Police maintaining special database of thousands of political activists
galleani | 06.03.2009 23:13 | Other Press | Repression
Guardian journalists claim to have uncovered evidence that the police are maintaining a database of thousands of political activists, most of whom have not been convicted of any crime.
Of particular concern to the journalists was that the evidence they obtained, which included videos taken by Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) on various political demonstrations, showed that police seemed to be targeting journalists in particular, both in their intelligence gathering and active policing. This supports testimony from many card-carrying journalists that they have been harassed by police using overt surveillance and terrorist powers and in some cases followed to places of work and leisure. Some of these allegations have been documented by Photo-journalist Marc Vallee (
http://marcvallee.wordpress.com/) who has produced several videos ( http://current.com/topics/88799341/marc_vallee/default/0.htm , http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=910 )
Indication that such a database existed (which had been long suspected) first emerged in the trial of three persons in December who were accused of obstructing police officers in a FIT team who had come to conduct 'overt surveillance' ( http://fitwatch.blogspot.com/2008/12/fit-officer-admits-in-court-to.html). A police officer giving evidence indicated that a database of 'thousands' was being maintained (including details on the defendants).The latest revelations will add to calls for Police to respect peoples right to privacy, which is enshrined in the Human Rights Act, and follows the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Police should slim down their DNA database by removing people whose convictions are spent or who were not prosecuted for their crimes ( http://p10.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/blog/2008/12/echr-judgment-on-the-marper-case---rules-that-uk-government-and-police-indefina.html).
Article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-protesters-journalists-climate-kingsnorth
Audio:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/audio/2009/mar/06/surveillance-justice
http://marcvallee.wordpress.com/) who has produced several videos ( http://current.com/topics/88799341/marc_vallee/default/0.htm , http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=910 ) Indication that such a database existed (which had been long suspected) first emerged in the trial of three persons in December who were accused of obstructing police officers in a FIT team who had come to conduct 'overt surveillance' (
http://fitwatch.blogspot.com/2008/12/fit-officer-admits-in-court-to.html). A police officer giving evidence indicated that a database of 'thousands' was being maintained (including details on the defendants).The latest revelations will add to calls for Police to respect peoples right to privacy, which is enshrined in the Human Rights Act, and follows the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Police should slim down their DNA database by removing people whose convictions are spent or who were not prosecuted for their crimes ( http://p10.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/blog/2008/12/echr-judgment-on-the-marper-case---rules-that-uk-government-and-police-indefina.html). Article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-protesters-journalists-climate-kingsnorth Audio:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/audio/2009/mar/06/surveillance-justice
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