Student protestors may be on police watch-lists

Reports have surfaced that the personal details of thousands of activists are being retained by the police on a vast national intelligence database. This is referred to as the logging of “domestic extremists”, despite the peaceful nature of the majority of protests.

This surveillance covers those who are involved in four main protest areas: animal rights campaigns, far-right groups, “extreme left-wing” protest groups including anti-war campaigners and “environmental extremism” such as Climate Camp. Government expenditure on this scheme totals nine million pounds a year, part of which is directed towards the staff of 100 people investigating protests.

A high police presence was visible at the recent Weapons out of Warwick protest against arms companies at an engineering careers fair, where peaceful protestors were forcibly ejected from the premises, although not asked to give their details. The scheme therefore has the potential to directly affect Warwick students.

Lev Taylor, a third year PPE student, heavily involved in various campaigns such as Fair Trade at Warwick and People and Planet, commented, “This represents the most oppressive forces of the state, however it is nothing new. Its lucky that it has come to public attention.” He emphasised the fact that such surveillance is disproportionately directed against protesters of ethnic and poorer socio-economic backgrounds. However, it seems this is unlikely to deter Warwick students from continuing involvement in activism of all kinds. Taylor added, “This is intended to frighten people but realistically it will not.”

When asked about his response to this level of police interference, Matt Jenkins, a first year history student stated, “I’m pretty sure I’m on a list. When campaigning for CND last year, I got arrested and was forced to give all my details. And they’ve started videoing protests recently.”

The nature of such police surveillance raises worrying questions about police infringement on the civil right to free speech and protest in Britain. Aidan Barlow, a third year politics and sociology student, said, “The true domestic extremists are not the protestors. We feel disdain for the officers, whose job is clearly not to be there for public protection and safety, and is instead to gather information on the groups who struggle to make the world a better place.”