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Outrage as protesters monitored |
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By Stefan Morkis and Graeme Cleland, 29 May 2006
The Courier
CONTROVERSY OVER a new police unit designed to
prevent extremists recruiting in Dundee has intensified after officers
monitored a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the city centre on
Saturday.
Police have now been accused of “bizarre
heavy-handedness” by grassroots organisation Scotland Against
Criminalising Communities (SACC) after its decision to make their
Special Branch Community Contact Unit permanent.
The unit was set up last year to gather intelligence
from community leaders and education chiefs on any extremist groups
looking to recruit students from Dundee’s two universities. After a
successful trial, Tayside Police announced last week that the unit
would be made permanent and other police forces across Scotland were
considering launching their own versions.
However, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
(SPSC) members were alarmed to discover they were under surveillance
while protesting outside the Disney Store on Saturday. The group was
handing out leaflets protesting against hundreds of millions of dollars
of investment in Israel by a Disney Corporation subsidiary company.
SPSC said the money would be used to help Israel keep settlements in
the occupied West Bank that are illegal under international law. Branch chairman Alan Hinnrichs was one of half a
dozen SPSC members handing out the flyers and talking to the public and
he said the response from shoppers was “very positive”. But, he
expressed concern about the fact the group were monitored by Tayside
Police special branch community contact unit officers throughout their
time on Murraygate.
Mr Hinnrichs described the surveillance as a
“complete over-reaction” to a peaceful demonstration—and said it
confirmed the fears of political activists who believe the unit might
be used to unfairly monitor activists engaged in lawful activities. His complaints were backed by the SACC, who have
called for a return to “responsible policing.” A spokesman said, “There
is a grave danger that policies like this will lead to people being
placed under surveillance or even being arrested as a result of
political profiling. This would be an outrage were it to happen to a
person of any age; for young people to be targeted in this way is
indescribably shocking.
“Tayside Police is earning a reputation for a bizarre kind of heavy handedness. “Last autumn a pedestrian was threatened with charges under anti-terror legislation for walking through Dundee docks.
“Police took a very heavy-handed approach towards
Dundee protesters who were making their way to the Gleneagles G8 demo
last July. “There have been persistent reports of police
monitoring political protest in Tayside. It looks very much as if local
police are using the people of Tayside as pawns in a game directed at
strengthening the position of the force in UK policing.” |
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