Those on APEC black list ‘know who they are’ from SMH

 Edmund Tadros June 19, 2007

INDIVIDUALS do not need to be told they are on a list of "excludable persons" from this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Sydney - they should just know, says the office of the NSW Police Minister. The extraordinary response came as a collection of left-leaning groups criticised the proposed laws around APEC as draconian and an unreasonable curb on the right to protest. The APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Bill 2007, which will be debated in the lower house this week, would allow the Police Commissioner to create a secret list of people who are excluded from APEC security areas. Asked how an individual would know if they were on the list, a spokesman for the Police Minister, David Campbell, said: "Those who have been involved in violent and disruptive protests in the past will most likely be on this list. They won’t need to be informed - they know who they are," he said. The Greens upper house member Sylvia Hale said: "The worst aspect of the APEC bill is this notion that police will compile a list of people and possibly organisations, which without any fundamental justification can be listed as excludable persons," she said. "It’s frighteningly reminiscent of what happened in communist East Germany." The Greens, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and student activists from the main APEC protest group, the Stop Bush Coalition, are united against the APEC laws. They have also criticised police over allegations detailed in yesterday’s Herald that an officer tried to blackmail an activist into spying on his fellow protesters. Daniel Jones, 20, said he was asked to to spy on his fellow activists with the expectation police would "help out" with charges he was facing over his protests at last year’s G20 in Melbourne. The NSW Council of Civil Liberties said it was not surprised police were attempting to recruit informers. "There is a long, long history in NSW of police harassing legitimate protesters," the secretary of the council, Stephen Blanks, said. A spokesman for the Stop Bush Coalition, Alex Banbridge, said he had heard of stories from other activists who felt they had been directly intimidated by authorities to stay away from any APEC protests. Mr Campbell’s spokesman said "police use any number of methods to gather intelligence about individuals and organisations".

taken from smh

AS DANIEL JONES walked through Circular Quay and towards the ferry terminal 12 nights ago, someone called his name. Mr Jones, an outspoken 20-year-old student activist, turned to face a man he had never met. Smiling and wearing a blue bomber jacket, the man introduced himself simply as Ahmed.

Ahmed, with a beard and receding dark hair, said he was from intelligence at NSW Police and had an offer to make. He wanted the student to spy on his fellow activists before the APEC meeting in September. In return Ahmed implied he could help "make arrangements" about charges Mr Jones faces over his part in last year’s G20 protests in Melbourne.

The approach is the latest example of action taken by the authorities to monitor and minimise protest activity during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting. The move has outraged activists, and comes after reports of increased police presence on campuses and allegations that ASIO is spying on student activists.

Mr Jones, an arts/science student at Sydney University, is one of five protesters from Sydney arrested and charged in March over the G20 protests.

Before meeting Ahmed, Mr Jones said he had been among about 30 protesters outside a hotel where the Prime Minister was speaking. He was walking to the ferry on his way home to Balmain East about 8.30pm when Ahmed approached.

"I asked him straight out what agency he was from," Mr Jones, a socialist, said yesterday. "He said he was from intelligence and I said what’s intelligence? He said NSW Police."

Ahmed then suggested they sit on a bench and talk. Mr Jones was dubious, but agreed.

"He had a killer manner about him and he knew a lot of stuff about different student groups. He was saying that police needed some help in the lead-up to APEC and of course they could help me. He said, ‘have you got charges against you? We can help with that’."

Mr Jones took this to mean that if he became an informant his G20 charges would be reduced or dropped.

At some point during the 20-minute meeting Ahmed showed his identification and a business card, but would not let Mr Jones keep the card.

Ahmed told Mr Jones that police wanted to know about any plans for violent protests by activists. Mr Jones told him: "No one I know is planning violent protests."

As Ahmed attempted to recruit his agent, he even briefly discussed some trade craft.

"He talked about this process called ‘registration’ where every week or two we would secretly meet somewhere and talk, and often they would request specific pieces of information," Mr Jones said.

He avoided giving a direct response to the offer during the initial meeting and a follow-up call Ahmed made last Monday. "It’s absolutely ridiculous. We’re protesters. We’re not criminals; we’re a public movement."

The Herald called the mobile number supplied to Mr Jones. The man who answered confirmed his name was Ahmed and that he knew Mr Jones.

Asked about Mr Jones’s allegations, he replied, after a pause: "You are not really supposed to be talking to me about this."

He then ended the call.

A spokesman for NSW Police would not comment directly on Mr Jones’s allegations.

ASIO did not return the Herald’s calls yesterday.