29 April 2018 — COPS

It’s been a busy month of revelations abour Britain’s political secret police. Here’s a rundown:

The Met finally admitted that Special Branch officers illegally supplied info on political activists for construction industry blacklisting. Activists have long shown that spycops officer Mark Jenner was a member of construction union UCATT, and whistleblower officer Peter Francis has named five trade unions that were spied on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43507728

Twenty years since Christopher Alder was killed by police in Hull, his sister Janet led a commemoration in the city. Police admit spying on his sister Janet’s campaign for justice, but were cleared of wrongdoing. Denied core participant status at the spycops inquiry, she is still not going away, and we have been proud to have her speak at COPS public meetings.
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-england-humber-43581781

The Canary continued its run of spycops revelations, this time uncovering the fact that in the 1980s undercover officer Roger Pearce (aka ‘Roger Thorley’) befriended & acted as chauffeur for elderly activist Leah Feldman. As a teenager Feldman had supported Makhno’s anarchists in the Russian Revolution, in the 1930s she was in Spain fighting the fascists. By the early 1980s she was in London and involved in Freedom Press. At the time, Feldman was in her 80s, was partially deaf and blind, and often needed help moving around.
https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2018/03/27/spycop-scandal-hits-new-low-with-claim-that-officer-exploited-elderly-activist-as-part-of-cover/

Women deceived into relationships by spycops wrote to Home Secretary Amber Rudd demanding a meeting about the public inquiry’s gullible bias towards police secrecy. They received no reply so went, along with Stephen Lawrence’s father Neville and Bernie Grant’s widow Sharon, to deliver a letter by hand. Neville disclosed that it is the fourth time he has asked to meet the Home Secretary.
http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/25/amber-rudd-refuses-to-meet-stephen-lawrences-dad-to-discuss-being-spied-on-7497085/

Ex spycop Andy Coles was finally named by the inquiry, and he responded in an extraordinary way – he simply denied having his year-long relationship with Jessica! He still clings to his Peterborough Council seat.
https://sackandycoles.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/spycop-andy-coles-takes-his-sexual-abuse-lies-to-a-new-level/
Two more women he sexually harassed have added their voices to the call for him to admit the truth and stand down.
https://sackandycoles.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/third-woman-sexually-targeted-by-andy-coles-speaks-out/

The public inquiry confirmed names of more officers:

• Mark Cassidy (we had long known him, his real name is Mark Jenner); Colin Roach Centre, Anti-Fascist Action, Independent Working Class Association, Republican Forum, Red Action 1995-2000
• Stewart Goodman; Anti-Apartheid Movement, International Socialist 1970-71
• Peter Fredericks; Black Power movement, Operation Omega, Young Haganah 1971
• David Robertson; Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Banner Books 1970–73
• Bill Biggs (now deceased); Socialist Workers Party 1977–82
• Alan ‘Nick’ Nicholson; British National Party 1990–91
• David Hagan; Socialist Workers Party, Class War, Movement Against the Monarchy, Movement for Justice 1996-01
• Jaqueline Anderson; Reclaim the Streets, Earth First!, WOMBLES. 2000–05
• Ross ‘RossCo’ MacInnes; United British Alliance. 2007

Hagan is the officer known as N81 who spied on Stephen Lawrence’s justice campaign. The police officer in charge of the Special Demonstration Squad when they spied on the Stephen Lawrence campaign, was granted anonymity by the spycops public inquiry who said that, as he’s married to the same woman as when he was young, he is presumed incapable of misconduct.

It’s notable that the Inquiry is listing an average of two groups per officer. Last year they admitted that more than 1,000 groups had been spied on, so the real average is at least seven each. Why aren’t we being given the real list? It’s part of the ‘secret public inquiry’, as we detailed on our blog
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2018/04/10/secret-public-inquiry/

We keep our ‘how many spycops have there been?’ post up to date with new names as they are released.
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2016/09/01/how-many-spycops-have-there-been/

In France, after ten years, the Tarnac defendents were acquitted of the trumped up terrorism charges. British spycop Mark Kennedy had provided some of the key original exaggerated intelligence that led to the whole debacle
https://crimethinc.com/2018/04/12/the-tarnac-verdicts-unraveling-the-logic-of-anti-terrorism-after-ten-years-the-tarnac-affair-concludes-in-france

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 9: Inquiry Hearing

We walked out of last month’s inquiry hearing on anonymity for officers. The hearings on this issue have become a charade, the Inquiry talks to police, says what it is inclined to do, then goes through a pantomime of asking us before doing what it originally intended. We are desperate to engage with the inquiry, but their policy on anonymity is an obstacle to getting to the truth and we cannot lend it credibility that it doesn’t have or deserve.

For these reasons, we will be boycotting the next hearing on anonymity too, and protesting outside. Please join us at the Royal Courts of Justice at 9am on May 9th to demand an open, credible inquiry.
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/event/41683/

May 21: Peterborough Council meeting

When he was exposed last year as spycop who had sexually abused women, Andy Coles reigned as Cambridgeshire’s Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner. However, he clings on to his Peterborough city Council seat. Men who abuse their positions of power to violate citizens should not be in positions of public trust. Peterborough Council has banned the public from meetings since Coles was exposed, but we will protest outside every council meeting until he steps down.

Join us at Peterborough Town Hall at 5.30 on Monday 21st May
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/event/demo-andy-coles-resignation-peterborough-3-2/

7 & 8 July: 50 Years of Resistance

It’s 50 years since the spycops units were founded after a protest against the Vietnam war outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. We will celebrate the many campaigns targeted and their successes.

Sat 7 July, 1-3pm: Roll Call of Resistance and rally: Grosvenor Sq, London W1K 2HP
Sun 8 July, 10-4pm: Conference / Exhibition: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Keep an eye on our social media for more details on this exciting set of events
http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2018/02/13/50-years-resistance-celebration/

Thank you for your continued support.