Officers and staff arriving for work at New Scotland Yard, the UK police headquarters in London, were forced to queue around the block this morning, as the front entrance was blockaded by 40 activists. Women held up large images of the three male undercover police officers who have been in the news recently, as well as 12 images of question marks, representing the other shady undercover officers referred to by ‘Mark Stone’ in his interview to the Daily Mail.

State sanctioned sexual abuse has been going on for long enough. It is time to draw and line in the sand.

One activist said; "It's time for the abuse of women by undercover police officers to stop. If a person is pretending to be somebody else, if they are spying on you, then you absolutely cannot give your informed consent.

"Women are not able to make an informed decision about who they are having a relationship with if they are being duped by police officers. We want a judge-led inquiry. We don't trust the police to police themselves. They have showed time after time they believe they are above the law."

They demanded that the police make public the names and identities of all other undercover offices who have worked or are working to infiltrate movements for progressive social change, so women can know whether they have also been abused by the state, and can decide whether to join other women in considering legal action against the police.

It is crystal clear that the authorities knew about the long term sexual relationships conducted by these undercover policemen. Mark Stone was not a one off. This is state sanctioned sexual abuse.

This has to been seen in the context of a much broader problem of political policing in the UK. The police use all sorts of tactics to interfere in politics and protest, from the use of terrorism laws against environmental activists to police brutality against students. This affects all sorts of movements and all sorts of people.

The protest was lead by women but men were welcome to come to show support. The event was self organised by a group of women who feel strongly that we need to show solidarity with each other in the face of police abuse. Anyone who is concerned that they might have been personally affected, and who would like support and access to legal advice, please feel free to contact  2getherwearestronger@gmail.com in the strictest confidence. We are not legal experts and we do not claim to represent any particular group, we simply hope that we can hold out a hand to anyone who wants support.