British police have come under fire after arresting people from activist groups and trying to coerce them into becoming spies for the state.

A young anti-racism activist who wishes to remain anonymous told reporters of how she felt “vulnerable and intimidated” after an undercover police officer tried to pressure her into spying on her colleagues.

Other campaigners have come forward to tell of how they were bullied into spying on colleagues within environmental groups and anti-racism communities in return for money.

One man reported being followed and having envelopes stuffed with money thrust into his hands in exchange for information.

According to one report which appeared in the Guardian, the unnamed man said that the harassment only stopped after he angrily rejected the envelope and threatened to take out a court order against the officers involved, who had also made unannounced visits at his home.

Another student reported how the police had lured him into a meeting at a police station after he rang them to report two suspicious men on his street who looked as though they wanted to burgle houses.

A few days later he was invited to a meeting to discuss the men in more detail. Once he arrived at the meeting, the officers showed zero interest in discussing the suspicious men and instead tried to pressure him into spying on fellow activists.

All of the attempts to harass activists were made since 2010 by Cambridgeshire police officers.

But these anonymous activists could all be lying right?

Maybe they have an axe to grind?

Not according to the Cambridgeshire police force. For they have admitted to trying to recruit activists.

A spokesperson said : “Officers use covert tactics to gather intelligence, in accordance with the law, to assist in the prevention and detection of criminal activity.”

They added: “In the application of these tactics we wouldn’t engage in behaviour which has been described by the individuals.”
The news has come to light just a fortnight after Theresa May, the home secretary ordered a public inquiry into the undercover infiltration of political groups after revelations that the police had carried out undercover surveillance on the family of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence, whose family has been very active in speaking out against hate crimes and institutional racism.

Akashic Times is the UK’s only online, fully independent not-for-profit newspaper that brings you real news from across the globe.

If you want to keep ahead of what is really going on in the world, subscribe to our newspaper via the subscribe button and join our Facebook & Twitter pages. Subscription is completely free ofcourse