[Nettime-bold] Report on EU plans to control protests

["Ben Hayes" <ben.hayes@connectfree.co.uk>]

STATEWATCH Press Release, 22 August 2001

THE "ENEMY WITHIN":

EU PLANS FOR THE SURVEILLANCE OF PROTESTORS
and THE CRIMINALISATION OF PROTESTS 

A special report by Statewatch on the EU's plans to combat future 
protests at EU and international meetings in Europe shows the EU 
plans would: 

* give control of operations to the newly-created EU "Task Force of 
Chief Police Officers" which has no legal basis for its activities 

* create mechanisms for "operational" cooperation for which there 
are no legal powers 

* legitimise the ongoing surveillance by "police and intelligence 
officers" (internal security services) of "persons or groups likely to
pose a threat to public order and security" 

* create national databases of "troublemakers" based on suspicion 
and supposition without any legal standards or data protection and 
allow the unregulated exchange of this data 

* allow EU member states to pass laws to prevent people from 
going to protests in other countries if their names have been 
recorded as "suspects" or if they have been convicted of minor 
public order offences (ie: obstructing the highway) 

Statewatch editor, Tony Bunyan, commented:

"The plans by EU governments to counter protests threaten the 
right of free movement and the right to protest. They were rushed 
through in secret meetings in just two weeks without any reference 
to national or European parliaments.

The plans will have little effect on the ground where we are likely to 
see
more authoritarian policing of protests on the streets. But a green 
light
has been given to the law enforcement agencies to put groups 
concerned
with global issues under surveillance on the grounds that they are 
all
potential "troublemakers".

EU governments should spend their time and resources resolving 
the underlying issues which are bringing the people onto the 
streets instead of targeting a new "enemy within" which smacks of 
Cold War ideology."

The report and full-text documentation is on:

<http://www.statewatch.org/news>

For further information:

00 44 208 802 1882 (international)
0208 802 1882 (UK) 

______________________________________________________
Monitoring the state & civil liberties in Europe
Online news service: <http://www.statewatch.org/news>
Statewatch, PO BOX 1516, London. N16 0EW. UK
Phone: 0044-(0)20-8802-1882
Fax: 0044-(0)20-8880-1727


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