G8 Alternatives
G8 Alternatives was a coalition of activist groups set up to co-ordinate actions around the 31st G8 summit held at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland.
Supporters of the coalition included Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Iraq Occupation Focus, Muslim Association of Britain, Scottish Socialist Party, Stop the War Coalition and various trade union branches. Individual supporters included author and academic Noam Chomsky, journalist John Pilger and comedian Mark Thomas.
G8 Alternatives organised a counter-summit on July 3 which was addressed by a wide range of speakers. Among those in attendance were writer George Monbiot, South African anti-privatisation activist Trevor Ngwane and Philipine anti-globalisation activist Walden Bello. Nonetheless, the coalition's demonstration in Auchterader on the day the G8 summit began was perhaps their most signigicant action. The coalition had considerable difficulty getting permission for the march and indeed only got this days before the protest was to take place.
On the day itself, police did call the march off for a time, but relented when the organisers said they would go ahead anyway. Despite this a number of coaches were turned back or temporarily detained. The march atttracted considerable media attention when a number of participants broke away from the main demonstration across a field where they proceeded to bring down a section of the fence surrounding the hotel where the summit was being held. The police responded by bringing in additional riot-police using Chinook helicopters and were soon able to clear the field.