“DOMESTIC EXTREMISTS”

THE Guardian's discovery that participation in perfectly legal marches or demonstrations can lead to your photograph being recorded on secret nation-wide police databases must cause further genuine concern abut the ever-increasing amount of personal data held by the British police. The newspaper published two so-called “spotter-cards” prepared by the police to help identify people taking part in a demonstration at an arms fair in London. Twenty-four faces are shown on the card which is marked in red, “Police eyes only -- do not copy” and “This card must be destroyed as confidential waste at the conclusion of this event.” One person who recognised himself on the card was the comedian Mark Thomas who is also a political activist but has no criminal record.

Also of concern is the way in which the police have coined the phrase “domestic extremists” to describe people who may “instigate offences or disorder” at demonstrations. The term “domestic extremists” has no legal basis but the police have said that it could include activists suspected of minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience. It has also emerged that the National Public Order Intelligence Unit use number plate recognition cameras to keep a record of vehicles owned by “domestic extremists”. The British government's information commissioner said yesterday that chief constables should be made to justify the legality of recording thousands of law-abiding protestors on secret databases.