Arrested for thoughtcrime?

The news that police have raided a meeting of climate campaigners on suspicion of plotting a protest at a power station near Nottingham (BBC News - Police hold 114 in power protest) doesn't seem to have been questioned - isn't this a bit odd? After the arrested hadn't actually protested, nor had they even set of to start their protest.

Now it transpires (BBC News -  Power station protesters released) that all 114 protesters (or should I say, would-be protesters) have been on bail, but without charge.  At least an MP has now questioned whether this was a proportionate response: Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson has reportedly raised concerns over the nature of the policing operation, and whether it was really proportionate:"

The scale of it makes people think we are dealing with a major terrorist incident," he said.

"We understand there were 200 officers involved and my instinctive reaction to that is to say, well there must be something to do with plans to blow something up, to commit a major disruption of society.

"My worry is that what we are talking about, in practice, something much smaller."

One wonders how the Government will approach these issues if they manage to consolidate the recently implemented ISP-level data retention directive into the vast uber-database known as the Interception Modernisation Pogramme, as envisaged by Wacky Jaqui Smith.  perhaps then we will truly see the end of all protests.