Roasting for Police guarding GM crops

08 July 1998

Roasting for Police guarding GM crops

FIFE police who took a threat seriously that a crop of genetically-modified food was about to be destroyed by Earth First experienced an embarrassing finish to their operation.

The police set up surveillance equipment in a nearby hay-filled barn. The activists did not show. But an exhaust spark from a police vehicle ignited the hay and £30,000 of barn and surveillance equipment went up in flames.

• The Guardian 08/07/98 page 5 (Society supplement)