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The “enemy within”: EU plans the surveillance of protestors and the criminalisation of protests
EU plans on public order would give control of operations to the newly-created EU “Task Force of Chief Police Officers” which has no legal basis for its activities; create mechanisms for “operational” cooperation for which there are no legal powers; legitimise the ongoing surveillance by “police and intelligence officers” (internal security services) of “persons or groups likely to pose a threat to public order and security”; create national databases of “troublemakers” based on suspicion and supposition without any legal standards or data protection and the unregulated exchange of this data; and allow EU member states to pass laws to prevent people from going to protests in other countries if their names have been recorded as “suspects” or if they have been convicted of minor public order offences (obstructing the highway). Read More