Anarchists should be reported, advises Westminster anti-terror police | UK news

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  • MBD on education: Reporting the badly behaved
    http://mbdoneducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/reporting-badly-behaved.html

    Dear Met Police,
    (cc The Guardian Letters page)

    Further to your request to report anarchists formally to you (Guardian, 1st August) I would like to report a dangerous person living in my community in central London.

    Your definition in the police guidance is that “Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy.” You encourage citizens to notify police of any such individuals immediately. Under these terms, I would like to report a Mr. George Osborne of 11 Downing Street. I am uncertain of the exact motivations for his actions, or indeed the detail of many of them, as (like most extremists) his political philosophy appears piecemeal, dated, self-contradictory and an odd fusion of dogma, prejudice and fantasy.

    My suspicions about his behaviour include: an intention to destroy all public services in the UK; to trigger a national and possibly international economic collapse; to eliminate all legislation relating to protecting workers or the environment; to cease the effective functioning of any branch of government; to reduce people to a state of fending for themselves in a stateless society; and to allow an anarchic free-for-all in labour markets, pensions, and commodities. Whilst I am aware that you will be shocked by this violent and wide-ranging programme for total social disaster, I assure you that a raid on 11 Downing Street will secure detailed documents supporting all my suspicions in this regard.

    As a concerned citizen and active member of the “Big Society” promoted by his neighbour David at number 10, I write to inform you of the serious risk to Britain posed by this extremist individual. I urge you to take swift action – as I will urge my fellow concerned citizens to continue to ring your helpline to back up my reporting of this vile man.

    Yours sincerely,
    Michael Drennan,
    address withheld (but probably not for very long after this letter.)

    j’ai ri aussi

    • fin de l’histoire ou bien

      Scotland Yard dismisses counter-terror unit’s bizarre appeal for anti-anarchist whistleblowers as ’badly worded’

      The Metropolitan police initiated an embarrassing climbdown after a police station in Belgravia, west London, published a leaflet asking the public and businesses to report anyone with anarchist sympathies.

      The call for information on a political rather than criminal group echoed a similar appeal for information about al-Qaida activity and “could have been better worded”, Scotland Yard admitted.

      City of Westminster police’s “counter-terrorist focus desk” had last week called for anti-anarchist whistleblowers, stating next to an anarchist emblem: “Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police.”

      The move angered some anarchists who insisted that being an anarchist does not imply criminal behaviour.

      After 24 hours trying to discover why the counter-terrorism desk at Belgravia police station had issued the injunction under the banner of Project Griffin, an initiative raising awareness of counter-terrorism and security issues among business, public sector and security personnel, Scotland Yard said: "The Metropolitan police service does not seek to stigmatise those people with legitimate political views.

      “People purporting to be anarchists have caused criminal damage this year to business premises, and government buildings in Westminster. The message we were trying to convey was to gather information on criminal acts to help us prevent crime and bring offenders to justice.”

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/01/grass-war-met-police-anarchists