Sir John Mitting
Undercover police officers have infiltrated more than 1,000 political groups in England and Wales since 1968, the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) has found.
The list of groups has not been released, but includes environmentalist, anti-racist and animal rights groups, as well as ‘far-left’ and ‘far-right’ parties, The Guardian reports. It should be noted that we don’t accept the pejorative terminology used by the establishment media to describe the victimised groups.
The total figure was disclosed after activists who were subject of police spying asked how many groups had been targeted.
Over the years state undercover operations, particularly those aimed at legal and legitimate groups, have led to illegal activity and morally dubious behaviour by the undercover police officers involved. This has resulted in official embarrassment and attempts by victims to win legal redress and Justice by those on the receiving end of the state’s dubious activities.
The far-reaching inquiry has been headed up by Sir John Mitting, a judge of the High Court.
Sir John replaced Sir Christopher Pitchford, who announced in February that he would step down from the role following his sad diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
The inquiry has been held up by legal applications by the police, who want to keep the proceedings private and the identity of undercover police officers confidential. They fear that Scotland Yard’s activities and methods, and even the identity of the numerous undercover cops involved, beyond the sixteen undercover police officers already revealed as state agents, manipulating and even controlling political groups, could be exposed.
Patrick Harrington of the Third Way think tank commented: “Legitimate political groups of all stripes have been subjected to infiltration and subversion for years. In a democracy we should keep a keen eye on the activities of the British secret police. Some of the stories concerning their behavior which have emerged are horrific.”
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