Before the EU Justice & Home Affairs ministers had even started meeting today in Newcastle upon Tyne protesters were arrested in cars on their way to start a peaceful protest.

The plan was for protesters to mount a peaceful picket at the Gosforth Marriott Hotel in orange boiler suits and bar-coded foreheads, with a 12 square foot ID card to highlight the increasing restrictions on civil liberties being considered by ministers under the pretext of fighting the "War on Terror".

However cars were followed and stopped. The protesters were searched and detained "to prevent violent disorder". They have been taken to a police station in North Newcastle and are likely to be detained for over 24 hours, when the summit is over.

Kinda ironic that our civil liberties are taken away before we can even protest about having our civil liberties taken away!