G8 protestors and police in overnight clashes
Police officers have come under attack from hundreds of G8 protesters near Stirling, police said.
Violent clashes are still ongoing at a temporary “eco-camp” set up on the outskirts of the city.
Protesters have gathered there for the past few days ahead of leaving today for the G8 summit at Gleneagles.
A spokesman for Central Scotland Police said “isolated incidents” involving hundreds of people at the camp have taken place since around 4am.
“Police officers have come under attack and two arrests have been made so far,” he said.
Police warned motorists to avoid the area as thousands of people leave the eco-camp en route to Gleneagles.
Heavy disruption is predicted around the A91 in Bannockburn, near Stirling, with traffic being diverted.
Further road chaos was expected as police closed the M9 in both directions at Dunblane, which is the link road from Gleneagles to the central belt of the country.
The makeshift campsite near Stirling has been the base for around 5,000 activists who have gathered from around the world.
The camp was built on 20 acres of land, owned by Stirling Council, on the banks of the River Forth with a view of Stirling Castle and the Ochil Hills.
The camp features compost toilets, showers, recycling areas, wind generators and solar-powered electricity.
Campaigners say the camp is an example of sustainable ways of living and non-hierarchical methods of organising, and is a direct response to the G8’s “poverty-making, undemocratic and ecologically-devastating plans”.
But despite talk of peaceful protest at the eco-village, fears have been raised that anarchists were plotting to sabotage the G8.
It was reported that anti-capitalist groups such as Dissent and The Wombles, who were allegedly responsible for the disorder that broke out during the May Day protests in London 2001, were planning a string of attacks.
Rumoured plans include setting fire to an overturned lorry on the A9, blockading smaller roads with burning piles of tyres, telegraph poles and trees.
Other plans involve “gallows” built from scaffolding rods, holding suspended activists and placed in the middle of busy roads.
