Womble riot threat as Commons opens

Riot police will be on a major security alert for the opening of Parliament on Monday.

Anarchists are threatening to storm the Palace of Westminster in a potentially violent anti-war demonstration.

Protesters from across Britain are expected to travel to London for the "Sack Parliament" event.

The demonstrators are likely to include the notorious anti-capitalist group the Wombles - White Overall Movement Building Liberations through Effective Struggle.

The group was at the centre of the major anti-capitalist protests in 2000 and 2001 that brought violence and mayhem to the capital. About 800 police will be on stand-by in and around Parliament Square to stamp out any trouble on Monday.

Riot squads will be held in readiness nearby.

Police have been gathering intelligence on the demonstration plans for weeks.

They believe several anarchist and anti-war groups such as the Stop The War Coalition are planning to travel to the capital.

The demonstration is planned coincide with the opening of the Parliament in the afternoon. An Internet website advertising the protest says: "Despite repeated mass protests parliament has ignored those it is supposed to represent and consistently sided with continuing wars and further authoritarian legislation. We have only one option left: Sack Parliament."

Commander Bob Broadhurst, who is organising the police response, said he believed a small, hard-core group of activists were planning trouble.

He said: "We have contacted these groups and told them they are entitled to demonstrate if they seek permission to do so but they have not done that.

"We do not believe that they will ask for permission so any protest and anything they do will be unlawful. Our message to anyone coming to London to disrupt Parliament is that we will stop them.

"We cannot take the risk of allowing people to disrupt the democratic process and we will be robust in dealing with them."

Police are expecting protesters to try to disrupt MPs attending Parliament and block roads around the Palace of Westminster.

The 2000 May Day protests culminated in an occupation of Parliament Square, with the statue of Winston Churchill being defaced and given a green mohawk. The following year hundreds of protests were penned in for hours by police in Oxford Circus.

Last year the Wombles were among anarchists groups who ran riot on the first day of the G8 summit at Gleneagles.