Environmental activists say police �grossly overreacted�
By Rob Edwards
Environment Editor

The police have been accused of a campaign of harassment by environmental protesters arrested after peaceful demonstrations in Edinburgh.

Student activists have told the Sunday Herald that they were deprived of food, water and medical attention while being held in police cells last week. Some said they've since been woken by dawn raids, or asked to become paid informers.

The protesters have been backed by their parents, who are alarmed that non-violent demonstrators are being treated "like terrorists". The Green MSP, Robin Harper, has accused the police of a "gross overreaction".

Five members of a group called the Edinburgh Clown Army were detained by Lothian and Borders Police on Wednesday after a protest against biofuels at a BP garage near Tollcross. They insisted they had been engaging in light-hearted pranks. "We were sitting on a wall resting, and wondering whether to go home when dozens of police suddenly arrived and dragged us into a van," said Sophie Bastable, a 20-year-old environment student at Edinburgh University. "It was like being snatched from the street."

The five were taken to St Leonard's police station, where they were fingerprinted, photographed and had their costumes confiscated.

They were held until they appeared in Edinburgh Sheriff Court 24 hours later, to be charged with breach of the peace.

Bastable, a vegan, was only given an apple and two plain white rolls to eat. CID officers were aggressive and heavy-handed, she claimed. "It was scary and felt very repressive," she said. "We never expected to be criminalised in this manner. We were under the impression that free speech and the right to protest was our right in the UK but the behaviour of the police has made us think otherwise."

A protest veteran, Bastable has been arrested several times. "But I've never been treated as a criminal like that before," she stated. "It was a shocking experience."

Amy Naumann, a 20-year-old Quaker and anthropology student at Edinburgh University, had never been arrested before and was said to be distressed and crying when she arrived at St Leonard's.

According to protesters, she was singled out, interviewed for up to two hours and kept in solitary confinement. When she returned to the cell with the other protesters, she started vomiting from stress.

This is alleged to be the latest in an escalating series of actions against peaceful green protesters. Two members of the anti-aviation group, Plane Stupid Scotland, involved in hanging a banner from the roof of the Scottish parliament last week, have been targeted by dawn raids.

"They came into my flat at 7.30am last month and detained me for questioning," said Jon Panter-Brick. "They were obviously harassing me, and trying to intimidate me. Given how regularly this is happening, it seems to be part of an ongoing campaign of harassment."

Environmental campaigners claimed that two of their number in Edinburgh had been phoned by the police and asked to become "paid informants".

Pete Ritchie, the father of a protester, said: "We are supposed to be facing the greatest environmental threat humanity has known, we slag off young people as hoodies and wasters, and then when a bunch of them make a bit of non-violent noise to wake the rest of us up, we treat them like terrorists."

Lothian and Borders Police issued a statement. "Everyone brought into the custody suite at St Leonard's is afforded the same level of common courtesy and respect," said a police spokeswoman.

The five clown protesters are due to appear in court in July and August.