Investigation by the Ferret unearths council training materials which list peaceful campaigners alongside far-right bombers as threats
GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL uses training materials which list animal rights, environmental and anti-Trident protesters as potential terror threats, an investigation has revealed.
The materials were uncovered by The Ferret , a freelance journalism project, and showed that peaceful campaigners were included in a description of terrorism alongside neo-nazi nail bomber David Copeland, who planted home-made explosives in areas targeting ethnic minorities and the LGBT community.
The list of potential terrorist threats appears in a course for council employees called ‘Protect Against Terrorism’ under a sub-heading ‘Who are our current threats?’.
Arthur West, chair of Scottish CND, quoted in the Ferret report said: “It is absolutely astonishing that peaceful anti-nuclear campaigners who work to highlight the dangers of nuclear power and nuclear weapons are classed as a terrorist threat within a local authority training course.
“You frankly could not make this up. The training would be better concentrating on how possessing nuclear weapons has the potential to make us a terrorist target.”
The training course also advises council employees on how they should monitor potential terrorist activity outside of working hours in their residential area. It lists suspicious and possibly terrorist related behaviour including having closed curtains during the day, visits to properties by strangers at unusual times, inhabitants avoiding contact, and unusual contents of bins.
1,424 members of Glasgow City Council staff have accessed Protect Against Terrorism, with 546 staff members completing the course.
The investigation comes as the UK Government’s PREVENT anti-terrorism strategy, which has been criticised for being poorly though-out and targeting legitimated protest groups, is rolled out across Scotland.
Picture courtesy of The Weekly Bull