by Bethany Rielly
CAMPAIGNERS have been left “gobsmacked” by Tory peer Norman Tebbit’s admission that he received regular briefs from special branch on the activities of trade unionists while he was a minister.
The former employment secretary, a senior figure in Margaret Thatcher’s government, said the information was so detailed that he knew where trade unionists had gone on holiday.
He was speaking during a parliamentary Zoom meeting on Tuesday, hosted by Labour MP Richard Burgon to discuss the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry.
The probe, which is investigating abuses by officers in two secret police units, is also seeking to determine the extent to which spycops targeted and infiltrated trade unions and what was done with the intelligence gathered, including whether it was used for blacklisting.
by Bethany Rielly
THE closure of an ex-military barracks in Wales has been hailed as a “massive victory” for asylum-seekers and their supporters, but calls remain for the Home Office to shut down all camps.
On Tuesday, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said the Home Office had agreed to return Penally camp in Pembrokeshire to the Ministry of Defence by Sunday with the remaining asylum-seekers gradually moved out before then.
It comes after an independent inspection of the Penally site, as well as Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, found that they were both “impoverished, run-down and unsuitable for long-term accommodation.”
However the Home Office confirmed that Napier will “remain in operation in accordance with current needs,” despite closing Penally.
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by Bethany Rielly
WOMEN have defiantly organised protests after police attacked mourners at a vigil for Sarah Everard in south London on Saturday.
The Met Police’s handling of the candle-lit gathering on Clapham Common, where crowds paid tribute to the 33-year-old woman who was allegedly murdered by one of the force’s officers, has prompted an outpouring of condemnation and calls for Met commissioner Cressida Dick to resign.
Officers were seen dragging women away and kneeling on the back of a protester as they broke up the peaceful gathering.
The shocking scenes have fuelled wider concerns over police failures to protect women as well as galvanising opposition to the Tory government’s proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
by Bethany Rielly
THE family of a young man who died hours after being released from police custody are “no closer to knowing what happened,” two months after his death.
Mohamud Hassan, 24, was arrested at his home on January 8 on suspicion of breach of the peace and taken to Cardiff Bay police station.
He was released the following morning without being charged and died that night.
Speaking at a virtual meeting hosted by the Justice for Mohamud Hassan campaign on Tuesday, his aunt Zainab Hassan said: “The struggle in the last two months that our legal team has had to face is immense.