POLICE are to use special anti-terror powers that will allow them to jail protesters at the G8 summit for up to a week without charge.

Tayside Constabulary is expected to become the first force in Scotland to be granted the powers under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Section 44 of the legislation will allow police to stop and search anyone they consider may pose a threat to security, while section 43 will enable them to hold suspects without charge in purpose-built cells in Glasgow for up to seven days.

An airship will act as a “spy in the sky” over Gleneagles hotel so that police are able to spot the most dangerous troublemakers and move in to arrest them. The inflatable balloon will be fitted with cameras and infra-red equipment for night vision.

Any protester found within a cordon around the Perthshire summit will automatically be stopped and searched, regardless of whether police suspect them of being terrorists. If they are found to possess a suspect device or weapon, they will be detained.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said that the police response would be proportionate and that only protesters believed to represent a genuine threat would be jailed.

“If you find them carrying a copy of the Socialist Worker they’re not going to be thrown in a police station. We have been tying in with intelligence agencies across Europe and beyond and we know who to look out for,” said a spokesman.

However, civil liberties campaigners have warned that the force is setting a dangerous precedent. “This would be extremely controversial. It would represent an easy way for the police to deal with some people they suspect of being troublemakers and keep them them out of circulation for the duration of G8,” said John Scott, a defence lawyer and chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Centre.

“Even David Blunkett, when he was home secretary, said he had concerns about this legislation. The police already have ample powers without resorting to this.”

Chief Superintendent Brian Powrie, of Tayside Constabulary, said the “spy in the sky” would help the police to identify troublemakers more easily. “From a security perspective, the police will be blessed with 21 hours of daylight a day in July, which will significantly enhance our capability in spotting people crossing the wide-open moors around the venue.”

As well as giving police special powers of detention, the Terrorism Act, introduced before the September 11 attacks, made it an offence, among other things, to belong to proscribed organisations such as Al-Qaeda. Addressing a meeting aimed at helping a terrorist can be an offence punishable by 10 years in prison.

The same act also made it an offence to collect information “of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.

It is also an offence “to wear an item of clothing which can give reasonable suspicion indicating membership or support of a proscribed organisation”.

English and Welsh officers drafted in to help police next month’s G8 summit will also have to learn to arrest suspects using the common law Scottish caution.

John Pilkington, a former inspector with Strathclyde police, said cases could collapse if English and Welsh officers use their everyday caution.

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