The Green Party today questioned the validity of a £9m police scheme for monitoring thousands of political activists under the heading "domestic extremists."
Following revelations by The Guardian newspaper (1) leading Greens were asking why peaceful, harmless protest was being regarded by ACPO, the Association of Chief Police Officers, under the heading "terrorism and allied matters."
Jenny Jones AM, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Green Party's national spokesperson on home affairs, commented today: "The police seem to have overlooked the fact that protest is legal."
She added: "I'll be asking the Metropolitan Police commissioner if I'm on the database."
According to The Guardian, senior officers have acknowledged that "domestic extremism" - a term coined by police, but which has no basis in law - can include "activists suspected of minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience."
Notes to Editors
1) "Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists': Thousands of activists monitored on network of overlapping databases," Paul Lewis, Rob Evans and Matthew Taylor, Sunday 25 October 2009 20.29 GMT: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-domestic-extremists-database