Police Scotland Sent Out Guide Listing Extinction Rebellion With neo-Nazis
Guide listing environment protest groups
alongside white supremacists had been widely condemned
Scottish
counter-terrorism officers sent out a controversial guide listing Extinction Rebellion
and Greenpeace alongside neo-Nazi groups within the past few weeks, despite
widespread condemnation of the document.
Police
Scotland confirmed to the Guardian that it had
circulated documents listing the environment protest groups alongside dozens of
extremist neo-Nazi organisations, including several banned for terrorist
violence, across the public sector last month.
Those
include medical staff in the NHS who were sent it in late January by a
detective inspector in Police Scotland’s
counter-terrorism unit in Edinburgh as part of the UK-wide counter-terrorism
Prevent strategy. The officer invited recipients to distribute it widely within
their organisations.
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The
two documents, a 23-page “Signs and Symbols” guidance booklet and a four-page
list of those symbols, include groups such as Animal Aid, Peta, Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion
(XR) and Stop the Badger Cull alongside the banned neo-Nazi
group National Action, the white supremacist group Scottish Dawn, the National
Front and Britain First.
Some
of the environment groups involved are considering legal
action. Echoing the stance of police forces in
England, Police Scotland said the document stressed not all groups listed, were
seen as terrorist.
The
23-page document, written in June 2019, says: “Membership or support of these
groups does not indicate criminality; much of the activity conducted by such
groups is lawful protest.”
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more
John
Finnie, a Scottish Green party MSP and former police officer, said the police
had a duty to distinguish much more clearly between non-violent protest groups
and neo-Nazi terrorists, particularly since anti-terrorism legislation was very
different to that for civil protest.
“Peaceful
protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and rights and must not be conflated
with violent acts that seek to cause people harm,” Finnie said.
“Sometimes
these protests seek to cause major disruption or inconvenience, and sometimes
this falls out with the law, but that is a world away from extremist groups who
present a real danger to our citizens. It’s completely disproportionate.”
Finnie
said the force’s decision to circulate these documents undermined recent
assurances he was given by its deputy chief constable Malcolm Graham that
Police Scotland had not distributed another controversial document which labelled
Extinction Rebellion an extremist ideology alongside
proscribed Islamist and neo-Nazi groups.
That
document, produced by a police unit called Counter Terrorism Policing South
East (CTPSE), was widely circulated across the public sector in England. Police
chiefs apologised and withdrew it.
In a
letter to Finnie on 24 January, Graham said his force “does not consider or
designate Extinction Rebellion as a ‘terrorist group’ or to be extremist or
pose a national security threat. However, we recognise the negativity that may
come from linking counter-terrorism policing with the activities of such lawful
protest groups.”
Finnie
said: “I am disappointed that despite telling me groups like XR, Greenpeace and CND are
not regarded as terrorists, Police Scotland continues to brief councils and
businesses that they present a threat to the public.”
In
January last year, Police Scotland warned businesses in central Edinburgh to
prepare for a demonstration by Extinction Rebellion by ensuring there were no
dustbins, “debris” or ladders nearby; to test their alarms, and to ensure any
nearby scaffolding was watched by security staff.
The
document was published under the auspices of a UK-wide security advisory body run
by police and the government called Cross-sector Safety and Security
Communications (CSSC), set up in 2011 to increase security before the 2012
London Olympics.
It
opened a Scottish office to help police, councils and businesses prepare for
the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The
Police Scotland warning said: “From previous demos it will be peaceful, but
Extinction Rebellion are happy to be arrested to promote their cause. Given
this the advice to the business community is to refresh security protocols and
prevent entry to private space without the proper protocols in place.”
During
an afternoon of peaceful protests, Extinction Rebellion occupied the
Scottish parliament’s debating chamber for several hours without
any arrests. Several months later, its activists blocked rush-hour traffic in
central Edinburgh by gluing themselves to the road and locking themselves
together.
A
spokeswoman for Extinction Rebellion Scotland said: “This what early stage
authoritarianism looks like. [The] effect is that we now have to worry about
what our doctors and teachers will think about our involvement in trying to
protect the planet. Including XR on counter-terrorism pamphlets influences the
public perception of who we are. But we are just members of the public trying
to make a difference.”
DCS
Phil Chapman, head of organised crime and counter terrorism with Police
Scotland, defended the force’s handling of the signs and symbols material. “We
are regularly provided with a range of guidance documents to support consistent
messaging and assist our officers, staff and partners,” he said.
“Officers
provide advice to partners on a whole range of issues, some of which are not
related to terrorism, for example protecting crowded places at times of
protest. Guidance is often shared with partners and other interested parties to
improve collaboration and understanding.”
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