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For some time,  campaigners from groups involved in the Network for Police Monitoring  (NetPol) have suspected there is more to these officers, created in  response to severe criticism by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s  ‘Adapting to Protest’ report of intelligence gathering at the 2009 G20  protests, than their public image suggests.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn March this year, NetPol \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/netpol.org\/2013\/03\/13\/police-liaison-officers-intelligence-gathering-self-policing-and-the-dangers-of-talking-to-the-police\/\" title=\"Police Liaison Officers – Intelligence gathering, self-policing and the dangers of talking to the police\"\u003Ehighlighted\u003C\/a\u003E  how Chief Inspector Sonia Davis, head of the Police Liaison Teams (PLT)  unit in the Metropolitan Police, gave evidence as a prosecution witness  in the trial of Critical Mass cyclists arrested on the evening of the  Olympics opening ceremony. Under cross examination, Davis admitted that  PLTs gather information on protesters and had even been covertly  deployed at previous Critical Mass rides to try to identify ‘leaders’.  This might sound a lot like intelligence gathering to most people,  although Davis and other senior officers deny this. However, the  standard operating procedures for the deployment of Police Liaison  Officers had never been made available. Without greater transparency, it  was difficult to been difficult to see whether the Met’s claims were  truthful.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn early July, NetPol was approached by a constable from the Met’s  Gateway Team, who coordinate and train Police Liaison Officers. He had  read NetPol’s concerns about the Critical Mass court case on our website  and, in the suspiciously friendly way we have come to expect, invited  NetPol to participate in forthcoming PLT training, saying this would  “offer a real insight into how we deploy Police Liaison Teams and may go  some way to alleviating your concerns”. Collectively, NetPol members  decided to politely decline, but asked for copies of the training  materials and other policies and procedures that might provide some  genuine insight without participating in what felt like a public  relations exercise.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIncredibly, the officer told us the only way we could access  information inevitably available at training sessions we had been  invited to attend was through a Freedom of Information Act request. So  in late July, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/request\/role_of_police_liaison_officers\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Met Police Liaison Officers Freedom of Information request\"\u003Ewe submitted one\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn August, the Met provided a surprisingly detailed response \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.statewatch.org\/news\/2013\/sep\/uk-protest-plos.html\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Statewatch | Police Liaison Officers\"\u003E(summarised here by Statewatch\u003C\/a\u003E).  Amongst the training materials released was a presentation on Protester  Tactics that contains a hugely disingenuous definition of people  involved in protest: we know that the national domestic extremism  database contains information on a far wider range of people than those  described here as ‘extremists’:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ro2izDYU_9c\/UmVnDVJX7QI\/AAAAAAAAEiI\/pW2NHGM-qKI\/s1600\/Protester+tactics+image.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"276\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ro2izDYU_9c\/UmVnDVJX7QI\/AAAAAAAAEiI\/pW2NHGM-qKI\/s400\/Protester+tactics+image.png\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EIndeed, with recent demonstrations like the Tower Hamlets anti-EDL  protest in September facing such intense restrictions that the Met has,  for all intents and purposes, itself become an events organiser, this is  probably far closer to the truth:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-qvYMZfLpAyc\/UmVnKkcE3II\/AAAAAAAAEiQ\/Y_dvXagfEZc\/s1600\/Alternate+pyramid+diagram.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"282\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-qvYMZfLpAyc\/UmVnKkcE3II\/AAAAAAAAEiQ\/Y_dvXagfEZc\/s320\/Alternate+pyramid+diagram.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EThe document released by the Met on \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/request\/170321\/response\/422052\/attach\/5\/BLOWE%20Crowd%20Psychology%20and%20Communication%20v1%201.pdf.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Presentation - Crowd Psychology and Communications\"\u003ECrowd Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E  (PDF) is also interesting: it’s acknowledgement that crowds have  “multiple and separate psychological groups” that “will not always be  influenced towards violence by other groups in the crowd” is at odds  with the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/netpol.org\/2013\/09\/09\/mass-arrest-an-abuse-of-power\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Mass arrest – an abuse of power\"\u003EMet’s use of mass arrests\u003C\/a\u003E  to sweep up and arrest protesters, the vast majority of whom later face  no further action (as we have seen with cases from 145 arrests of UK  Uncut activists at Fortnum \u0026amp; Mason in March 2011 to the 286 arrests  of anti-fascists in Tower Hamlets in September 2013). In both cases, the  claimed aim of PLTs to “differentiate between groups in the crowd,  particularly when using force” seems to come a distant second to  intelligence gathering. In the case of direct action at Fortnum \u0026amp;  Mason, the then Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/cm201011\/cmselect\/cmhaff\/uc917-i\/uc91701.htm\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Uncorrected Transcript - Policing of TUC March on 26 March 2011\"\u003Eadmitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee\u003C\/a\u003E  that “the fact that we arrested as many people as we did is so  important to us because that obviously gives us some really important  intelligence opportunities”.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMost revealing are the\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/request\/170321\/response\/422052\/attach\/19\/BLOWE%20SOP.doc.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Standard Operating Procedure for the Operational Deployment of Protestor Liaison Teams (PLTs) in the MPS\"\u003E Standard Operating Procedures\u003C\/a\u003E  (PDF), which specifically address the intelligence, acknowledging that  “any suggestion that PLT’s are intended to be ‘intelligence gatherers’  is likely to undermine efforts to build trust and confidence amongst  protest groups and individuals”. However, it goes on to say:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E“recent experience does tell us that PLT’s do gather accurate  intelligence in the normal course of their duties. This is mainly  because, pre and post event they are engaging with protest groups and do  elicit information in the course of these duties which could be  regarded as intelligence . This could include : numbers attending, start  and finish times, route, intentions of the group, others groups likely  to associate themselves with the event, persons likely to attend, etc .  Similarly, on the day of the event, the PLT’s are likely to be working  inside or around the group in question and, as a result, \u003Cb\u003Eare likely to generate high-quality intelligence from the discussions they are having with group members [emphasis added]\u003C\/b\u003E.”\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt adds that “\u003Cb\u003Eall PLT officers must ensure all intelligence is recorded on Crimint\u003C\/b\u003E” (a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Crimint\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wikipedia | Crimint\"\u003Ecriminal intelligence database\u003C\/a\u003E)  and all intelligence obtained during an event “is passed to Bronze  Intelligence for analysis and dissemination to Silver and the rest of  the Command Team (in the same way as any other intelligence)”. The  document goes on to describe the deployment of PLTs as a “tactical  option” to deal with identified ‘threats’ to an event, an alternative to  deploying Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) spotters and photographers  that is the “least intrusive” option.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis confirms what we have suspected for some time: Police Liaison  Officers do have an intelligence gathering role and, in certain  circumstances, this may become their main role. This means that if  individual protesters chat to them, details of a conversation may end up  on a Metropolitan Police database.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cb\u003EUPDATE\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOne a final note, at least the Met provided the information we asked for. A \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/request\/role_of_police_liaison_officers_2\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Sussex Police |  Role of Police Liaison Officers\"\u003Esimilar request to Sussex Police\u003C\/a\u003E  was refused. Despite the extensive use of PLTs at anti-fracking  demonstrations in Balcombe and anti-fascist protests in Brighton, the  force claims it has no agreed, formal policies, operational documents or  standard operating procedures – a claim that lacks any credibility.  Even if it is using national guidance produced by the College of  Policing, Sussex Police is legally obliged to release this: the Freedom  of Information Act covers information held by a public authority, not  just data it creates or owns. Unfortunately, a similarly opaque response  has been given by Thames Valley Police. NetPol is looking at taking  this further with the Information Commissioner.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMeanwhile, NetPol is currently awaiting the outcome of \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/request\/guidance_on_police_liaison_offic\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"College of Policing | Guidance on Police Liaison Officers\"\u003Ean FoI request to the College of Policing\u003C\/a\u003E, which is due in early November.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/6270857265915295106\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=6270857265915295106","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6270857265915295106"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6270857265915295106"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/10\/spies-in-blue-bibs.html","title":"Spies in Blue Bibs"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ro2izDYU_9c\/UmVnDVJX7QI\/AAAAAAAAEiI\/pW2NHGM-qKI\/s72-c\/Protester+tactics+image.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-768334781799501979"},"published":{"$t":"2013-10-08T19:03:00.002+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-10-08T19:03:55.321+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Campaigns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Policing"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Resisting Police Surveillance - An Overview"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThis is an unedited version of an article I wrote that appears under the title \"Keeping an eye on us\" in the current issue of \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ERed Pepper\u003C\/a\u003E magazine. It aims to give an overview of the complex issue of police surveillance and undercover spies.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ctable align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-P4K9fkgTM_U\/UlRH9mMSkOI\/AAAAAAAAEgQ\/PE4mRIqGl3M\/s1600\/FIT-UKuncut.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"332\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-P4K9fkgTM_U\/UlRH9mMSkOI\/AAAAAAAAEgQ\/PE4mRIqGl3M\/s640\/FIT-UKuncut.jpg\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003ESurveillance officers at Kings Cross station for UKUncut protest, April 2012 [Photo: \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/copwatcher\/8657743187\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ECopwatcher on Flickr\u003C\/a\u003E]\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003EThe existence of a secret Special Branch unit that had infiltrated and gathered intelligence on political groups has been known for some time: the journalist Peter Taylor \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2002\/oct\/23\/ukcrime.immigrationpolicy\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Espoke to\u003C\/a\u003E a number of anonymous former members of the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) from the 1970s and 1980s for his television series 'True Spies' as far back as 2002. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHowever, the unmasking in October 2010 of police officer Mark Kennedy, who had worked undercover for seven years in the environmental protest movement, was unique. For the first time, a police spy had been publicly named and it led to further revelations about other undercover officers, including \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2011\/jan\/19\/undercover-police-officer-lynn-watson\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E'Lynn Watson\u003C\/a\u003E' in Leeds, '\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2011\/jan\/19\/undercover-police-officer-mark-jacobs\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EMarco \/ Mark Jacobs\u003C\/a\u003E' in Cardiff and \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2011\/jan\/19\/wife-fourth-police-spy-children\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EPC Andrew 'Jim' Boyling\u003C\/a\u003E inside the roads protest group Reclaim The Streets in London. It has also triggered an internal Metropolitan police review led by the chief constable of Derbyshire, Mick Creedon, and a two year investigation by Guardian journalists Paul Lewis and Rob Evans, which has so far identified 12 police spies inside different protest movements. The publication in June this year of their book, “Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police”, with an accompanying Channel 4 Dispatches programme, has reignited public and media interest in the conduct of these officers and the lack of accountability of undercover police operations.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnravelling the secret identities of men like Mark Kennedy has revealed genuine individual suffering that has resulted from their lies and deception, including the cynical sexual abuse of women activists, who have \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans\/2011\/dec\/16\/legal-action-over-police-spies\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ebegun legal action\u003C\/a\u003E against five officers, and the blacklisting of  workers in the construction industry based on information passed to private companies by the police. However, much of the headline-catching and often shocking information from former Special Demonstration Squad officer Peter Francis, the Guardian's whistleblower who is central to Lewis and Evans' book, focuses  on the period from the late 1980s to 2000 when Francis was working undercover. His exposures include the key role of one former SDS officer Bob Lambert, now an academic at the University of St Andrews, in co-authoring the London Greenpeace leaflet that led to the infamous McLibel defamations trial in 1994. Francis has also revealed the targeting of the family of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence and of anti-racist and black justice campaigns throughout the 1990s, including one, the Newham Monitoring Project in east London, that I was active in at the time.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHowever, keeping the spotlight on activities involving the now-disbanded SDS during the 1990s has, to some extent, allowed the Metropolitan Police to try and distance itself from what it is portraying as 'historical allegations' that are hard to investigate: in \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/content.met.police.uk\/News\/Commissioner-statement-following-allegations-about-undercover-officers\/1400018214005\/1257246745756\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ea statement\u003C\/a\u003E, Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said, “finding out the truth about what happened 20 years ago is not a straightforward task”. Although the surveillance of the Lawrence family in particular is embarrassing for the Met, it has  distracted attention away from undercover officers like Kennedy,  Watson and Jacobs, who were active much later, during the last decade. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUntil they were uncovered in 2010, all were part of a different and far bigger operation than the London-centred SDS, called the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), which operated undercover  throughout England and Wales. Until 2010, when it came under the command of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, the unit was based within the Association of Chief Police Officers, a private company, which meant that it was largely exempt from any public scrutiny. As recently as 2009, Mark Kennedy's activities for NPOIU led to the arrest of 114 climate activists in Nottingham for conspiring to shut down a coal-fired power station and came close to creating a serious miscarriage of justice: evidence he had gathered that exonerated many of the arrested activists was not disclosed to the defence at their trial and 20 people were \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/environment\/2010\/dec\/14\/ratcliffe-coal-station-activists\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Econvicted of conspiracy\u003C\/a\u003E. These convictions were only quashed when the case against six others collapsed after Kennedy has been exposed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnits like NPOIU that were created in the late 1990s represented an expansion in tactics by the police. The last decade has seen a significant shift towards gathering vast quantities of intelligence data and sifting it for patterns and connections to predict how individuals and groups will act, the basis for the National Intelligence Model originally developed in 2000 for tackling serious organised crime. The same approach has been adopted wholesale by officers monitoring protest movements and the result is that, with little democratic debate or accountability, large numbers of people who have been engaged in legitimate campaigning, many with no criminal records, are now on secret police databases for opinions or activities (like non-violent civil disobedience) that were once seen as “normal” in a free society. A \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2013\/jun\/25\/undercover-police-domestic-extremism-unit\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Erecent estimate\u003C\/a\u003E suggests there could be as many as 9000.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ctable align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--Xskkxrz890\/UlREulgu6UI\/AAAAAAAAEf4\/DPkFSUsJI0c\/s1600\/IMG_0554.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/--Xskkxrz890\/UlREulgu6UI\/AAAAAAAAEf4\/DPkFSUsJI0c\/s640\/IMG_0554.JPG\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003EPolice Liaison Officers at the anti-EDL protest in Tower Hamlets in September  [Photo: \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/copwatcher\/9703026756\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ECopwatcher on Flickr\u003C\/a\u003E]\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003EWhilst there are almost certainly still undercover officers at work, collecting data on an industrial scale involves more visible and far more invasive methods. Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) police photographers target 'persons of interest' at protests. Officers make widespread use of stop and search powers, as was evident at the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/england\/kent\/8488613.stm\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EClimate Camp at Kingsnorth in 2008\u003C\/a\u003E, or refuse to allow demonstrations to leave a police 'kettle' until they provide their names and addresses. It can even mean mass arrests as a form of intelligence-gathering, which according to \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/liberalconspiracy.org\/2011\/04\/08\/police-admit-ukuncut-arrests-made-for-intelligence-gathering\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Etestimony given in Parliament\u003C\/a\u003E by Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens, seems to have been the main reason for the detention of UKUncut activists who briefly occupied the Fortnum and Mason store in London in March 2011. A \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.whatdotheyknow.com\/request\/role_of_police_liaison_officers#incoming-422052\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Erecent Freedom of Information request \u003C\/a\u003Eabout Police Liaison Officers, the officers in blue bibs who have appeared at demonstrations since 2009 and whose role is supposedly facilitating protest and improving communication, has confirmed that they are \"likely to generate high-quality intelligence from the discussions they are having with group members\" and “must ensure all intelligence is recorded on Crimint\" [a Met police database]. During the trial of a number of cyclists arrested at a Critical Mass on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics last year, a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/netpol.org\/2013\/03\/13\/police-liaison-officers-intelligence-gathering-self-policing-and-the-dangers-of-talking-to-the-police\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Esenior officer revealed\u003C\/a\u003E that at least six Police Liaison Officers had attended the previous Critical Mass in plain clothes and on bikes to 'identify organisers'.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECoupled with the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.co.uk\/news\/archive\/2013-06\/26\/socmint\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Euse of technology to monitor social media\u003C\/a\u003E by the successor to the NPOIU, the National Domestic Extremism Unit, the police are aiming to build a detailed picture of individuals that involves far more than investigating and prosecuting offences. According to Val Swain of the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/netpol.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ENetwork for Police Monitoring (NetPol)\u003C\/a\u003E, which brings together a number of groups concerned about the rising level of protest surveillance, “while ostensibly acting against criminality, intelligence-led policing of protest has the potential to disrupt and deter the act of protest itself”. Put simply, its origins in tackling organised crime mean it is almost designed to frighten people into avoiding the exercise of their right to protest and worse, says Swain, it operates “away from the scrutiny of the criminal justice system, there are no checks and balances, no public visibility, and no effective accountability”. NetPol argues that it is this lack of accountability that protected undercover officers like Mark Kennedy for so many years and ensures that almost anyone can be treated as a potential criminal if they participate in many forms of protest. It is calling for the abolition of the  National Domestic Extremism Unit saying, “we do not accept that the case has been made for the necessity of continuing the activity of a unit that has been associated with unethical and possibly unlawful behaviour, nor any other that specialises in the surveillance of dissent”.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ctable align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-g8HUhHVMGfw\/UlRGO6ZGdVI\/AAAAAAAAEgE\/LUccALfVKeo\/s1600\/100_2862.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-g8HUhHVMGfw\/UlRGO6ZGdVI\/AAAAAAAAEgE\/LUccALfVKeo\/s640\/100_2862.JPG\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003EFIT photographer at Occupy's 'Meet The 1%' protest, May 2012 [Photo: \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/copwatcher\/7182879638\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ECopwatcher on Flickr\u003C\/a\u003E]\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003EBut while the surveillance of protest continues, what can individuals do to protect themselves? There are some simple steps: avoid talking to Police Liaison Officers, for example, would seem sensible considering what we now know about their intelligence role. The campaigners from FITwatch \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.fitwatch.org.uk\/2012\/10\/16\/stay-safe-stay-anonymous-2-masking-up\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Erecommend\u003C\/a\u003E using face coverings to ensure police Forward Intelligence Team officers cannot photograph you: masks are always legal to wear, although in certain circumstances a police officer may arrest you if you refuse to remove one. It is probably a good idea too to avoid carrying a mobile phone with every personal contact you have if there is a possibility that you may be arrested. NetPol is also arguing that protesters should avoid agreeing to leave a police 'kettle' in exchange for providing personal details to officers, particularly now that \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.judiciary.gov.uk\/media\/judgments\/2013\/susannah-mengesha-commissioner-police-metropolis-judgment-18062013\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ethe High Court has ruled\u003C\/a\u003E that it is “not lawful for the police to maintain the containment for the purposes of obtaining identification, whether by questioning or by filming [and] not lawful to require identification to be given and submission to filming as the price for release.” \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt is important to remember, more than anything, that almost every effort to gather more and more intelligence on protesters has been successfully resisted by activists and their lawyers. Meanwhile, if you want to find out what data the police already hold on you, consider making a Data Protection Act subject access request to find out if you are on the “domestic extremist” database. Guidance on how to do so is available from \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2011\/apr\/11\/domestic-extremist-police-databases\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EGuardian \u003C\/a\u003Eor here at \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/06\/how-to-find-out-what-secret-police.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ERandom Blowe\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/768334781799501979\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=768334781799501979","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/768334781799501979"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/768334781799501979"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/10\/resisting-police-surveillance-overview.html","title":"Resisting Police Surveillance - An Overview"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-P4K9fkgTM_U\/UlRH9mMSkOI\/AAAAAAAAEgQ\/PE4mRIqGl3M\/s72-c\/FIT-UKuncut.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-6809505911009163890"},"published":{"$t":"2013-09-01T18:35:00.001+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-09-01T18:35:56.720+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Anti-war"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Campaigns"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Photos From Yesterday's Stop The War Coalition Protest"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003EYesterday afternoon, I ambled into central London to take some pictures of the small Stop The War Coaition (StWC) demonstration billed as a 'victory march' after Thursday's \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/blog\/2013\/aug\/29\/mps-debate-syria-live-blog\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EHouse of Commons vote\u003C\/a\u003E blocking British involvement in military intervention in Syria.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe vote may well have been, as StWC's \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2013\/aug\/31\/syria-vote-corner-turned\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EAndrew Murray puts it\u003C\/a\u003E, \"a vindication of the mass anti-war movement in this country over the last decade\", but the march was a pale imitation of the protests from a decade ago: a couple of thousand people at most, mainly the usual subjects from the far left and from CND. Within a smaller crowd, it was considerably easier to spot the people who refuse to accept that, whilst bombing Syria will make a bad situation worse, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2013\/aug\/31\/syria-assad-war-criminal\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ESyria President Bashir Al-Assad is still a war criminal\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnyway, here are a few photos: there are more \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/copwatcher\/sets\/72157635310358871\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eon Flickr\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-WKodEBXApgI\/UiN415U3aZI\/AAAAAAAAEfI\/9ltH6e5JDPg\/s1600\/IMG_0487.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"693\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-WKodEBXApgI\/UiN415U3aZI\/AAAAAAAAEfI\/9ltH6e5JDPg\/s640\/IMG_0487.JPG\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Y3-J0lMhaWU\/UiN5F2tRdVI\/AAAAAAAAEfQ\/fcZvDTBydfY\/s1600\/IMG_0495.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Y3-J0lMhaWU\/UiN5F2tRdVI\/AAAAAAAAEfQ\/fcZvDTBydfY\/s640\/IMG_0495.JPG\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-pOql3Tz4vKE\/UiN5HVxSpOI\/AAAAAAAAEfY\/fh5a6w0LOYQ\/s1600\/IMG_0506.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-pOql3Tz4vKE\/UiN5HVxSpOI\/AAAAAAAAEfY\/fh5a6w0LOYQ\/s640\/IMG_0506.JPG\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-P6kEG2L5bU4\/UiN5NTOVNgI\/AAAAAAAAEfg\/TzbYekIVyCk\/s1600\/IMG_0518.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-P6kEG2L5bU4\/UiN5NTOVNgI\/AAAAAAAAEfg\/TzbYekIVyCk\/s640\/IMG_0518.JPG\" width=\"520\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/6809505911009163890\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=6809505911009163890","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6809505911009163890"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6809505911009163890"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/09\/photos-from-yesterdays-stop-war.html","title":"Photos From Yesterday's Stop The War Coalition Protest"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-WKodEBXApgI\/UiN415U3aZI\/AAAAAAAAEfI\/9ltH6e5JDPg\/s72-c\/IMG_0487.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-3923760445338352484"},"published":{"$t":"2013-06-17T09:34:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-06-17T09:34:04.953+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Campaigns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Photography"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Politics"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Photos from 'They Owe Us' Protest at Canary Wharf"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003EIn response to the combined crises of cuts and climate chaos and the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/network23.org\/stopg8\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ecall for a week of action against the G8\u003C\/a\u003E, a number of campaigners including UKUncut, Fuel Poverty Action and Disabled People Against the Cuts came  together on Friday to protest in Canary Wharf - what they called \"the penthouse suite of global capitalism\".\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ETechnically the protest was illegal -in 2011, its owners Canary Wharf Group \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2011\/11\/02\/court-bans-new-canary-wharf-camp-after-st-pauls-protest-206151\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eobtained an indefinite injunction \u003C\/a\u003Ethat prohibits \"any persons unknown remaining on the Canary Wharf estate in connection to protest action\" (all 14 million square feet is private land). The police presence on Friday was pretty heavy for a small protest of 150 people and as usual, Forward Intelligence Team photographers from the Metropolitan Police were busy gathering information for the police 'domestic extremist' database, but the event was entirely peaceful. Here are a few photos I took - the set is on Flickr \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/flic.kr\/s\/aHsjG8ifjt\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cobject height=\"390\" width=\"520\"\u003E \u003Cparam name=\"flashvars\" value=\"offsite=true\u0026lang=en-us\u0026page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026set_id=72157634168916415\u0026jump_to=9066188024\"\u003E\u003C\/param\u003E\u003Cparam name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/apps\/slideshow\/show.swf?v=124984\"\u003E\u003C\/param\u003E\u003Cparam name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"\u003E\u003C\/param\u003E\u003Cembed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/apps\/slideshow\/show.swf?v=124984\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" flashvars=\"offsite=true\u0026lang=en-us\u0026page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026set_id=72157634168916415\u0026jump_to=9066188024\" width=\"520\" height=\"390\"\u003E\u003C\/embed\u003E\u003C\/object\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/3923760445338352484\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=3923760445338352484","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/3923760445338352484"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/3923760445338352484"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/06\/photos-from-they-owe-us-protest-at.html","title":"Photos from 'They Owe Us' Protest at Canary Wharf"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-6461286764381405170"},"published":{"$t":"2012-12-20T16:36:00.001+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2012-12-20T16:36:43.313+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Activism"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Campaigns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Newham"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Bah Humbug! Newham Council Halts 'Too Political' Performance by Disabled Theatre Group"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003EIt has been some time since I have been able to add a new blog post, due to the total shoulder replacement operation I had on 7 November and the long period of recuperation that followed (t was only yesterday that I was finally allowed to type with both hands). So with Christmas approaching, I wanted to share a festive story, one that reflects badly on Newham council and its attitude towards disabled people but is eventually heart-warming in its proof of the power of direct action.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn 2011, the council started to provide free space at Katherine Road Community Centre for a community group of disabled performers, Act Up Theatre, to rehearse and perform their play \"Changing Attitudes\". This year the group was asked to perform a new play at a council Christmas event held yesterday at the Old Town Hall in Stratford.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHowever, just days before the performance, the group was told that it had been cancelled, because the play, \"Atos Stories\", was not festive enough and too political.. A \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.newham.gov.uk\/News\/2012\/December\/NewhamOver50sChristmasCelebrationandActUpTheatre.htm\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Estatement from the council\u003C\/a\u003E said:, \"we do not consider political satire or potentially distressing material to be in keeping with the theme or tone of this event\". .This is despite the fact that, a month beforehand, Act Up Theatre had provided information about the play and were advised the council were happy for them to perform.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/atosstories.blogspot.co.uk\/2012\/12\/atos-stories-cancelled.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Estatement on Monday\u003C\/a\u003E, Act Up said:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\"We are deeply disappointed that despite having information about the play for over a month, Newham Council have not chosen to discuss this with Act Up until the 14th December. We are also disappointed that the Council hasn't stopped to consider the enormous barriers  Act Up have overcome to even perform the play. The group have been working hard for the last three months, they deserve to be treated with far more respect than this.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWe wrote Atos Stories because we were mad at Atos. We wanted people with disabilities and without  to have vehicle to challenge the Work Capability Assessment in a creative and dramatic way. We thought Atos might stop that from happening. We never thought a local council would.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003EYesterday, members of the group picketed the council's event, briefly blocking the entrance.to the Old Town Hall. Proving the immensely positive impact of direct action, embarrassed council officers have apologised for what they called a 'fatal error' in the way they had dealt with the situation and have hurriedly promised to give Act Up an opportunity to perform at another council event in January.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn 2013, it might be a good idea too for the group to re-stage its play \"Changing Attitudes\" for the benefit of council staff, for it seems that some attitudes towards disabled people haven't changed that much, despite the repeated \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/2012\/08\/28\/paralympic-games-will-change-attitudes-disability_n_1836738.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Epledges made in the approach to the Paralympics\u003C\/a\u003E this summer. Sadly,. Newham council seems more than happy to associate itself with Paralympians wrapped in the Union flag, but it baulks at the idea of people with disabilities who are political and justifiably angry about their treatment by Atos.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIf you get a chance, do check out the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/atosstories.blogspot.co.uk\/2012\/12\/the-atos-christmas-carol-song-sheet.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EAtos Christmas Carol Song Sheet\u003C\/a\u003E, which is superb: all together now:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,\u003Cbr \/\u003ELet nothing ye dismay,\u003Cbr \/\u003EFor Atos your good saviour\u003Cbr \/\u003Ewill take your pains away,\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd force you down to Tesco\u003Cbr \/\u003ETo work till Christmas Day\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOh Tidings of Comfort and Joy, Comfort and Joy!\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cb\u003EMore information on the campaign against Atos can be found on the Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) website at \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.dpac.uk.net\/\"\u003Ewww.dpac.uk.net\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/6461286764381405170\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=6461286764381405170","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6461286764381405170"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6461286764381405170"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2012\/12\/bah-humbug-newham-council-halts-too.html","title":"Bah Humbug! Newham Council Halts 'Too Political' Performance by Disabled Theatre Group"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"2"}}]}});