Voices of the Spied On –
Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance Public
Meeting
WHEN:
Thursday 21 January, 6.30-8.30 p.m.
WHERE: Diskus Room,
Unite the Union, 128 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8TN
As the scandal of
Britain’s political secret police continues to grow, and with a full scale
public inquiry imminent, come and hear from those who were targeted by spycops
and are leading the fight for justice.
On Thursday 21 January COPS are
hosting a public meeting in London.
On the panel are:
Kate
Wilson
The first UK public talk by this social justice activist who was
deceived into a long-term relationship by undercover officer Mark
Kennedy.
Wilson is one of eight women who collectively took legal action
against the police. In doing so they demonstrated that these were not ‘rogue
officers’, but the similarity of their experiences proves that what happened to
them was accepted strategy.
Their tenacity forced the Met to issue an
extraordinary apology in November. Wilson’s case continues.
Janet
Alder
Tireless campaigner for justice for her brother Christopher who was
killed by police in 1999. Despite the inquest’s finding of unlawful killing, no
officers were convicted.
Christopher’s body was subjected to a series of
indignities, police admit to repeatedly spying on her and attempting to spy on
her lawyer, they snooped into her past to smear her, and despite all this she
has been denied ‘core participant’ status at the public inquiry.
Stafford
Scott
A key figure in numerous black community and family justice campaigns,
formerly co-ordinator of the Broadwater Farm Defence Campaign, Scott is now race
advocacy officer at the Monitoring Group.
The exposure of undercover police
adds a new sinister dimension to the state repression he has devoted himself to
opposing, with campaigns being infiltrated and undermined by
officers.
Jules Carey
A human rights lawyer at Bindmans, Carey
represents many of the people targeted by spycops.
His clients include
Jacqui, the first case the Met settled with a woman deceived into a relationship
by an undercover officer, and other similar clients whose cases are
ongoing.
He also represents Barbara Shaw, mother of a dead child whose
identity was stolen by an undercover police officer.
Chair: The meeting
will be chaired by Lois Austin, ex chair of Youth Against Racism in Europe, who
were also infiltrated by undercover police.
FREE ADMISSION
There
will be plenty of time for questions from the floor.
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1151590728184461/
AND
SPYCOPS: TWO DEMOS THIS FRIDAY
On 15 January 1990, smoke was seen rising from the
Stasi HQ in Berlin as officers desperately tried to destroy the evidence of
their abuses. Citizens stormed the building, stopped the destruction and, for
the first time, saw the files that showed the scale and depth of what the
political secret police had been doing to them.
Twenty-six years later,
this anniversary highlights that political policing and spying affects us, here,
now…
Picket New Scotland Yard,
Friday 21st January,
2016
9.30 – 10.30
to demand that the Metropolitan Police STOP
SHREDDING THE FILES
It was revealed this week, by a police whistleblower,
that Special Branch destroyed a number of files they held on Green Party member
of the Greater London Assembly and House of Lords, Jenny Jones – immediately
AFTER she had met with National Domestic Extremist and Disorder Intelligence
Unit (NDEDIU) bosses to request (under data protection laws) to see the files
they had on her.
The upcoming Public Inquiry into undercover policing was
ordered in the wake of the revelations that Special Branch spied on not only
campaigners and activists, but the family of Stephen Lawrence, other families of
racist murder victims and even MPs. As well as abusing women, acting as agent
provocateurs, and committing miscarriages of justice.
What justice can
people can expect from this Inquiry, when the police are destroying the evidence
of who they targeted and what ‘data’ they held…?
Join some of those spied
upon to protest and demand that this cover-up is halted.
New Scotland
Yard
8-10 Broadway. Westminster. London. SW1H 0BG
nearest tube: St James’
Park.
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/
Another action in the long campaign against
police spying on activists...
Solidarity Demo at the High Court
January 15 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00
pm
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London, WC2
nearest
tube: Holborn or Temple.
On 15 January 2016 the High Court holds the
latest hearing in the case of Kate Wilson, a social justice activist who was
deceived into a long term relationship by undercover officer Mark Kennedy. More
than four years in, the police are still obstructing her fight for truth and
justice.
But it’s about more than Wilson. The other women who have received
an apology from the Met have received little in the way of answers.
Beyond
that, all the information about spycops comes from the 12 exposed officers, less
than 10% of the total deployed since the Special Demonstration Squad was founded
in 1968.
The only way we will ever get the truth is if those who were
spied on can tell the stories of what was done by officers they knew. The only
way that can happen is if they are told they were spied on.
The police
must release all the ‘cover names’ of officers from the disgraced politcal
policing units, and the list of groups targeted as well. Those who were spied on
must be given access to their full files so they can judge for themselves what
was done.
Police Spies Out of Lives, the group of Wilson and the seven
women who got the recent police apology, have issued a statement and called a
demo outside the High Court on the day of the hearing, remembering what was done
by people power against the Stasi, and anticipating what will be done against
the Stasi tactics used by the Met.
“The lessons from Germany during
the fall of the GDR are clear: legal processes, courts, and government inquiries
alone cannot be trusted to uncover the truth. It took direct action and pressure
from the grassroots to forcibly expose the abuses of the Stasi. Today, as the
court decides how to proceed over the question of disclosure in this case, we
remember the bravery and conviction of the people of the GDR; and to the police
and the Pitchford inquiry we have this message: enough is enough, it is time to
release the cover names and open the files.”
https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/
Background: Solidarity demo: Friday 15 January 2016, 1p.m., High Court, London
in support of Police Spies Out of Lives
• The latest court hearing will see renewed pressure on police re disclosure in
legal case
• 15 January is anniversary of dramatic Stasi secret files events of 1990
• SDS officers themselves knew “that will be us one day”
• women issue advance statement concerning the anniversary and hearing: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/statement-stasi-anniv/
On Friday 15th January 2016 a legal case over undercover police relationships
will return to the High Court, in a renewed battle to force the police to
follow normal court procedure and issue disclosure documents in the case.
The date of the hearing comes two months since the historic apology issued by
the Metropolitan Police, after which calls began for officers’ cover names to
be released, so that others affected may know the truth about disruption to
their lives.
The hearing also coincidentally takes place on the anniversary of occupation of
the Stasi HQ in Berlin. The occupation led to files being protected and opened
to those who had been spied upon. It is understood that in the UK in 1994, SDS
officers, when viewing coverage about the Stasi files, predicted to each other
“this is going to happen to us one day”.
The group of eight women issued a statement ahead of the hearing and
anniversary, in which they said:
“Despite the apology and very public settlement of seven of our
eight claims, the police have so far refused to disclose any information to any
of us about the files held on us, the extent of the intrusion into our lives,
or the motivations behind the abusive police operations we were subjected to.”
Kate Wilson, who’s ongoing case will be the subject of the hearing, added:
“I would like to see the true nature of Britain’s political
policing fully exposed, and I believe everyone affected by these abusive
undercover units should be given free access to their files.”
Key background links:
1. The hearing on 15 January will be a case management conference to clarify
the timetable for disclosure and related matters. Previous hearings have sought
to ensure the Met follows normal court procedure:
– Police climb down and withdraw ‘strike-out’ application March 2014: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/press-release-metropolitan-police-climb-down-in-undercover-case/
– Women issue legal challenge to NCND in court June 2014: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/5-6june-sds-ncnd/
– Partial NCND victory Aug 2014: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/met-confirm-foll-lgl-chall-by-women/
2. The claims arise from the deception of women into long-term intimate
relationships by five police officers who had infiltrated social and
environmental justice campaigns. The common law claims relating to the 15
January hearing include deceit, assault, misfeasance in public office and
negligence.
3. As part of an out-of-court settlement for seven out of the eight claims, the
Met police issued a comprehensive apology in November 2015 – their first
admission that the relationships had taken place and had caused significant
damage. Kate Wilson’s case continues, as do other civil cases being brought
against the police over undercover policing. A public inquiry has also been
launched.
4. The eight women bringing this legal action are doing so to highlight and
prevent the continuation of psychological, emotional and sexual abuse of
campaigners and others by undercover police officers. ‘We come from different
backgrounds and have a range of political beliefs and interests, and we are
united in believing that every woman, and every person, has a right to
participate in the struggle for social and environmental justice, without fear
of persecution, objectification, or interference in their lives.’ – from ‘Where
we stand’ Statement.
5. For how the SDS officers viewed the events surrounding the Stasi files, see https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/sds-happen-to-us/
Update:
Based on research by the Undercover Research Group:
Another #spycop exposed: Carlo Neri confirmed as an undercover...
http://undercoverresearch.net/2016/01/18/how-we-proved-carlo-neri-was-an-undercover-police-officer/
18th January 2016 in BBC Newsnight 22.30 UK [missed it but there's iPlayer]
*Undercover policeman proposed to activist*
By Richard Watson & Maria Polachowska
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35345802
and Rob Evans in the Guardian of course!
Woman who was engaged to police spy sues Met over 'psychological torture'
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/18/police-spy-carlo-neri-woman-sues-psychological-torture?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews
