UK “counterterror” police list Palestine Solidarity Campaign
A demonstration in London co-organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, 11 May 2019
Asa Winstanley reports in The Electronic Intifada:
British police “counterterror” document listed the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a host of other peaceful groups last year alongside Nazis and other extremists. The document, revealed by The Guardian last week, is intended to help public sector workers identify “extremist” groups.
On its final page it encourages readers to anonymously “report suspicious activity” to counterterrorism police. The document is part of Britain’s controversial “Prevent” strategy, often criticized as Islamophobic.
“The inclusion of peaceful campaigning groups in a counterterrorism guidance document is grotesque” and a threat to basic democratic rights, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s director Ben Jamal told The Electronic Intifada. “The document must be immediately rescinded.”
The five-page guide begins with a “Right wing signs and symbols aid.” It shows logos of Nazi and other fascist and far-right groups. They include some of the country’s most violent white supremacists groups, such as Combat 18, the English Defence League and even banned Nazi group National Action. The second half of the document has a similar guide but, for “left wing and associated single issue groups.”