"Police arrest more than 100 in dawn raids to halt environmental protest"

News Article Courtesy of the Guardian

"More than 100 people were arrested in a dawn raid today over an alleged attack being planned on a coal-fired power station."

In my opinion, this pre-dawn raid is still part of the fallout surrounding the G20 Summit and the riots in London that occured while it was being held. The Summit was held on March 28th amongst scores of rioters from multiple organisations, many of whom were part of the "Put People First" campaign.

The coal-fired power plant in question was the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire, England. Apparently, this station has been attacked by environmental activists before, according to the Wikipedia Article. The website for the power station states that it is committed to protecting the environment by reducing emmissions, reducing waste, and planting native species.

Personally, I am a little unnerved by this development. It seems to me that police and government fear is still lingering and could result in rash actions against anyone who poses a threat. No where in the article does it state how they knew the protest would not be peaceful. If one person was going to physically attack the building but the rest were simply to picket, does that automatically make it an attack? Should those 99 others be arrested?

Here is another article on the raid, courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald.