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I’m an occupier, not a terorrist

Whatever you may think of the Occupy movement and their methods, it’s fair to say they’re not Al Qaeda.

Not unless you’re City of London police that is.

In a new briefing on domestic terrorism and extremism threats to City businesses, the force has listed the Occupy movement alongside threats posed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), Al Qaeda and Belarusian terrorists. You can read the letter for yourself by clicking on the image to the right of this post.

This kind of lazy policing, lumping public order issues in with serious national security concerns, only undermines the public’s faith in the police and risks trivialising some very real threats to the UK. Furthermore, it only further antagonises the protestors at a time when dialogue about clearing the camp was begining to seem possible.

You may not regard the Occupy movement as a high point of democratic protest, but it is still a peaceful protest and Britain is still a democracy. As our Research Director Maria Fort recently warned, against the backdrop of the London 2012 Olympics this kind of police hostility towards people exercising their democratic rights is not healthy or conducive to a free society.

I hope the force quickly retracts this ridiculous and counter-productive statement and focuses on the real threats facing London.

 

 

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Civil Liberties, Olympics, Police, Terrorism Legislation
  • Annoyed City Worker

    Ahh yes, maybe they should’ve listed the Occupy movement on another piece of paper so there was a more obvious separation than UK/International, Domestic. But then you’d probably complain about the waste of paper.

    • David Jones

      It is headlined Terrorism/Extremism – if peaceful protest is ‘Extremism’ (even if it not really labelled terrorism) then why did our parents/grandparents bother with all that disagreeable fighting 70 years ago?

    • Anonymous

      Oh dear, sorry you’re being inconvenienced, when other peoples problems are being aired! I imagine it would be very different if your livelihood, pension, investment were under threat, or worse still… gone!

      Although not an occupier myself I do sympathise with the issue, and the whole point of a protest is to draw attention to the issue, but if draconian laws were introduced to save you any inconvenience what happens when YOU want to draw attention to an injustice perpetrated againat YOU?

  • John Name

    I agree with the article. Twats should not be confused with terrorists. The state cannot interfere with the right of peaceful protest, even when it is just twats doing the protesting.