An MP who was involved in last month’s G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds.
Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards.
Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon.
Brake, a member of the influential home affairs select committee, will raise the allegations when he gives evidence before parliament’s joint committee on human rights on Tuesday.
“When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, ‘There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'” Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification. Brake has produced a draft report of his experiences for the human rights committee, having received written statements from people in the crowd. These include Tony Amos, a photographer who was standing with protesters in the Royal Exchange between 5pm and 6pm. “He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable,” Amos said. “Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked.”
Amos added: “He was pretty much inciting the crowd. He could not be called an observer. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories but this really struck me. Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has received 256 complaints relating to the G20 protests. Of these, 121 have been made about the use of force by police officers, while 75 relate to police tactics. The IPCC said it had no record of complaints involving the use of police agents provocateurs. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We would never deploy officers in this way or condone such behaviour.”
Inciting a riot….still against the law.
The needed practice delivering wood shampoos©.
i cant wait to see the day when the protestors show up in riot gear…
this has been happening since BEFORE the 60’s and the walks on washington, and MLK, and many others..
Just because a GROUP is right has no meaning to GOV, and corps..
I believe this is a normal practice for police forces around the world. They need a way to discredit protesters and also a way to end it nice and fast before it gets out of hand.
Why? Because “cracking-down” on crime is good politics?
But no convenient crime to crack-down on? Provoke some!
Remember all those scary “terrorist sleeper cells” the Bush administration kept busting to keep up their approval ratings?
Go back and Google them for follow-up. Most of it was a big whole lotta nothin’
Google FBI agent “Craig Monteilh”
These moderate Muslims were alarmed by this mosque newcomer who kept trying to provoke them to say radical stuff!
Blech.
is it just me, or does every one of these articles about the british police remind you of V for Vendetta. remember remember the 5th of november…oops, now they are watching me!!!
Human beings can be such devious assholes.
This can’t be right. Police and government officials are only there to protect the people. We need bigger government, more services, and more police. Just like Obama says.
Even if true I doubt if the authorities meant to do eaxtly what was described.
What did happen during the sixties is that _sometimes_ the government double agents ended up being the main movers in creating violence while trying to “blend in” with the more violent elements in the protest movement who sometimes just weren’t all that violent.
As I have noted before we need security forces but if they don’t find enough serious enemies of the state to keep them busy they can get rather out of hand themselves.
Hum, how many countries have been able to remain strong long by shitting on their own citizens and their rights.
Who is in charge over there, certainly not the people. To think, they actually believe they live in a democracy.
I bet the person in charge is an English relative of Vladimir Putin, who is/was a former MI6/MI5 agent????
How else, can you logically explain what’s happening to a once vibrant democracy.
Why? Because peaceful demonstrators don’t make for good CNN coverage…
They do this because they want to illustrate to the public at large that people who take to the streets and protest are all anarchists, criminals and rioters, and that its best to just shut up and stay at home.
Oh, Please!
How about this for a little bit of obvious reality?
“Liberal Democrat Tom Brake” is simply grandstanding! Needs to impress his Liberal G20 Mob voterbase.
“Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up.”…”The IPCC said it had no record of complaints involving the use of police agents provocateurs.”
Don’t expect to hear anymore about this. Simply the result of MOB MENTALITY.
Practice makes perfect!
# 14 Ah_Yea
Your an obvious shill for the new British Gestapo apparatus.
“Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up.”…”The IPCC said it had no record of complaints involving the use of police agents provocateurs.”
Nothing at all reassuring about a review of the most easily manipulated evidence, by the state. The IPCC is publicly a known corrupt agency and the IPCC has failed to bring any significant reforms and will only say what the MI6/MI5 demands it to say.
Why? Because infiltrating peaceful groups with agents who will incite violence is useful for governments who want to discredit those groups. Same sh*t happens here in the US of A. It’s not about liberty or what is right. It’s about exerting control.
noname said, on May 10th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Hum, how many countries have been able to remain strong long by shitting on their own citizens and their rights.
Who is in charge over there, certainly not the people. To think, they actually believe they live in a democracy.
I bet the person in charge is an English relative of Vladimir Putin, who is/was a former MI6/MI5 agent????
How else, can you logically explain what’s happening to a once vibrant democracy.
Are talking about England or the US?
Old news.
They need an excuse to intimidate otherwise peaceful protesters. The public would not stand for beating, gassing, fire hosing, etc., innocent people. So they need some not-so-innocents to show up to justify their show of force.
This is a localized version of a false flag operation.
Fuckin’ cops.
So, a plain clothes officer approached MP Tom Brake and told him to throw bottles at police and he did? Who would be stupid enough to do that?
Tom Brake, and those who actually believed this happened??
#24, Makes sense now. Thanks.
Yeah, Ah-Yea and Paddy- is in good company with Alfred1. LOL! Pat on the head.
This is SOP for this bunch of elitists/kleptocrats. Look at the Seattle WTO protests, for instance; there was a whole lot of this, and it was done so sloppily that there is a great deal of good investigative reporting on it.
#27 Li
I’m not being critical because I think you may be right. I would like to read up on this, but I have not been able to find any good investigations.
Do you have any links to reputable sources about Seattle protesters being set up?
Thanks in advance!
Hmm, there was a great report from a local TV station after the WTO protests where they tracked down the anarchist group that was causing all of the trouble, and found that they were staying on city property at the expense of the state, and were basically given free reign the entire time. Can’t find it now, and if I find it again I’ll pass it along.
This has happened elsewhere as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow Note that the ‘anarchists’ have precisely the same boots as the cops.
grr, silly www limitations.
youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow
Awesome! I very much appreciate your help. One of the very best reasons I contribute to this blog is to learn things I otherwise would never be exposed to.
Thanks again for taking the time to get me some additional information!
Saw the video.
Very good and scary.
Specially the last video posted by Dr. No.
Ok, I have to take it back. It is obvious that some police are doing something stupid at some of these protests.
It boggles the mind that they thought they were above the law or would not be caught.