After 10 days out of town, I finally made it to Occupy Wall Street on Tuesday and had a chance to see for myself what’s going on. My conclusion: almost everything the media told me about the protest is wrong. Based on my observations, here’s what I consider the Top Ten Myths About Occupy Wall Street. Myth #1. The Movement Is Violent. One of the most striking images I witnessed at the demonstration was a young black man holding a sign that read “End NYPD Violence!” in front of a group of police officers. The officers quickly challenged his accusation. But the young man didn’t leave. Next, the police turned away and ignored him. But he still didn’t leave. Then the officers chuckled and let out an unexpected laugh when they realized the man wasn’t going away. The scene was confrontational, but definitely not violent. In fact, one of the first things I noticed was a sign posted on a wall that embraced “Kingian Nonviolence,” the peaceful principles that guided Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Myth #2. It’s Just A Bunch Of Pampered Kids. Although I supported the concept of the Occupy Wall Street movement when I first heard of it, I admit I didn’t think the group had much to offer me. From what I could see in the media, they were well-educated, well-intentioned young white people, but they didn’t really represent me. I was wrong. What I found was a wide-ranging group of people from various backgrounds, young and old, male and female, black, white, Latin, Asian and mixed. It was the essence of New York, the reason why I moved to this city 10 years ago. Myth #3. There Are No Black People Involved. I was taken aback by how many black and Latino participants I noticed at the demonstration. I hadn’t seen them on the television coverage of the movement, but they were clearly there. Myth #4. They’re Anti-American. In my experience, I saw a lot of American flags being waved proudly at the demonstration. The protesters may not all think the same things, but many of them were clearly hoping America would live up to its promise as a land of opportunity where the rules are fair and all are welcome. Myth #5. They’re Just Modern-Day Hippies. To watch some of the media coverage of the movement, you would think the protest was filled with long-haired hippies left over from the 1960s. In fact, from my experience, I saw a few people who might fit this description, but I also saw just about every type of person you could imagine at the demonstration. There were high school-aged kids with their parents, college students in their school sweatshirts, men in business suits, mothers with baby carriages, people with jobs, people who were unemployed, white-haired retirees, African drummers, rhythmic dancers, and one person who appeared to be wearing pajamas. Myth #6. They Don’t Know What They Want. I found many different people gathered in Zuccotti Park with many different interests and agendas, but they seem to be unified by one common purpose. They’re tired of a system that seems only to cater to the rich and powerful while ignoring the concerns of the vast majority of Americans. Myth #7. The Labor Unions Are Behind This. I saw only one labor union table at the demonstration, but most of the people seemed to have no connection to organized labor. Even if they had, there’s nothing wrong with that. Labor unions are an important part of our country, and while not perfect, they’ve helped throughout history to improve working conditions for millions of Americans. Myth #8. They’re Pro-Obama. They’re Anti-Obama. “I don’t have facts to back this up,” Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said in an interview recently, “but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration.” That seems unlikely. Not long after I arrived I found a Hispanic man in a camouflage jacket complaining about Obama to a small crowd of onlookers. “Obama is not the savior,” he cried out. Moments after he finished, a young black man in a sweat jacket stood up to defend Obama to the crowd, acknowledging that the president wasn’t perfect but he was doing the best job he could to clean up the mess he had inherited. Both sides had their points to make and both were respectfully acknowledged. Myth #9. They’re In The Wrong Place. I love to hear conservatives complaining that the protesters should be in Washington instead of Wall Street, as if the conservatives were really concerned about the most effective way for the demonstrators to make their case. This location-based argument suggests a limiting “either/or” mentality that you can’t be in both places, and also assumes that there’s no reason to be on Wall Street at all. As Herman Cain said recently, “Don’t blame Wall Street. Don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself. But there’s a good reason why Wall Street serves as an ideal venue for the demonstration. Unlike politicians in Washington, who have to answer to voters every few years, corporate executives on Wall Street don’t have to answer to the public, even though their actions have a huge impact on all of us. It seems to me, the protesters picked a reasonable venue to launch their movement. In fact, judging by the row of satellite trucks parked outside the protest, I’d say Wall Street was exactly the right place to draw attention to their cause. Myth #10. They’re Taking Over Wall Street. I’ve lived in New York City for 10 years, but I’d never been to Zuccotti Park until the Occupy Wall Street protests took place. I assumed the protesters were camped out at a park somewhere at the end of Wall Street, throwing around garbage and creating a mess. Once again, I was wrong. First, the group was clean, neat and orderly when I saw them. The park was actually cleaner than any park I’ve ever seen in New York City. Some demonstrators even walked around with brooms to clean up any mess that might have been left, and signs were posted advising the occupiers to observe a “good neighbor policy.” Finally, as it turns out, Zuccotti Park isn’t even on Wall Street. It’s a couple blocks away. As you can see from the image below, the only mess on Wall Street came from the police horses standing guard in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Defence secretary says he is absolutely committed to programme amid fears he wanted a rethink The new defence secretary, Philip Hammond, has insisted that he supports plans for the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. Within days of his appointment to the role following the resignation of Liam Fox last Friday, industry experts raised fears that Hammond would rethink the programme because he had failed to back it in parliament. The new generation of missile-carrying submarines is expected to cost up to £25bn in cash terms, and the first of the four replacement submarines is planned to enter service in 2028. Asked whether he wanted Trident to be renewed, Hammond told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme : “Yes, that is clear. I am absolutely committed to the Trident programme and always have been. “I heard this story earlier in the week, and I think the issue was that I was actually out on a visit on the route of the high-speed railway proposal when the vote was taken in parliament. Had I been there, I would have voted in favour.” Fox had indicated that he would resign if Trident was ditched, as the Liberal Democrats wanted, while he was still in the post, but the “main gate” decision was pushed back to 2016. Hammond also said defence cuts would not prevent Britain having viable armed forces. He said: “We have had to make some serious budget cuts. My predecessor has successfully negotiated with the Treasury a settlement that will allow the UK to continue to project force abroad, to continue to have viable and sustainable armed forces in the future. “Over the next 10 years, we will be spending £165bn on military equipment and equipment support and this is a major investment. “We have demonstrated during the course of the Libya campaign our ability to mount a significant operation while simultaneously fighting a major engagement in Afghanistan.” Trident Military Defence policy Nuclear weapons Philip Hammond guardian.co.uk
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Michael Campbell was secretly recorded trying to buy weapons for terror group and was arrested in sting operation A suspected member of the Real IRA who was arrested in an elaborate MI5 sting operation has been found guilty of attempting to buy a cache of arms and explosives designed to equip the dissident terror group for a new bombing campaign. Michael Campbell was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a judge in Lithuania who had seen secretly-recorded videos of the 39-year-old negotiating a deal to buy weapons unaware that he had been set up by the UK intelligence agency, working alongside Lithuanian authorities. The court was told that Campbell had paid up to €10,000 (£8,700) for the cache, which included rocket-propelled grenades, detonators, a high-powered sniper rifle and 12kg of Russian-made explosives. He thought he was buying the shipment from a Lithuanian arms dealer, but the episode was a sting set up by undercover MI5 and Lithuanian agents in an operation that had been going on for four years. Campbell, who was arrested in January 2008, was convicted of three charges – attempting to buy weapons, attempting to smuggle them, and providing support for a terrorist group. The chief prosecutor, Irmantas Mikelionis, said: “The evidence acquired during the investigation proves that the weapons and explosives would have been used for terrorist attacks and [the] killing of innocent people in the UK. “There was also a plan to organise, in Lithuania, the training of Real IRA members on how to use the weaponry.” He said that the investigation was “unusual and complicated”, and added: “They planned to use this weaponry against the UK police or military officers or their vehicles. The information we have proves that the explosives could have been used for bombing in London. If we failed to stop Michael Campbell, we would put in danger the lives of innocent people.” The court was told that alleged members of the Real IRA had asked a businessman with interests in eastern Europe whether he knew anyone who could supply arms. They were unaware that this go-between, who was called Robert Jardine in court, was an MI5 agent who had been recruited in 2002. Jardine introduced alleged members of the Real IRA to contacts in Lithuania who said they could supply the guns and ammunition they were looking for. All the contacts were either undercover British or Lithuanian “role players”, and many of their meetings were recorded. Campbell was sent to Lithuania to negotiate the deal on behalf of the dissidents, the court heard. He was filmed discussing the terms. The judge, Arunas Kisielius, was shown footage in which Campbell asked about whether certain detonators could be used for boobytrap car bombs and said he wanted the weapons to target “Brits”. Prosecutors said Campbell was particularly keen to buy a Barrett sniper rifle with a range of more than a mile. Asked to reveal which organisation he represented, Campbell replied: “IRA.” During the trial, the first anti-terror case brought in Lithuania, 11 Lithuanian and British undercover agents gave evidence via videolink. Gedgaudas Norkunas, prosecuting, said: “All the evidence we have makes us think that this was not entrapment. If these criminal acts had not been discovered in a timely way, weapons would have been acquired from other sources and used for terrorist purposes.” The court was told that Campbell was intending to buy the weapons on behalf of his older brother, Liam, said to be one of the founders of the Real IRA. Liam Campbell was one of four men found liable in a civil trial of being involved in the 1998 Omagh bombing in which 29 people were killed. He is currently in custody in Belfast, battling attempts to have him extradited to Lithuania. In his defence, Michael Campbell, from Dundalk, Co Louth, insisted he was not a member of the Real IRA and said he had been entrapped by British, Irish and Lithuanian intelligence agencies who had initiated the arms deal. He admitted being in Lithuania to buy weapons, but said they were not intended for use by terrorists. He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted arms smuggling, supporting a terrorist group and illegal possession of weapons. His lawyer, Ingrida Botyriene, said: “He would never be involved in arms deals and would never go to Lithuania for such an affair if he had not been provoked by secret agents.” Campbell could appeal against the conviction. Having served three years in prison, he may be freed in four and a half years. Lithuania Global terrorism Europe Real IRA UK security and terrorism Northern Ireland Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
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Work and pensions secretary says the problem must be tackled when children in problem families have not even been born Britain’s gang, gun and crime culture has to be tackled at the point when children in problem families are still in their mothers’ wombs, Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said on Thursday as he trailed what is likely to be a landmark report on youth violence drawn up after the summer riots. The report, being prepared by Duncan Smith and the home secretary, Theresa May, will combine proposals for better parenting with tough measures to deglamorise gang membership, including increased sentences for specific offences if the perpetrator is a known gang member. Duncan Smith was speaking at briefing given by Karyn McCluskey, joint head of the violence reduction unit of Scotland, set up within Strathclyde police, and Andrew Ward, head of the Merseyside Matrix unit, responsible for fighting gun and gang crime. Both forces have cut gang crime over the past four years by an approach that brings in health visitors, social services, schools and tough law enforcement. On Merseyside the approach has been so tough that car bombs have been put outside police stations in retaliation. The work of the two forces in fighting gangs would form the kernel of the report, Duncan Smith said. Duncan Smith said solutions lay in earlier intervention with identifiable problem families, more male role models in schools, a requirement by politicians to own up that they have a gang problem, and enforcement disrupting the lives of gang leaders. He is also pressing for the Department of Health to co-operate more with other agencies, since health visitors are often among the few state agents who can get through the doors of some of the most troubled families. Duncan Smith said: “I am talking about intervening when the child is conceived, not even when born. The kids we are talking about – half of them are unable to speak, cannot form sentences, they have no sense of empathy, they cannot share toys at school, they watch their mums get beaten up regularly and sexually abused. “It is about knowing which child is at risk and then matching the child to the programmes available that we know work. “The gangs are the epicentre of the problems we face. They are the result of all this social breakdown, and they are also the drivers of it. “Kids will not cross postcode areas for work because they think they might get stabbed. You will get kids carrying knives to school who are not members of gangs, so they see a knife as a safety measure. You get massive levels of violence against women. This is the untold story of gangs – the attacks on women that treat women just as tools for men to use.” Duncan Smith said the solution did not lie in extra state spending but in much better co-operation between agencies. “There is a lot of money being spent on families and estates but it is dysfunctional money that goes to solve only short-term problems.” Calling for tougher sentences for gang membership, Ward said: “We have had a look at the US, where you can double the sentence by proving someone is part of a gang. “I think that is incredibly powerful because the people will not want to wear gang membership as a badge of honour. If we were to say that in interview you said were a member of the Crocky Crew and you have just added another five years to your gun crime offence, that would have a big impact, I tell you.” McCluskey said: “We have to have this uncomfortable conversation and say this is going to take a long time and not change policy and strategy every year, but have some bravery and set course for a long time. This is going to take 10 to 15 years. Government has got a role in saying parenting is the most important job you can do, and some mothers just don’t have skills.” She also called for “swift, visible justice that makes people own up to their behaviour. We show them the intelligence, we visit them at their house, tell them what we know about them. We get the chief in and he says to them: ‘The violence stops as of tonight. It’s over. In the next month when we catch one of you, we are going to take out your whole group, and we are going to make your life really difficult. I have got 9,000 cops and I am so powerful I can have them all outside your front door if you so wish.’” Gangs Communities Young people Iain Duncan Smith Theresa May Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Prosecutors claim Michael Campbell, caught in sting operation, was planning to buy firearms and explosives A judge in Lithuania will deliver a verdict on Friday in the case of an alleged member of the Real IRA who has been accused of trying to buy firearms, ammunition and explosives from Lithuania. Prosecutors said 39-year-old Michael Campbell was caught in a sting operation involving MI5, the Garda and the Lithuanian authorities. He has been charged with trying to buy weapons including a high-velocity sniper rifle, rocket-propelled grenades, detonators, timers and explosives. The judge, Arunas Kisielius, was told that Campbell was arrested when Lithuanian officers posing as arms suppliers met him in Vilnius in January 2008. The court heard that the operation had been set up with the help of an MI5 agent known as Robert Michael Jardine, who took Campbell to Lithuania as part of the undercover plot. “If these criminal acts had not been discovered in a timely way, weapons would have been acquired from other sources and used for terrorist purposes,” Gedgaudas Norkunas, prosecuting, said. Kisielius heard that Campbell paid €10,000 (£8,700) for the haul of weapons, which included 10kg of high explosive. Campbell has denied all the charges, including that he was attempting to provide support to a terrorist group. He admitted to the court that he was interested in buying arms, but denied they were for the Real IRA. His lawyers said British and Lithuanian intelligence agencies were guilty of entrapment. They claimed Jardine initiated the arms deal, and that Campbell was not involved in terrorism. Giving evidence, Campbell, of Co Louth, told the court: “During my entire stay in Lithuania, when I was recorded 24 hours a day, the prosecutor did not even get one recording where I was talking with anybody about terrorist acts.” He said he had been joking when a recorded conversation seemed to show he was planning to use the weapons in London. “To make a big story about a joke is really unfair,” he told the court. “I am not a member of the Real IRA.” Real IRA Lithuania Europe Northern Ireland Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Facebook could face €100,000 fine for holding data that users have deleted
October 21, 2011 No Comment
Social network will be audited by Irish data protection commissioner after Austrian law student registers 22 complaints Facebook could face a fine of up to €100,000 (£87,000) after an Austrian law student discovered the social networking site held 1,200 pages of personal data about him, much of which he had deleted. Max Schrems, 24, decided to ask Facebook for a copy of his data in June after attending a lecture by a Facebook executive while on an exchange programme at Santa Clara University in California. Schrems was shocked when he eventually received a CD from California containing messages and information he says he had deleted from his profile in the three years since he joined the site. After receiving the data, Schrems decided to log a list of 22 separate complaints with the Irish data protection commissioner, which next week is to carry out its first audit of Facebook. He wrote to Ireland after discovering that European users are administered by the Irish Facebook subsidiary. A spokeswoman for the commissioner confirmed its officers would be investigating alleged breaches raised by Schrems as part of the audit. If the commissioner decides to prosecute and Facebook or any employees are found guilty of data protection breaches, the maximum penalty is a fine of €100,000. Among the 1,2000 pages of data Schrems was sent were rejected friend requests, incidences where he “defriended” someone, as well as a log of all Facebook chats he had ever had. There was also a list of photos he had detagged of himself, the names of everyone he had ever “poked”, which events he had attended, which he hadn’t replied to, and much more besides. The information was broken down into 57 categories, including likes, log-ons (a list of when he logged on and which IP address he used) and emails, which included some email addresses Schrems had never personally uploaded to the site but which he assumes were discerned from another user’s profile. “I discovered Facebook had kept highly personal messages I had written and then deleted, which, were they to become public, could be highly damaging to my reputation,” said Schrems in an interview between law lectures on Thursday. “I’m not saying there was anything criminal or forbidden there, but let’s just say that, as someone wanting to work in law, there was stuff which could make it pretty impossible for me to get a job.” By holding on to data its users assumed was deleted, Facebook was acting like “the KGB or the CIA”, said Schrems. “Information is power, and information about people is power over people. It’s frightening that all this data is being held by Facebook. “Of course, they are not misusing it at the moment, but the biggest concern is what happens when there is a privacy breach, either from hackers or from someone inside the firm?” A spokesman for Facebook said in a statement: “Facebook provided Mr Schrems with all of the information required in response to his request. “It included requests for information on a range of other things that are not personal information, including Facebook’s proprietary fraud protection measures, and ‘any other analytical procedure that Facebook runs’. “This is clearly not personal data, and Irish data protection law rightly places some valuable and reasonable limits on the data that has to be provided.” Facebook says any user can download their “personal archive”. But Schrems, on the campaigning website he has set up to encourage others to follow his lead, claims that: “This tool only offers access to a fraction of the data Facebook holds. “It even falls short of providing the amount of data we already received from Facebook.” Facebook Data protection Privacy Austria Social networking Internet Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Leaked documents claim Sir Bob Geldof, Kofi Annan and Lord Patten have shown interest in EuropaBio outreach programme • Read the executive summary of the programme • Read the draft emails to potential ambassadors Europe’s largest and most influential biotech industry group, whose members include Monsanto , Bayer and other GM companies, is recruiting high-profile “ambassadors” to lobby European leaders on GM policy. Leaked documents from a PR company working for Brussels-based EuropaBio claim to have “had interest” from Sir Bob Geldof ; the chancellor of Oxford University and BBC Trust chairman, Lord Patten ; former Irish EU commissioner and attorney general David Byrne , and “potentially” the involvement of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and pro-GM science writer Mark Lynas . The 10 or more ambassadors will not be paid directly, but the lobbyists have offered to write, research and place articles in their names, arrange interviews and speaking engagements with the Financial Times and other international media, and secure for them what could be lucrative speaking slots at major conferences. In addition, EuropaBio says it will introduce them to the highest-level European bureaucrats and MEPs in order for them to make the case for GM within EU institutions. Several people named in the documents denied all knowledge of EuropaBio. A spokesman for Annan said: “Mr Annan is not an ambassador for EuropaBio and has no intention of promoting the use of GMOs.” Geldof told the Guardian: “I have no recollection of having any knowledge of EuropaBio and have no recollection of ever being asked to be an ambassador. GM, subject to all the known and usual caveats, does have a place for instance in the fight against starvation. The trick is to ensure that this technological advance is not simply a business opportunity but a human one to the benefit of the world’s rapidly increasing population.” A spokeswoman at Oxford University said: “Lord Patten was approached about the EuropaBio outreach programme. He made it absolutely clear that given his position as chairman of the BBC Trust, he could have nothing to do with it. It would have been wholly inappropriate.” “I have never had any contact of any sort with EuropaBio, nor any ‘Christopher Flores’, who seems to have written this letter. I have not been asked to be an ambassador, nor would I accept such a request if asked,” said Mark Lynas . Flores told the Guardian: “These confidential documents should not have landed on your desk. We are exploring different options with different people. We identified people we thought could help us reach out to a broad international audience.” The six-month campaign, which will culminate in a dinner and meetings with the EU in May, will start next month when 10 ambassadors are expected to sign a letter to be placed in the Financial Times. A draft of the letter reads: “We need to shake off the complacency and embrace best farming and food production processes. We must seize the potential of all available technologies to enable us to do so, and no technology should be rejected on the basis of an initial emotional reaction or misinformation – including agricultural biotechnology. We want to produce more food in Europe, look after the environment and help our neighbours in other parts of the world, [so] isn’t it time to think again about GM?” In a briefing document sent to potential ambassadors, Christopher Flores, a senior consultant working with Aspect Consulting in Brussels, says EuropaBio wants to distance itself from the ambassadors in order to give the industry arguments more credibility. “The most important factor in terms of ensuring the legitimacy and impact of this programme is the quality of the ambassadors and the breadth of positions represented and numbers involved. Provided that a sufficiently strong pool of ambassadors is established – we are very confident that this will be the case – then it will be very difficult for anybody to make the claim that these ambassadors are somehow ‘in the pocket’ of the agricultural science companies.” The document also seeks to persuade ambassadors that their position is widely shared. “Industry, the scientific community and NGOs are already playing an important role in making the case for GM. For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been supporting and advocating the use of GM crops and recently outlined six reasons for them doing so. However, more needs to be done from an advocacy and communications perspective if significant and timely progress is to be made in relation to GM crops.” The lobbyists appear to want to split the green movement in Europe which has been traditionally been sceptical of the claims of the biotech companies. “A number of senior environmental NGO activists are very critical of the dogmatic and extreme position taken by much of the environmental NGO world in relation to GM. We will bring a panel of pro-GM environmental NGO activists to Brussels for a stakeholder event focused on GM sustainability,” it says. Green MP Caroline Lucas said: “This brazen attempt by EuropaBio to recruit covert ‘ambassadors’ to ‘change the debate’ on GM is yet further proof that the powerful GM lobby will stop at nothing to push its hugely unpopular and unnecessary products onto European citizens. We need far stronger regulation on corporate lobbyists across the EU to prevent this kind of insidious behind-the-scenes manoeuvring from seriously undermining our democratic system.” David Byrne could not be reached. GM Food Farming European Union Europe Lobbying John Vidal guardian.co.uk
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Scotland Yard contacts IPCC over claims that officer took part in criminal trial under false name Scotland Yard will call in the police watchdog over allegations that an undercover officer took part in a criminal trial under a false name. Jim Boyling, a specialist operations detective constable with the Metropolitan police, is accused of maintaining an alias throughout court proceedings after being arrested following a demonstration in 1996. Scotland Yard contacted the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Thursday with a view to making a formal referral to them on Friday, a Metropolitan police spokesman said. The spokesman said the decision to contact the IPCC “follows consideration of allegations relating to historic covert police deployments”. The allegations forced the postponement of the publication of a review of the future of undercover policing. The review was scheduled for Thursday and was compiled by the new Scotland Yard commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, before he took the force’s top job last month. The defence solicitor Mike Schwarz, of the law firm Bindmans, said he had discovered that he represented Boyling, under the name Jim Sutton, along with other protesters. The undercover officer went on trial for public order offences with other activists from the pro-cycling campaign group Reclaim the Streets following a demonstration at the headquarters of London Underground in 1996. The lawyer said the revelation raised concerns about the “confidentiality” of discussions between the officer’s co-defendants and their legal representatives. He told the Guardian: “This case raises the most fundamental constitutional issues about the limits of acceptable policing, the sanctity of lawyer-client confidentiality, and the integrity of the criminal justice system. “At first sight, it seems that the police have wildly overstepped all recognised boundaries.” John Jordan, an activist who was convicted of assaulting a police officer and given a conditional discharge after being arrested with “Jim Sutton”, is appealing against the verdict following the allegations. He told the BBC’s Newsnight: “It was totally outrageous what happened. I’m a lecturer, I have a job where I’m working with students, and to have assault of a police officer on your record was pretty difficult.” On Thursday, Scotland Yard admitted the allegations were “serious matters” but added: “We are confident that the current legislative and regulatory framework governing the deployment of undercover officers ensures that all such deployments conducted now are lawful and appropriately managed.” In January, Boyling was placed on restricted duties and an investigation was launched by the Directorate of Professional Standards following allegations that he married an activist he was supposed to be spying on. Police said the inquiry was ongoing. The latest allegations led to the delay of the findings of a review into what went wrong after the case against six protesters accused of planning to invade the second largest power station in the UK collapsed in January. They claimed an undercover officer offered to give evidence on their behalf. Mark Kennedy, who spent seven years posing as Mark “Flash” Stone, a long-haired drop-out climber, also had sexual relationships with at least two women during the operation. He has since said he fears for his life, describing the world of undercover policing as “grey and murky” and adding: “There is some bad stuff going on. Really bad stuff.” The review, launched by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in January, was reportedly set to rule out tough judicial oversight of the deployment of undercover officers – a measure wanted by some police chiefs. It was also expected to find that a failure of supervision contributed to the problems and that police chiefs should ensure undercover officers are not left on covert assignments for too long in future. Questions were raised about the proportionality of covert tactics and of such a lengthy and costly operation targeting green campaigners planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station near Nottingham. The policing minister, Nick Herbert, told MPs in January it was clear something had “gone very wrong” with Kennedy’s operation. Police Independent Police Complaints Commission Metropolitan police London Protest Activism guardian.co.uk
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Varying accounts claim former Libyan leader was caught in crossfire, died from earlier wounds or was shot in head at close range Muammar Gaddafi is set to be buried at an undisclosed location on Friday as Nato meets to discuss the end of the military campaign that hastened the end of his 42-year rule over Libya. Authorities from the National Transitional Council (NTC), the interim authority which led the revolt against Gaddafi and ultimately supplanted him, reportedly remain uncertain about where and when the funeral should take place. Gaddafi’s death on Thursday – which, according to conflicting reports, ultimately came when he was caught in crossfire , bled to death from earlier wounds or was executed at close range – is likely to bring an imminent end to the Nato aim campaign, which decisively turned the military campaign in the NTC’s favour. The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe – whose country’s planes, operating under the Nato remit, are believed to have attacked Gaddafi’s convoy as it fled his besieged home town of Sirte – said on Friday that the operation was over. “I think we can say that the military operation is finished, that the whole of Libyan territory is under the control of the National Transitional Council and that, subject to a few transitory measures in the week to come, the Nato operation has arrived at its end,” he told Europe 1 radio. Nato chiefs are due to gather in Brussels to discuss arrangements for the end of the campaign. The organisation’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. has said only that it will be halted “in co-ordination with the United Nations and the National Transitional Council”. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, has said this should only happen once the alliance is certain that no significant pockets of Gaddafi support remain. While Gaddafi’s death has brought global reactions ranging from jubilation to quiet relief, little is certain about how the 69-year-old met his end other than that he was alive when first held by NTC forces near Sirte. Shakily filmed mobile phone video footage shows a dazed, bloodied but conscious Gaddafi being dragged off the bonnet of a vehicle as someone shouts: “Keep him alive!” Other footage, also broadcast around the world, shows his lifeless body, drenched in more blood, being paraded through the nearby city of Misrata. What happened between is the subject of several contradictory versions. A reasonably coherent and consistent account has emerged of what led Gaddafi to the moment of capture. It seems that early on Thursday morning, as it became clear that forces protecting the former leader could not hold out much longer, a convoy of vehicles carrying him, his army chief, Abu Bakr Younis Jabr, and a few dozen bodyguards, drove out of the blockade and headed west. Soon after leaving Sirte, the convoy was devastated by a Nato raid carried out by French fighter jets. Reporters who witnessed the aftermath of the attack saw more than a dozen burned-out armed pickup trucks, with up to 50 bodies lying in or near the vehicles. It seems Gaddafi was caught up in this strike, but survived. One of his personal bodyguards, Mansour Daou, told al-Arabiya television that the survivors “split into groups and each group went its own way” after the attack. He added: “I was with Gaddafi and Abu Bakr Younis Jabr and about four volunteer soldiers.” Daou said he did not know what eventually happened to Gaddafi, as he had been wounded and knocked unconscious by a shell blast. It seems Gaddafi and his dwindling band of protecters ran through trees and sheltered inside a pair of rubbish-filled drainage pipes, where they were attacked by NTC forces. “At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use,” one NTC fighter, Salem Bakeer, told Reuters. “Then we went in on foot. “One of Gaddafi’s men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting “surrender”, but as soon as he saw my face, he started shooting at me. Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. ‘My master is here, my master is here,’ he said. ‘Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded.’ “We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying: ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What’s going on?’ Then we took him and put him in the car.” By this time, the deposed dictator had gunshot wounds to his leg and back, Bakeer added. The confusion comes next. According to an official version of events by the interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril , the vehicle transporting Gaddafi to hospital was “caught in crossfire” as NTC and pro-Gaddafi forces fought further. A post-mortem report showed that the fatal shot had hit Gaddafi in the head, Jibril said, adding that it was not clear which side had fired the bullet. However, Fathi Bashagha, a spokesman for the Misrata Military Council, which commanded the fighters who captured him, said Gaddafi died from his wounds as an ambulance took him the 120 miles (193km) to Misrata. Another NTC official, Abdel Majid Mlegta, said: “He was bleeding from his stomach. It took a long time to transport him. He bled to death.” A further NTC official, who asked not to be named, told the agency: “They (NTC fighters) beat him very harshly, and then they killed him. This is a war.” In yet another possibility, the New York Times said later photographs of Gaddafi dead showed what forensic experts said appeared to be wounds to the head caused by bullets fired at close range, indicating that he might have been executed in this way. Amnesty International has urged the NTC to carry out “a full, independent and impartial inquiry to establish the circumstances of Colonel Gaddafi’s death”. As yet, there has been no similar pressure from world leaders. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, speaking in Islamabad, said Gaddafi’s death “has brought to a close a very unfortunate chapter in Libya’s history”. She continued: “It also marks the start of a new era for the Libyan people, and it is our hope that what I saw in Tripoli on Tuesday first hand, the eagerness of Libyans to building a new democracy, can begin in earnest.” Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Libya Middle East Africa Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Basque separatist group renounces use of arms after year in which it has observed unilateral ceasefire Read the full text of Eta’s ceasefire statement Half a century of bloodshed in the Basque country has come to a historic close after the separatist group Eta finally renounced the use of arms and sought talks with the Spanish and French governments. Three leaders in masks announced that the group was calling a final halt to the use of bombs and bullets in a video obtained by the Guardian and other news media. “Eta has decided the definitive cessation of its armed activity,” they said. Eta was following a peace script put together with the help of mediators led by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, after a year in which it had observed a unilateral ceasefire. The Guardian revealed exclusively on Monday that a definitive end to Eta’s armed campaign, one of Europe’s bloodiest, was due to be announced this week, in response to a petition from Annan’s group and following pressure from Eta’s political allies in the so-called “Basque separatist left”. Annan’s group made its petition late on Monday, urging Eta to make “a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action”. Leaders of the separatist left publicly backed the call the next day . Eta’s swift response indicates that separatist-left politicians such as Rufino Etxeberria and Arnaldo Otegi, both of whom have served Eta-related prison terms, exercise growing power over the group, according to sources close to the negotiations. It also suggests that Eta has lost not just power over political allies, but also the support they once enjoyed among the 10%-20% of Basques who traditionally voted for pro-Eta parties. Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero welcomed Eta’s statement as a victory of democracy over terrorism. “For many, too many, years, we have suffered and battled against terror,” he said. “We have done so until democratic reason has won out definitely.” “Ours will be a democracy without terrorism but with memory; the memory of 829 victims and their families, of so many wounded who suffered the unjust and hateful blow of terrorism,” he added. While Zapatero said the task of deciding what happens next should be left to the administration formed after the general election on November 20, it was not immediately clear how the governments of Spain and France would react to Eta’s request for negotiations that it said should address “the resolution of the consequences of the conflict … to overcome the armed confrontation”. That is taken to mean, among other things, talks about the future of the 600 Eta members in Spanish and French jails. The Spanish government will also come under immediate pressure to legalise the Batasuna party and other separatist organisations that were banned for being Eta fronts. Although Zapatero’s government did not meet Annan when it travelled to San Sebastian on Monday, observers speculated that group members – including former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland – would not have gone to Spain without government consent. The regional prime minister of the Basque country, fellow socialist Patxi López, has already suggested that Eta prisoners be moved to prisons closer to their families. The centre-right People’s party, led by Mariano Rajoy, which has traditionally been tough on Eta, is expected to win a landslide in the general election. If it does it will come under fierce pressure from Eta victims, including the families of PP politicians it has killed, not to concede anything to the group. While other members of Rajoy’s party have insisted that they will accept nothing less than Eta’s surrender and dissolution, he has not commented publicly. “He is a perceptive, intelligent and responsible person,” said Brian Currin, the South African lawyer who has done much of the mediating work. “I am sure he will take the step to lead this process to its natural conclusion.” The announcement came 53 years after Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means Basque homeland and freedom in the region’s Euskara language, was founded by young separatists while Spain was ruled by the military dictator General Francisco Franco. The group claimed its first victim, a civil guard police officer gunned down in Adona, near the northern Basque city of San Sebastian, in 1968. Most of its victims, however, died in the years after Spain’s transition to democracy and the approval of a statute of partial self-government for the region in 1979. The group has been seriously weakened by police action in recent years, and some observers claim it has simply been
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