Beorn
03-15-2010, 01:01 AM
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/03/14/article-1257856-054337F5000005DC-991_468x286.jpg
A Metropolitan Police officer has told how he routinely engaged in violence while working undercover among British anti-racist groups.
The man, known only as Officer A, was a member of the Special Demonstration Squad, a secret unit within the Met's Special Branch with a remit to prevent violent public disorder on the streets of London.
In order to maintain his cover, Officer A became involved in violence against members of the public and uniformed police officers.
He also had sexual relations with at least two of his female targets as a way of getting hold of intelligence, he told The Observer.
'My role was to provide intelligence about protests and demonstrations, particularly those that had the potential to become violent,' he said.
'In doing so, the campaigns I was associated with lost much of their effectiveness, a factor that ultimately hastened their demise.
'By providing intelligence you rob these groups of the element of surprise. Once the SDS get into an organisation, it is effectively finished.'
The Special Demonstration Squad was set up in the wake of violent anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in London in 1968.
With their long hair and beards - which was very different to the usual appearance of a policeman - they were referred to as the 'hairies', and fitted into the role of Left wing intellectuals with ease.
Officer A, with his pony tail and angry persona, was so convincing that he became branch secretary of a leading anti-racist organisation believed to be a front for Labour's Militant tendency.
He was given a new identity and provided with a flat and a 'cover job' during his deployment between 1993 and 1997. He lived a double life six days a week, spending just one day a week with his wife and family.
It was a period of heightened tension between orgnaisations such as the Anti-Nazi League and the National Front. The SDS is believed to have infiltrated all such Right and Left-wing groups.
'I had a really good time with my targets and enjoyed their company enormously - there was a genuine bond,' said Officer A. 'But I was never under any illusion about what I was there to do. They were not truly my friends.
'The one thing all these groups have in common, both on the Left and the Right is a total hatred of the police... You have no choice but to engage in acts of violence.'
Getting information from a man was easy, he said - you simply became his best friend. But to get details from a woman was much harder.
'If someone started talking about getting good information from a female target, we all knew there was only one way that could have happened. They had been sleeping with them,' he said.
He himself slept with two targets - for information, and to maintain his undercover role.
'You can't be in that world full-time for five years and never have a girlfriend,' he said. 'People would start to ask questions.'
Officer A's role ended amid fears that his presence within groups protesting about black deaths in police custody and bungled investigations into racist murders would be revealed during the Macpherson inquiry into the death of teenager Stephen Lawrence, claims The Observer.
Officer A has chosen to tell his story because he believes the public have a right to know - and subsequently make their own decisions - about these covert activities, given their potential to help end legitimate protest movements, said the newspaper.
Members of the SDS do not have to gather evidence to prosecute their targets and are able to engage in activity outside the limits of a regular officer's job, without the fear of disciplinary action.
'If I were a regular police officer and I wanted to plant a bug in your house or your office, I would need to get all kinds of permissions,' said Officer A. 'But the SDS can put a person in your car, in your house, in you life 24 hours a day for five years and nobody outside the SDS will know anything about it.'
But, by using this intelligence to pre-empt violent situations, the unit has been able to prevent bloodshed on many occasions.
One of Officer A's successes came when he was deployed during a demonstration against a British National Party-run bookshop in south-east London.
He became aware that the protest was going to be much larger than the Met realised and that one anti-racism faction was even planning to set fire to the shop.
Officer A was able to inform his Met colleagues of the threat, police leave was cancelled for that weekend and 7,000 officers were deployed on the streets.
Despite violent clashes, the police operation was deemed a success.
Source (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257856/Undercover-Britains-violent-Left-Amazing-story-Special-Branch-officer-infiltrated-anti-racist-groups.html)
I wonder if in time the public can have access to all the plans and plots of the far-Left? It would certainly be interesting to see the extent they were/are willing to go.
A Metropolitan Police officer has told how he routinely engaged in violence while working undercover among British anti-racist groups.
The man, known only as Officer A, was a member of the Special Demonstration Squad, a secret unit within the Met's Special Branch with a remit to prevent violent public disorder on the streets of London.
In order to maintain his cover, Officer A became involved in violence against members of the public and uniformed police officers.
He also had sexual relations with at least two of his female targets as a way of getting hold of intelligence, he told The Observer.
'My role was to provide intelligence about protests and demonstrations, particularly those that had the potential to become violent,' he said.
'In doing so, the campaigns I was associated with lost much of their effectiveness, a factor that ultimately hastened their demise.
'By providing intelligence you rob these groups of the element of surprise. Once the SDS get into an organisation, it is effectively finished.'
The Special Demonstration Squad was set up in the wake of violent anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in London in 1968.
With their long hair and beards - which was very different to the usual appearance of a policeman - they were referred to as the 'hairies', and fitted into the role of Left wing intellectuals with ease.
Officer A, with his pony tail and angry persona, was so convincing that he became branch secretary of a leading anti-racist organisation believed to be a front for Labour's Militant tendency.
He was given a new identity and provided with a flat and a 'cover job' during his deployment between 1993 and 1997. He lived a double life six days a week, spending just one day a week with his wife and family.
It was a period of heightened tension between orgnaisations such as the Anti-Nazi League and the National Front. The SDS is believed to have infiltrated all such Right and Left-wing groups.
'I had a really good time with my targets and enjoyed their company enormously - there was a genuine bond,' said Officer A. 'But I was never under any illusion about what I was there to do. They were not truly my friends.
'The one thing all these groups have in common, both on the Left and the Right is a total hatred of the police... You have no choice but to engage in acts of violence.'
Getting information from a man was easy, he said - you simply became his best friend. But to get details from a woman was much harder.
'If someone started talking about getting good information from a female target, we all knew there was only one way that could have happened. They had been sleeping with them,' he said.
He himself slept with two targets - for information, and to maintain his undercover role.
'You can't be in that world full-time for five years and never have a girlfriend,' he said. 'People would start to ask questions.'
Officer A's role ended amid fears that his presence within groups protesting about black deaths in police custody and bungled investigations into racist murders would be revealed during the Macpherson inquiry into the death of teenager Stephen Lawrence, claims The Observer.
Officer A has chosen to tell his story because he believes the public have a right to know - and subsequently make their own decisions - about these covert activities, given their potential to help end legitimate protest movements, said the newspaper.
Members of the SDS do not have to gather evidence to prosecute their targets and are able to engage in activity outside the limits of a regular officer's job, without the fear of disciplinary action.
'If I were a regular police officer and I wanted to plant a bug in your house or your office, I would need to get all kinds of permissions,' said Officer A. 'But the SDS can put a person in your car, in your house, in you life 24 hours a day for five years and nobody outside the SDS will know anything about it.'
But, by using this intelligence to pre-empt violent situations, the unit has been able to prevent bloodshed on many occasions.
One of Officer A's successes came when he was deployed during a demonstration against a British National Party-run bookshop in south-east London.
He became aware that the protest was going to be much larger than the Met realised and that one anti-racism faction was even planning to set fire to the shop.
Officer A was able to inform his Met colleagues of the threat, police leave was cancelled for that weekend and 7,000 officers were deployed on the streets.
Despite violent clashes, the police operation was deemed a success.
Source (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257856/Undercover-Britains-violent-Left-Amazing-story-Special-Branch-officer-infiltrated-anti-racist-groups.html)
I wonder if in time the public can have access to all the plans and plots of the far-Left? It would certainly be interesting to see the extent they were/are willing to go.