would like to become an informer!

This pledger drew attention because she told immigration officials about her warrant, but its possible that other activists going through immigration in the coming months might be questioned.