Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly: City of London police put Occupy London on counter-terrorism presentation with al-Qaida

Ben Quinn

Sunday 19 July 2015 18.21 BST Last modified on Monday 20 July 2015 00.00 BST

Police in London have been criticised for including activists from the city’s Occupy protests alongside al-Qaida and the IRA in a presentation being given to prepare nursery and primary school staff for potential terrorist attacks on the UK.

The presentation, which was obtained by the Guardian following a Freedom of Information request, is part of an expanding City of London police initiative dubbed Project Fawn.

It is aimed at preparing nursery and school staff for the possibility that London could be hit by attacks such as on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, Mumbai and the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, which it names. However, it also refers to domestic extremism, student protests and climate issues.

The presentation – which gives advice on dealing with bomb threats, screening mail and hostile reconnaissance – covers the threat posed and methodologies used by Isis, al-Qaida, so-called lone actors and dissident Irish Republicans.

Under the heading of domestic extremism, it also refers to “xrw” and “xlw” (apparent acronyms for extreme left and right wing), as well as single issue groups, animal rights and politics.

David Copeland, a neo-Nazi who carried out a nail-bombing campaign in 1999, is listed among examples of extreme rightwing terrorists. Another page lists: Shac/Animal Alliance (a reference to the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty group), climate issues, Occupy, student protests and urban explorers.

A separate slide, headed History in City of Terrorism and Domestic Issues, features three images: one from the July 2005 London bombings, one from the 1996 Provisional IRA bombing of London’s docklands and an image from the 2011-12 Occupy London protests.

A coalition of police monitoring groups, the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol), accused the City of London police of conflating protest with terrorism and violence.

A slide from a City of London police counter-terrorism awareness sessions for nurseries. Photograph: City of London police

Kevin Blowe, a co-ordinator of Netpol, said this was repeated around the country and was the “result of including ill-defined labels, like ‘domestic extremism’, within the language and strategies of counter-terrorism”.

“Programmes like the government’s Prevent strategy overwhelmingly target and stigmatise Muslim communities, but as Project Fawn shows, they also provide plenty of scope to include almost any group of political activists that the police dislike or consider an inconvenience.

“These slides show a real disdain for legitimate rights to exercise freedoms of expression and assembly in a free society, which leads to individuals having their lawful activities recorded and retained on secret police intelligence databases.”

Jamie Kelsey-Fry, a supporter of Occupy London, said: “If you were to measure the power in an idea by the extent to which it is suppressed, then Occupy were articulating something profound.

“Not only were we likened to terrorists at the time, called a cancer by Boris Johnson and witnessed brutal policing on several occasions back then, but even today, the City of London Corporation’s own police force are busy ensuring that those who challenge the disastrous current economic system are portrayed as a bogeyman.”

A spokesman for City of London police said: “The City of London police engages with a range of audiences on topics including crime, terrorism, personal safety and online protection in order to protect and educate people. The presentations are delivered alongside officers from community policing, as well as representatives from the City of London Corporation.

“A section of the presentation mentions protest groups. This is not an attempt to label them as terrorists, but an opportunity to discuss other policing issues that could affect educational establishments in the Square Mile.”

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/19/occupy-london-counter-terrorism-presentation-al-qaida?CMP=share_btn_tw