David Howarth has obtained email evidence via a Freedom of Information request that government officials have shared secret police intelligence with a private company.
The Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform emailed police intelligence to E.ON about peaceful protestors’ movements and meetings in the run-up to the Kingsnorth Climate Camp protest.
At first officials at BERR refused to release the emails, despite a request under the Freedom of Information Act from the Liberal Democrats. The decision was reversed on appeal and although large sections have been blacked out, they show:
- BERR officials passed a strategy document belonging to the “environmental protest community” to E.ON, saying: “If you haven’t seen this then you will be interested in its contents.”
- Government officials forwarded a Metropolitan police intelligence document to E.ON, detailing the movements and whereabouts of climate protesters in the run-up to demonstration.
- E.ON passed its planning strategy for the protest to the department’s civil servants, adding: “Contact numbers will follow.”
- BERR and E.ON tried to share information about their media strategies before the protest, and civil servants asked the energy company for press contacts for EDF, BP and Kent police.
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5 Comments
Surely nothing to worry about. After all if you’ve done nothing wrong…..
HYwel: I assume your comment was ironic
I don’t really see the problem here. Arresting 100+ people because you think a handful of them might be about to break in somewhere to protest: not good. Keeping an eye on them because you expect an attack on a power station: probably a good idea.
Letting the power company know that there may be some risk, is also probably a good idea. Contingency plans can be dusted off.
While we have much sympathy with what the protesters are trying to say, anything that threatens the operation of a power station should be taken very seriously. A lot of critical infrastructure relies on electricity. And not just Twitter.
Joe: And passing private information obtained undercover without any check on it’s accuracy?
Wouldn’t that be like MI5 (rather than shady ‘research’ companies) infiltrating CND groups and passing the ‘evidence’ onto BAE?
I think you’ll find that E.on were well aware of the protest (you know they’ve been attempting to bug Greenpeace’s computers?)
and had already “dusted off” their plans!
This was downright collusion between the police, government and (probably) the worst polluter in the UK, if they get there way.
If that’s your idea of Liberalism, then you’re in the wrong fucking party.
ceedee, by private information you mean what: A picture of Bob in the shower? Or Watch Out! Bob is planning to break into your house.
Sometimes a protest is so important that protesters will break the law and take the consequences. But it would be wrong to say that some protest is so important that the law should not apply.
We have a problem of politicised policing – people going about their lawful protesting business are kettled and beaten up in the streets. What we should have is policing that enforces the law disinterested in the politics of the situation. And that means people planning to break into a power station to protest should be treated the same as people planning to break into a power station for some other reason.