Man behind May Day mob

This is the mastermind of the May Day chaos which brought London to a standstill and cost an estimated £8million.

He is Alessio Lunghi, 24, a middle-class student dropout. The Evening Standard followed him for 10 hours as he organised the hard core of anarchists in their game of cat and mouse with the police.

This was to culminate in running skirmishes in the West End which left five police officers injured, one with a broken arm after being assaulted with a fire extinguisher.

Lunghi repeatedly changed his clothing to make himself

harder to follow and scurried from group to group ordering them to "keep moving" to stop the police "trapping" them.

He was seen issuing instructions on his mobile phone. He also spoke to prominent members of Ya Basta, the Italian anarchist group behind the riots at last year's Genoa G7 summit, and Turkish communist organisation PKK, whose members ran amok in Whitehall two years ago. The former London University student is described by police intelligence sources as "the driving force" behind the Wombles anarchist group.

Lunghi's efforts to stop the police penning in protesters were successful, although the violent disorder that anarchists had planned largely failed to materialise.

Scotland Yard said today that 54 people were arrested, of whom 11 have been charged, five cautioned, two released and 35 remain in police custody.

The timid child who rebelled
Red panties turn up the heat
No trouble, but mayhem cost £8m
May Day 2002 - in pictures