Britain's anti-terrorist police are now asking shopkeepers and members of the public to report information about anarchists. This was announced in a newsletter produced last week by the "counter terrorist focus desk" in the central London district of Westminster.
The newsletter defines anarchism, as "a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy." It adds that "Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police."
The newsletter is part of Project Griffin, which aims to bring together police, local government and businesses "to protect our communities from terrorism, extremism and crime."
Police blame anarchists for violence that has erupted during protests against government spending cuts and student fee hikes in the past year. But anarchists said Monday they were supporters of a broad and legitimate political philosophy who were being unfairly targeted.
Andy Meinke of anarchist publisher Freedom Press said police should "arrest people for committing crimes, and not for what they believe."
"It's obviously ridiculous," he said. "They know exactly who we are. We get followed on demonstrations. Everyone who's prominent in British anarchism is known to the police."
Still, he said, there was an upside to the attention. "This is the best publicity we've had in years," Meinke said. The list of anarchists under surveillance include "Anarchists" (including quotation marks), ("Anarchists") (with quotation marks and round, but not square brackets, which are only for the [Anarchist-mathematicians/algebratian], The Raving Looney Anarchists, The Socialist-Anarchists, The "Bob" Collective, The Communist-Anarchists, The Communist-Anarchists Leninist-Trotskyites, The Libertarian-Anarchists, The Wig (not Whig) Anarchists, The Was (not Was) Anarchists, The People's Front of Anarchism, The Anarchist People's Front, the Anarchist Popular People's Front, the Campaign for a Free Anarchism, and the Popular Front of Anarchism. Continued on Page 47
#1
The "anarchists" *brag* about committing violence. If they actually believed what they spout, they'd be daring the police to arrest them, not whining about their civil liberties.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/01/2011 12:37 Comments ||
Top||
#2
A friend once said he was thinking of becoming an anarchist, but could not afford their uniform.
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