Recently we observed what appears to be a rogue ‘off the books’ police facial recognition surveillance of a peaceful Palestine protest that didn’t follow Met procedures and doesn’t appear on the official Met LFR deployment logs.
Background - #Filton6
85% of the killer drones used by Israel to perpetrate genocide in Gaza are made by Elbit Systems, the Israeli armaments giant which has manufacturing plants in the UK.
The UK government has turned a blind eye as arms are shipped from the UK to commit war crimes in Gaza. Our governments complicity has forced ordinary people, courageous actionists from Palestine Action, to take direct action to try and end the killing by cutting off Israel’s supply of arms.
In their latest action, on 6th August 2024, they disabled arms production at Elbits new £35m Filton facility in Bristol which was opened last year by the Israeli Ambassador.
Six brave souls entered the plant in a repurposed prison van and started dismantling the production of weapons of death, causing it is estimated 1 millions pounds worth of damage.
In a shocking over reach by the police the six were arrested and held under draconian anti-terrorism legislation.
Using the Terrorism Act the #Flinton6, some barely 20 years old, were held in solitary without charge for 7 days of interrogation. Their families were not permitted even a two minute phone call with their loved ones.
The 4 women were held in cells at Hammersmith police station, whilst the 2 men were held in Newbury police station.
More details on #Filton10:
Solidarity with the #Filton10
Protest
On 11th August we attended a protest in solidarity with the #Filton6 (now #Filton10) outside Hammersmith police station. It was the very least we could do for those heroes that were willing to sacrifice everything, including their very freedom, to try and stop what is essentially the wholesale slaughter of men, women and mainly children in Gaza whilst the world looks on in inaction.
The protest demanded freedom for the #Filton6. Messages from their mothers were read out. Despite the heavy police presence it was a peaceful, though loud, protest. Later sources confirmed that the protest outside helped raise the spirits of those in solitary confinement inside the police station.
Police live facial recognition surveillance
Walking past the long rows of police vans we could immediately see the peaceful protest was over policed. Protestors were cordoned off away from the police station by rows of police, with horse mounted police on the side as backup.
At the end of the row of police vans there was an odd van. It had no markings, no police insignia, nothing – just plane white. I walked around it to see the side door was open – it was a hot day. A plain cloths police officer was inside working away at a computer. Two policeman were walking towards the van with drinks and snacks. I looked up to confirm it was the Met’s live facial recognition van with an array of menacing cameras including some on a very high extended pole, they were pointing towards the protest.
After the 2020 legal ruling which found that the Police’s use of intrusive and discriminatory facial recognition violates privacy rights and breaks data protection and equality laws, the College of Policing instituted a set of operating procedures for the deployment of live facial recognition technology. These included “the public should be notified of LFR Deployments in advance using force websites and other appropriate communication channels (including social media)” and ” Measures should also be taken during the Deployment to ensure the policing presence is overt such that the public can establish that LFR is being used and understand the nature of the data being processed. In addition to the use uniformed officers and marked vehicle(s), other steps for applicants to consider in the context of their proposed Deployment location include the use of signage placed in advance(outside) of the Zone of Recognition and/or the provision of information leaflets.”
None of these procedures were adhered to here. The Met were operating LFR surveillance from an unmarked van with no signage on it indicating or was being used for facial recognition. I walked up and down the street to double check, but there was no signs on display informing the public of the use of LFR. Also there was no advanced warning on social media. The Mets deployment log (accessed 27th Aug) has no record of this deployment of 11th August even though is was updated on 22nd August, with the last documented deployment on 22nd Aug in Westminster. A shocking ‘off the books’ operation!
Official Met Deployment Record:
https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/force-content/met/advice/lfr/deployment-records/lfr-deployment-grid.pdf (Log accessed 27/8/24)
- Last recorded LFR deployment in Hammersmith was on 31/7/24
- Last entry : 22/8/24 Westminster
- Log creation date: 25/08/2024, 14:35:04
There are no records for a deployment on 11/8/24 – the date of the #Filton10 protest
The Met on the one hand is opposed to legislation regulating the use of facial recognition, essentially saying it will instead self regulate, on the other hand it can’t be trusted to stick to its own operating procedures when it comes to Palestine protests, where they are surveilling not criminals, but innocent people exercising their rights to participate in a legal peaceful protest. The police have no legal justification to surveille such protests in the first place, where the watchlist, the Met admits, are not made up of criminals but activists they don’t want attending a protest.
This is another example of why the Met cannot be trusted with LFR, they invariably use it against marginalised communities and peaceful protests without any regards to peoples rights. Join us to demand an end to police use of facial recognition:
Community Demands Police Stop Facial Recognition Surveillance