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Breaking News: First arrests made under snow emergency anti-terrorism powers
The first house detention orders have been made under sweeping new anti-terror powers put in place in response to the chaos being caused by the snow emergency that is currently devastating Britain. Eight young boys from the Woodham Community College in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, were arrested by police after being suspended by their head teacher for refusing to stop throwing snowballs.
The emergency measures were announced by Home Secretary Charles Clarke earlier today. They give police and other officials, including traffic wardens, firemen and members of the armed forces (except the Grenadier Guards), powers of arrest and detention for anyone caught in possession of a snowball or thought to be contemplating making or throwing one.
A spokesman for Mr Clarke told our reporter that the measures, though harsh, were essential to deal with the crisis. He said that the government has incontrovertible evidence that terrorist cells, including al-Qaeda, are trying to turn the emergency to their advantage through such devious means as throwing snowballs at policemen, making bogus calls to the RAC and AA claiming to be stuck in a snow drift, and building snowmen in the middle of key road junctions during rush hour. "Any one of these could on its own bring the nation to its knees if a coordinated effort were made across the nation," he claimed, "and the prospect of them all happening at once is too frightening to contemplate."
He urged members of the public witnessing such acts to remain calm and call the police, but not try to deal with the perpetrators themselves. "These people are very dangerous indeed," he cautioned.
He added that at present the government has no plans to ask the US military for space at its Guantanamo Bay facility to house anyone attempting to resist arrest, but that options were being kept open.
Dougy Ramsbottom, 13, one of the Newton Aycliffe boys arrested, said that he thought his house detention was ridiculous. "All we were doing was throwing a few snowballs at each other. OK, we did get Taffy [science master] in the back of the head but it was an accident."
Dougy's mother, Mrs Ramsbottom, agreed. "It's me that's being punished more than him," she said, "with him being stuck in the house all day and not at school out of my way."
Meanwhile the Met Office is predicting milder temperatures and a gradual melting of the snow by May or June.
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