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In wake of British riots, New York police prepare for unrest
New York police anti-riot units assembled last week at a training facility on Randall’s Island to prepare for an outbreak of civil unrest similar to those that have occurred recently in Britain.
The August 12 “mobilization exercises” brought together police from all five of the city’s boroughs, including specialized units such as mounted police and aviation.
The riot training was held just days after the New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the formation of a new “juvenile justice unit,” which is to include detachments of cops assigned to troll Internet social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in search of any indication of impending disturbances.
During and after the British riots, police and politicians have launched a hysterical witch-hunt against social media, blaming its use for the spread of unrest across the country. Police have admitted that they contemplated shutting down Twitter and other sites and are still considering the use of such measures against any future disturbances.
August 21th 2011
Worldwide Civil Unrest
Economic related protests and riots are occuring around the world from Iceland to China. The mainstream media in the U.S. gives relatively little or no coverage to these events. On January 23, 2009, the Prime Minister of Iceland, Geir Haarde resigned from office following several months of protests over the banking collapse and credit squeeze. The resignation of the Minister of Business Affairs followed two days later. Economic conditions in Iceland and other parts of the world continue to deteriorate as the effects of the credit crisis affect the general economy. The world economy appears to be sliding deeper into recession and possibly something worse. Read more on the economic downturn here. Protests in Iceland are happening on a near daily basis and are becoming edgier as tensions mount amidst the declining economy
June 17th 2011
By Mike Whitney
 May 7, 2011 --The greatest threat to Libyan sovereignty and independence is the United States of America. Nothing else comes close.
Gaddafi hasn't been targeted because he's a tyrant, but because he sits on an ocean of petroleum. That's what this is all about, right? If Libya's main source of wealth was car parts or coconuts, there never would have been a war.
The notion that a leader does not have the right to put down an armed rebellion against the state is too absurd to dispute. If we apply the same standard to the demonstrations in Wisconsin, then the teachers and other union members would be entirely justified in grabbing their hunting rifles and handguns and storming the capital in Madison. Can you see how stupid this is? And yet this is pretext that's being used to wage war on Libya.
May 9th 2011|
OBAMA ORDERS MILITARY TO PREPARE FOR SPRING FOOD RIOTS
A grim report prepared by France's General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) obtained by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) states that president's Obama and Sarkozy have "agreed in principal" to create a joint US-European military force to deal exclusively with a Global uprising expected this spring as our World runs out of food
April 20th 2011
Global Protests & Uprisings Maps Time-Lapse
March 11th 2011
Main Street Movement Erupts as Thousands Across Country Protest War on the Middle Class
 Last week, 14 Wisconsin Senate Democrats inspired the nation when they decided to flee the state rather than allow quorum for a vote on a bill that would have decimated the state’s public employee unions and dealt a crippling blow to the state’s hard-working teachers, sanitation employees, and other middle class union members. Since then, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites have taken to the streets in even greater number than before the walkout in support of the fleeing legislators and in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) anti-middle class agenda.
Inspired by the events in Wisconsin, thousands of Americans all over the country are taking action to battle legislation that would attack their labor rights, defund their schools, threaten their health and safety, and decimate the American middle class. Here are just some of the places across the nation that are taking part in this new “Main Street Movement” to defend and rebuild the American middle class:
February 25h 2011
The Revolt in Egypt is Coming Home
 The uprising in Egypt is our theater of the possible. It is what people across the world have struggled for and their thought controllers have feared. Western commentators invariably misuse the words "we" and "us" to speak on behalf of those with power who see the rest of humanity as useful or expendable. The "we" and "us" are universal now. Tunisia came first, but the spectacle always promised to be Egyptian.
As a reporter, I have felt this over the years. In Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square in 1970, the coffin of the great nationalist Gamal Abdul Nasser coffin bobbed on an ocean of people who, under him, had glimpsed freedom. One of them, a teacher, described the disgraced past as "grown men chasing cricket balls for the British at the Cairo Club." The parable was for all Arabs and much of the world. Three years later, the Egyptian Third Army crossed the Suez Canal and overran Israel’s fortresses in Sinai. Returning from this battlefield to Cairo, I joined a million others in Liberation Square. Their restored respect was like a presence – until the United States rearmed the Israelis and beckoned an Egyptian defeat.
February 12th 2011|
Revolutionary Fervor to Spread
Beyond Arab States; Europe Next
 1 February 2011 - When the Tunisian government toppled, the mass media and their stable of experts who were blindsided by these events quickly stepped in to proclaim the obvious: that citizens of other Arab nations would be emboldened to challenge autocratic and corrupt governments.
Now Egypt is in the throes of insurrection, and Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen are already targeted for revolutionary change. The richer and more tightly controlled Kingdoms of the Middle East will not be immune to challenges from their citizenry to break the chains of royal rule.
But, as I had forecast in the Trends Journal, it is not solely the Middle East that is destined to experience episodes of violent upheaval. What is transpiring in the Arab world will spread throughout many European states. While the call to arms will be spoken in different tongues, the underlying causes will be the same.
February 3th 2011
Nothing Is Stable Anymore
 The world is becoming a very unstable place, and the pace at which things are changing all around us has become absolutely mind-numbing. In fact, change has become one of the only constants in today's world. Once upon a time, people in the United States could actually make 20 or 30 year plans and feel confident about achieving them. But now, nothing is stable anymore. The financial crisis showed us that some of the biggest corporations on the globe can collapse in a single day. The events of the past few weeks have shown us that entire governments can be brought down in a single week. We live in a world where there are now very few "guarantees" that you can count on. One of the only things that is guaranteed is that technology and information will continue to grow at exponential speeds. This year, the total amount of information produced on electronic devices around the globe is projected to be more than a zettabyte. A zettabyte is equivalent to one sextillion bytes. In other words, imagine a one with more than 21 zeroes following it.
February 3th 2011
Tarpley: Egypt Uprising is US-UK Destabilization Campaign
January 31th 2011
Craig R. Smith On Food Riots In Algeria & Tunisia
January 20th 2011
Protesters hit Italian streets a 2nd day
 Students and teachers opposed to government reforms took to the streets for a second day Thursday, staging protests in cities across Italy, authorities said.
"People like me will no longer exist," Euronews quoted one demonstrator as saying. "Researchers with a permanent contract will disappear, replaced by people hired on short-term contracts. Job precariousness will continue."
The Daily Telegraph reported students blocked entrance to the Colosseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and rallied in cities across the country in opposition to spending cuts planned by the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The British newspaper said demonstrators and police clashed in Milan, Florence and Bologna. In Turin and Palermo, participants blocked traffic and set off smoke bombs, while students occupied university buildings in Naples, Ancona and Cagliari.
Ncvember 29th 2010
London Anti War Demo - Ex Soldier Returns Army Medal
Ncvember 22th 2010
German people in unprecedented rebellion against government: 1000 injured in protests in nuclear protests: police at breaking poin
 The German people stopped a train--guarded by 17,000 police troops!-- from delivering nuclear reactor radioactive waste that would have endangered people. This report of events in Germany emphasizes the non-violent aspect of the rebellion, but some of the protestors, contrary to the philosophy of nonviolence, applied force: “A water cannon truck [that would have been used by the police to remove protestors] was blocked by tractors.” Despite it being contrary to the philosophy of nonviolence, it seems like an excellent thing for the protestors to have done
Ncvember 12th 2010
50,000 on streets as UK students fury descends in fire & smashed glass
Ncvember 11th 2010
 During his adventurous journeys across oceans and through faraway lands, Obelix, the loyal friend of Asterix in the famous French comic book series of that name, is often surprised by local customs and traditions. Whenever he encounters something unfamiliar, the fat Gaul in the blue-and-white striped pants taps his red hair and mumbles: "These Romans are crazy," or makes similar remarks about whichever nationality he happens to have encountered.
These days, as the French take to the barricades once again to protest a pension reform that appears to be necessary, one might be tempted to turn Obelix's remarks around, and ask: Are these Gauls crazy? Have the French lost their minds?
Last week, garbage collectors went on strike in Marseille, while shouting high-school students marched through the streets of Nanterre. Buses and trains remained idle in Calais, Dijon, Toulouse and Nice, where public transportation was almost shut down for entire days at a time. In 24 university cities, including Rennes, Caen, Montpellier and Grenoble, students marched out of lecture halls and became a jubilant threat to public safety on downtown streets. There was no mail delivery in Poitiers and there were no newspapers in Paris.
Ncvember 1th 2010
 Unions told the Government to brace itself for French-style street protests last night after the Chancellor confirmed that half a million public sector jobs will be axed.
Militant bosses said the paring back of the state payroll would spark the kind of ‘resistance’ that has led to outbreaks of violence across the Channel.
George Osborne told MPs that 490,000 jobs are expected to be lost, but stressed they would be weeded out over a period of four years.
But Mr Osborne admitted: ‘Yes, there will be some redundancies – that is unavoidable when the country has run out of money.’
Prospect, the union for professional civil servants, last night claimed to have received a leaked document proving that ministers want to fire one in six civil servants over the next two years
October 22h 2010
 Last Saturday, at the end of a massive trade union demonstration in Paris, a group of about 200 self-proclaimed anarchists walked towards the Bastille square, and, instead of taking over the prison that is no longer there since the 1789 revolution, they tried to occupy the new opera house.
At 8pm, an unreal scene was visible from outside. On the first floor, through a huge glass window, bystanders could see opera lovers with a glass of champagne in their hands before the evening's performance while RoboCop-like police were taking over the ground floor and arresting the troublemakers.
This could be a summary of the state of the country. For weeks, President Nicolas Sarkozy has hoped that protests against his proposed reform of pension system, prolonging work by two years to 62 instead of 60, would weaken under demo-fatigue and loss of steam. It didn't occur, and demonstrations continue to take place in more than 260 large and small towns across the country, and opinion polls give a strong 70% opposition to the reform under discussion in parliament
October 21h 2010
France burning as youth protest about pensions
October 20h 2010
 U.S. troops now being trained to boss communities and run local governments are being readied to oversee a post-collapse America in which riots and civil unrest similar to that now exploding in Europe over austerity measures and pension cuts ravage the United States and are met with the iron fist of a militarized police state.
Reaction to our earlier story about the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division being prepared for a situation where “in essence they will become the local government” by working with local officials has been strong, with some refusing to believe that the program is geared towards anything other than operations overseas.
However, as we outlined in our article, similar deployments by Northcom are admittedly focused around “homeland patrols” and training troops to deal with “civil unrest” and “crowd control”.
We have documented numerous incidents over the past several years where active duty troops or national guard have been used in domestic law enforcement operations.
October 15th 2010
 Tens of thousands of people from around Europe have marched across Brussels in a protest against spending cuts by some EU governments.
Spain has held a general strike, with protesters in Barcelona clashing with police and torching a police car.
Other protests against austerity measures have been held in Greece, Italy, the Irish Republic and Latvia.
Trade unions say EU workers may become the biggest victims of a financial crisis set off by bankers and traders.
Many governments across the 27-member bloc have imposed punishing cuts in wages, pensions and employment to deal with spiralling debts.
On Wednesday night, Portugal's minority government announced proposals to cut civil servants' pay and state spending while raising taxes in an attempt to lower the country's debt levels.
In Greece and the Irish Republic, unemployment figures are at their highest level in 10 years, while Spain's unemployment has doubled in just three years.
In Britain the government is planning to slash spending by up to 25% in some areas, while France has seen angry protests against a planned increase in the minimum retirement age
September 30th 2010
 As he sat down to have coffee on a sweltering August day in Istanbul, the first words my interlocutor, a well-known Kurdish intellectual named Orhan Miroglu, uttered were about the death of his three cousins in his ancestral village in Batman, a province in the heart of the Kurdish region of Turkey. The previous night, his cousins and a fourth villager had gone to investigate a suspicious fire on the outskirts of their village. As they approached, a mine destroyed their vehicle, killing them all. All of them had been members of Kurdish political parties or human rights groups. They were the latest casualties in a war between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an insurgent group that enjoys a great deal of support among Kurds.
September 3th 2010
Toronto is right now in the midst of a massive government / media propaganda fraud. As events unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear that the 'Black Bloc' are undercover police operatives engaged in purposeful provocations to eclipse and invalidate legitimate G20 citizen protest by starting a riot. Government agents have been caught doing this before in Canada.
The operation was exposed by the following picture of the undercover police wearing combat boots identical to those of the security police arresting them.
Toronto in lockdown as G20 protesters clash with police
THE Germans are battening down the hatches and the British are reefing their sails. Politicians from Portugal to Italy have announced a wave of austerity measures to weather the worst economic and political storms in the history of the European Union.
In France they are thinking of fun summer holidays; the last refuge of the long lunch, for the time being at least, has eliminated la rigueur, or austerity, from its lexicon.
Buckling Europe fears protests may spark a new revolution
 THE French are revolting. Teachers, television employees, postal workers, students and masses of other public-sector workers will today be united in a hugely popular strike with car workers, supermarket staff, journalists and thousands of others in the private sector. One poll said that 75 per cent of the public supported the action, which has the backing of the large union groups and opposition socialists. It will be a big test for President Nicolas Sarkozy but, more importantly,
the strike will mark the biggest protest so far in one of the world's largest economies against the grief and distress being caused by the catastrophic global downturn.
A depression triggered in America is being played out in Europe with increasing violence, and other forms of social unrest are spreading. In Iceland, a government has fallen. Workers have marched in Zaragoza, as Spanish unemployment heads towards 20 per cent. There have been riots and bloodshed in Greece, protests in Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The police have suppressed public discontent in Russia, and will be challenged again at large gatherings this weekend. This is turning into Europe's winter of discontent. Protests are widespread and gathering pace. It seems to be about national interests superseding the common cause that has united countries for decades
Copenhagen police crackdown 'preplanned': Aussie eyewitness
A POLICE crackdown on climate protesters in Copenhagen in which hundreds were arrested was preplanned and apparently without justification, according to an Australian eyewitness.
Simon Sheikh, national director of the progressive Australian lobby group Get Up, watched the crackdown from his apartment - and has exclusive video footage of it.
Danish police vows ‘unprecedented’ mobilisation at climate talks
 Danish police said Tuesday they planned "unprecedented" mobilisation to guarantee the safety of the 30,000 participants expected at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen next month.Chief inspector Per Larsen did not specify the size of the police force to be deployed, saying the number would stay confidential.
"This is undoubtedly the largest conference ever organised in Denmark, and it calls for unprecedented police mobilisation and material assistance from neighbouring countries," he told AFP
Police forces from all of Denmark would ensure no "troublemakers" taint the event on December 7-18, he added.
The Danish parliament has allotted a special budget of 620 million kroner (83.22 million euros, 124.41 million dollars) to the police for the climate conference.
"We want this summit and its associated events to be a celebration and not the occasion to destroy our city, as claimed by some small extremist groups," Larsen said.
Police will engage in a "dialogue with all non-governmental organisations (NGOs), those that are well organised and others," in order to come to "agreements" to ensure all demonstrations are peaceful and non-violent.
Larsen also said that because it did not have the necessary resources, Danish police would borrow helicopters and police cars from neighbouring Sweden, as well as cars and police dogs from Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and "probably from Belgium."
The Danish parliament is expected to adopt before December 7 a series of new measures such as higher fines and increased detention times to crack down on violent protestors.
The talks in Copenhagen, under the 192-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aim to craft a post-2012 pact for curbing the heat-trapping gases that drive perilous global warming.( www.expatica.com )
 France paralysed by a wave of strike action, the boulevards of Paris resembling a debris-strewn battlefield. The Hungarian currency sinks to its lowest level ever against the euro, as the unemployment figure rises. Greek farmers block the road into Bulgaria in protest at low prices for their produce. New figures from the biggest bank in the Baltic show that the three post-Soviet states there face the biggest recessions in Europe.It's a snapshot of a single day – yesterday – in a Europe sinking into the bleakest of times. But while the outlook may be dark in the big wealthy democracies of western Europe, it is in the young, poor, vulnerable states of central and eastern Europe that the trauma of crash, slump and meltdown looks graver.
Exactly 20 years ago, in serial revolutionary rejoicing, they ditched communism to put their faith in a capitalism now in crisis and by which they feel betrayed. The result has been the biggest protests across the former communist bloc since the days of people power.Europe's time of troubles is gathering depth and scale. Governments are trembling. Revolt is in the air.
 For a long time people have been asking why Americans are not up in arms, screaming and shouting about their fast disappearing liberties along with the continuous passage of legislation that they vehemently oppose, from the banker bailout, to the cap and trade bill, to Obamacare. Well now they are screaming and shouting – and if the momentum continues to build, this rebellion could the spark to ignite the second American revolution
 Down on his knees as his attackers' feet fly in, this man's face was left a bloodied mess. It was just one of the sickening scenes photographed when a riot erupted in a city centre after Right-wing protesters clashed with anti-fascist demonstrators.
Bottles, sticks and banners were thrown as police in riot gear struggled to stop the skirmishes in Birmingham. In all, 35 people were arrested - mainly for disorder
Twenty-one police officers were injured in Belfast on Monday after coming under fire during rioting on the biggest day in the loyalist marching season.
It was claimed that dissident republicans had been bussed in to provoke violence. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said that the most serious violence was in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, where nine officers were hurt. At one point during the disturbances a masked youth fired at least one shot with a handgun at police lines. The police came under a sustained barrage from youths throwing petrol bombs, bricks, bottles and golf balls
 Police in Berlin arrested 57 people while around 50 officers were hurt as young demonstrators threw bottles and rocks and set fire to cars and rubbish bins. There were also clashes in Hamburg, where anti-capitalist protesters attacked a bank.In Turkey, masked protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at police, smashing banks and supermarket windows in its biggest city, Istanbul. Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of rioters and more than a hundred were arrested with dozens more hurt. There were also scattered skirmishes with police in the capital, Ankara, where 150,000 people marched.
Brzezinski - 'Hell, There Could Be Even Riots'
former National Security Adviser expressed his concern about the possibility of riots on Morning Joe today. To stave them off, he proposes the creation of a voluntary National Solidarity Fund, whose contribJimmy Carter’s utors would be those who made out very well in recent times
BRZEZINSKI:
And if we don’t get some sort of voluntary National Solidarity Fund, at some point there’ll be such political pressure that Congress will start getting in the act, there’s going to be growing conflict between the classes and if people are unemployed and really hurting,hell, there could be even riots!
100,000+ in London march against Tamil genocide
Some 100,000 demonstrators marched through central London Saturday to demand a truce in Sri Lanka, as similar protests were held in Scandinavia and Paris against Colombo's offensive on Tamil rebels.
Waving flags and placards and chanting for a truce, they streamed through the city's main Trafalgar Square en route for Hyde Park, led by a large banner reading "Britain act now! Immediate and permanent ceasefire in Sri Lanka."
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told AFP that an estimated 100,000 people were on the march, while three arrests had been made for public order offences.
The Tamil community in Britain numbers about 250,000 to 300,000 and had staged several large protests in London in recent weeks
London banks attacked, police clash with protesters at G20
World leaders battled Wednesday to hammer out their differences over how to fix the global economy, against a backdrop of violent demonstrations in which one man collapsed and died.
Protesters laid siege to the Bank of England and smashed the windows of a nearby bank that has become a symbol of the financial crisis in Britain, which has been hit hard by the credit crunch and its economic fallout
Police, protesters clash before summit
"Riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to beat back a crowd of several hundred anti-NATO protesters in Strasbourg on Thursday as the city in eastern France, host of the alliance's 60th anniversary summit, readied for the arrival of world leaders," the Associated Press reports.
The AP article adds, "Police lobbed hundreds of tear gas canisters during clashes between about 40 riot police and some 200 masked protesters in the neighborhood of Neuhoff, in the southern part of the city near the German border."
The masked protesters had been among a crowd of about 800 demonstrators when they broke away and repeatedly pelted officers with rocks and bottles," the AP story continues. "There were no immediate reports of injuries. Police said a dozen protesters were arrested. At one point, protesters set fire in the middle of a street to building materials they had scooped up from a nearby construction site."
Source Rawstory
G20 'Terrorist Plot' Exposed As Teenagers With Plastic Guns And Fireworks
Yesterday's reports of a foiled "terrorist plot" in relation to the G20 protests in London have been scaled back after it was revealed that the house raided by police contained only plastic guns and fireworks. "The three men, aged 25, 19 and 16, and two women, both 20, all live in Plymouth and the surrounding area," reported The Guardian. "They are political activists unaffiliated to any terrorist organisation, and were arrested at addresses in Plymouth. They are being held under terrorism legislation. The explosive devices were made from simple fireworks, police said."
Nevertheless, police have called in Royal Navy bomb disposal experts to deal with the weapons
G20 summit: Biggest police operation in decade for G20
Thousands of officers will be on duty in the surrounding area, the City and across London, including Stansted and Heathrow airports where the foreign delegations will arrive.
They include officers from the Met, British Transport Police, City of London, Essex, Sussex, Thames Valley and Bedfordshire. All police leave in the capital has been cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday, and all 2,600 special constables have been called up. Demonstrators said they planned to stage peaceful protests against everything from the financial system to climate change. But websites promoting the "Financial Fools Day" protest on April 1 have urged demonstrators to storm buildings and there are fears that the protests will spill into violence.
There are also concerns that "foreign nationals", veterans of protests in other countries, including France and Germany, will come to Britain to stir up trouble at the demonstrations. Commander Simon O'Brien, a senior officer in charge of security around the G20, said: "We will not tolerate any people breaking the law, attacking buildings, people or our officers." Mr O'Brien said the terror level remained at "severe" but intelligence suggested the main problem this week would be public order issues rather than terrorism. Police, who are scouring social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter to track the protesters' plans, said that "some old faces and protest groups we haven't seen for some time" had re-emerged to galvanise support for the demonstrations.
'There will be blood'
Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson predicts prolonged financial hardship, even civil war, before the ‘Great Recession' ends
Harvard author and financial crisis guru Niall Ferguson has landed with a thud in Ottawa, spreading messages that could make even the most confident policy makers squirm. The global crisis is far from over, has only just begun, and Canada is no exception, Mr. Ferguson said in an interview before delivering a presentation to public-policy think tank, Canada 2020
France hit by new wave of nationwide protests
Workers demand government do more to fight effects of economic crisis
PARIS - A new wave of nationwide strikes by angry workers demanding that French President Nicolas Sarkozy do more to fight the economic crisis hit France on Thursday. Rail traffic was disrupted throughout France, although the high speed TGV trains that connect France with other European countries were running normally. In Paris, it seemed that many people just stayed home as subways during rush hour were less crowded than usual.
Schools, hospitals and the postal service and public transport also were affected.
U.S. Army To Buy $6 Million Of Riot Equipment
 The U.S. Army is to invest $6 million in riot equipment, a fact that has furthered fears that troops will be used inside the U.S. in order to quell any civil unrest resulting from the ongoing economic crisis.
The U.S. Army Contracting Agency, based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has a post on the Federal Business Opportunities website, requesting the equipment and has received several notices of interest from potential vendors.
The request titled “84–RIOT EQUIPMENT” outlines the need for hard polyethylene Shin and Chest Guards, shock absorbing Forearm Protectors, Interior leg brace supports as well as knee and ankle protectors.
The ACA asks that the equipment be able to “safely withstand a substantial blow… from non-ballistic weapons or flying debris”.
Strike updates for Bulgaria, Iceland, France, Canada, US, UK, Spain, Chad
 Thousands of French university lecturers took to the streets February 5th, as part of a growing "unlimited" strike movement against government reform plans. Lecturers and students marched in twenty cities across the country, including Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux. In Strasbourg, police used tear gas against peaceful demonstrators.
The multi-professional national mobilization GENERAL STRIKE on March 19 2009, will mark a stopping blow to the "reform", disastrous actions of the government.
Petition to support French strikers:
MI5 ALERT ON BANK RIOTS
 TOP secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a “summer of in living memory and a motley crew of political extremists determined to stir up civil disorder has led to the extraordinary step of the Army being put on standby.
MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers.
One of the most notorious anarchist websites, Class War, asks: “How to keep warm during the credit crunch? Burn a banker.”
Such remarks have rung alarm bells in Scotland Yard and the Ministry of Defence.
Intelligence sources said the police, backed by MI5, are determined to stay on top of a situation that could spiral out of control as the recession bites deep.
The chilling prospect of soldiers being drafted on to the streets has not been discounted, although it is regarded as a last resort
Civil Unrest in America?
is currently experiencing serious problems derived from financial and economic difficulties such as unemployment, GDP negative growth, currency depreciation, overall economic slowdown and so on. Several members of both the European Union and NATO (Poland, Hungary, Iceland come to mind) are already dealing with a considerable deal of domestic discontent. Some States from the Former Soviet Union (notably Ukraine, Belarus and the Central Asian Republics) and even Russia itself are facing similar problems. Even Chinese government officials acknowledge protests in the Chinese mainland, as pointed out by Professor Michael Klare, which means that East Asia is by no means an exception. As we shall see, financial and economic conditions are equally grave in the American hemisphere, if not more so.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor and early supporter of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, has warned that civil unrest on American soil is a possibility that should not be dismissed. Brzezinski explains that "[the United States is] going to have millions and millions of unemployed, people really facing dire straits. And we’re going to be having that for some period of time before things hopefully improve. And at the same time there is public awareness of this extraordinary wealth that was transferred to a few individuals at levels without historical precedent in America..." Brzezinski concludes with this noteworthy remark "...hell, there could be even riots".
Britain faces summer of rage - police
 Scenes such as those seen in London in January when protestors clashed with mounted riot police at a protest over Israel's action in Gaza could become more common sights in the UK. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Police are preparing for a "summer of rage" as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned.
Britain's most senior police officer with responsibility for public order raised the spectre of a return of the riots of the 1980s, with people who have lost their jobs, homes or savings becoming "footsoldiers" in a wave of potentially violent mass protests.
Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan police's public order branch, told the Guardian that middle-class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger through protests this year.
He said that banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses despite receiving billions in taxpayer money, had become "viable targets". So too had the headquarters of multinational companies and other financial institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis
French strikers march for job security, pay rises
 Hundreds of thousands of strikers marched through French cities on Thursday to demand pay rises and protection for jobs, challenging President Nicolas Sarkozy to do more for ordinary workers. The streets filled with flag-waving protesters, but the one-day strike failed to paralyze the country and support from private sector workers appeared limited.
After dark, as Paris crowds thinned, some protesters clashed with police, throwing bottles, overturning cars and starting a fire in the street, but no major violence was reported. Labor leaders hailed the strikes and rallies, which marked the first time France's eight union federations had joined forces against the government since Sarkozy took office in 2007.
"This is one of the biggest days of worker action in the past 20 years," said Francois Chereque, head of the large, moderate
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