Good protestor/bad protestor

And so it begins. The other side of co-option: criminalising the radicals. This just in from the Stop the War Coalition:

Police attempt to ban anti war event at the G8.

Just hours before Edinburgh City Council meets to discuss the events, Lothian and Borders police have moved to ban the Stop the War Coalition's plans to hold a rally in Edinburgh during the G8 protests.

Initial discussions with the police and the council were proceeding without any problems. The Coalition regards this move as a very serious attack on the right to protest. It is reminiscent of the government's attempts to stop the anti war movement protesting on February 15th 2003. It appears to be part of an attempt to ensure the war in Iraq is not raised during the G8.

The Stop the War Coalition have organised 11 demonstrations, amongst them the largest in British history, all of which have gone off without a hitch.

We will not accept this attempt to muzzle the anti war movement.

The coalition is holding a press conference after the Council meeting tomorrow to outline why we will continue with our plans to protest.

Old hands will recognise the style. Usually the police back down on these things, as they did on Feb 15 and for the George Bush protests in November 2003. There's a little more on the parallel attempt to block protests at Gleneagles here.