The Undercover Research Group has released a statement inviting all those affected by undercover policing to get in contact and attend one of their roundtable discussions. For the full release see below.
Original article posted 25th January 2016 here: http://undercoverresearch.net/2016/01/25/invitation-were-you-targeted-by-undercover-police/
The scandal of Mark Kennedy and the spying on the Lawrence family is only the tip of the iceberg. Political policing has targeted social justice and protest groups for a long time, but we are at a unique point in history where we have a chance to do something about it, not least learn the extent to which we were targeted.
This message is going out to all those political activists – left wing, blacklisted, anarchist, labour or union, environmental or animal rights, anti-fascist, peace and justice campaigners – who were spied on by undercover police or have strong reasons to believe they were.
We are organising a series of roundtable discussions around the country to serve several purposes:
- 1. To start hearing your story in a safe way; and to understand the effects of undercover policing on people and campaigns;
- 2. To share experience in researching suspicions;
- 3. To discuss what options are available in terms of legal action or the Public Inquiry into undercover policing; including identifying potential miscarriages of justice, understanding the disruption caused, etc;
- 4. To develop a strong, collective message about the abuses done in the name of undercover policing and demand that the inquiry addresses them properly, not least by providing the necessary information to answer people’s doubts and concerns.
This is not a public meeting or for those merely interested. Those will happen another time. For now we wish to focus on those affected by the presence of undercovers in their campaigns and lives. These meetings are not open to the media, right-wing campaigners or police. Where possible we will seek to provide safe spaces as we are aware of how sensitive some of the state intrusion has been.
We are planning a number of these roundtables around the country:
- 9 Feb (Tue): Brighton
- 11 Feb (Thu): Oxford
- 21 Feb (Sun): Cardiff
- 22 Feb (Mon): Bristol
- 29 Feb (Mon): Nottingham
- 15 March (Tue): Leeds
- 16 March (Wed): Manchester
- 17 March (Thur): Liverpool
- 21 March (Mon): Norwich (TBC)
If you want to attend please drop us an email. Please forward far and wide. If you cannot make one of these meeting but are interested, or if you want to help setting one up elsewhere, please get in touch.
Organised with the support of:
- Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance
- The Network for Police Monitoring
- Support URG work
