What next for the #spycops campaign?

Thanks to Lush and their bold window campaign, tens of thousands of people have now learnt about the #spycops scandal, and the many ways in which these undercover police officers ‘crossed the line’.

Along with the others whose lives were infiltrated, targeted by the #spycops due to their involvement in groups campaigning for change, we are calling for the truth about these abusive, intrusive, political policing units to be uncovered.

Continue reading “What next for the #spycops campaign?” →

June 17, 2018

Lush has taken the critics by surprise

Today, the Lush campaign returns to shop windows across the U.K.

The decision to suspend the window campaign last Friday was made by Lush, for the safety and well-being of their staff. In some stores, they had been subjected to aggressive behaviour and verbal attacks from angry critics. Like other #spycops campaigners, we condemn the bullying and harassment of people in their work-places.

As we and Lush have been saying ever since Friday, “the conversation continues” – we are campaigning as hard as ever, and have been boosted by all the public support that we’ve received.

The manufactured ‘controversy’ led to Lush’s latest window campaign becoming front-page news, and many more people learning about the shocking #spycops scandal for the very first time.

Continue reading “Lush has taken the critics by surprise” →

June 13, 2018

Letters about the Lush campaign

We want the truth

We are victims of what has become known as the “spycops” operation, and their legal representatives and supporters.

In many of these secret undercover operations the police have admitted to violation of human rights, abuse of police powers and causing significant trauma, including inhuman and degrading treatment breaching article 3 of the European convention of human rights.

We are pressing for the current public inquiry into undercover policing to ensure that there is full disclosure of what took place, including who was targeted, by whom and how.

Without this full disclosure there is no way of knowing the full extent of what happened during the dark years of this secret policing operation.

The cosmetics retailer Lush has used its facilities to help us as victims press for full disclosure and reform so that this never happens again. This is not an attack on police; it serves to help all those in the police service who wish to uphold the highest standards of policing.

For this we thank Lush for its support. We condemn those who have misrepresented Lush and our campaign and especially those who have sought to intimidate Lush staff.

#WeStandWithLush

Continue reading “Letters about the Lush campaign” →

June 13, 2018

Our initial reaction to the Lush #spycops campaign

Read our blog-post about the campaign here.

The Lush #spycops campaign, launched last week, is the latest – and arguably the most successful – attempt to draw this ongoing police scandal to the public’s attention. Its aim is to put pressure on the Home Secretary to restore public confidence in the Inquiry into Undercover Policing that was established in 2015 by Theresa May to discover the truth about the activities of these secret policing units. The Inquiry has been fraught with difficulties. Continue reading “Our initial reaction to the Lush #spycops campaign” →

June 11, 2018

New campaign goes live at Lush

Police Spies Out Of Lives and Lush join forces to launch national undercover policing campaign and urge new Home Secretary to listen to the victims

From Thursday 31st May to Monday 18th June 2018,
we are collaborating with Lush to highlight the ongoing #spycops scandal.

The campaign is now ‘live’, with displays in the windows of over 100 Lush stores across the UK, and supporting material online. Read Lush’s own press release here.

This campaign seeks to inform the public about the ways in which officers from some controversial, and extremely secretive, police units (e.g. the Special Demonstration Squad, or SDS) ‘crossed the line’ during their undercover deployments.

A powerful but short (90-second) campaign film was also released today, illustrating just one of the ways in which these officers abused their positions – initiating long-term, sexual relationships with people they’d been sent to spy on. Continue reading “New campaign goes live at Lush” →

June 1, 2018