Email to Chris Oliver, Public Order Information Team, Metropolitan Police Service

12 October 2011

Dear Chris,

Thank you very much for your reply. Please find below an amended FOI request.

Under the Act, I would like to request information relating to meetings and correspondence between the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police that discusses UK Uncut. This should include the dates of meetings, list of attendees, agendas, minutes, and any written correspondence about the meetings including emails.

Transparency and accountability in the policing of political protest is of the upmost importance in a democratic country. I want to understand the form and content of communication between the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office in relation to the policing of UK Uncut. There is no information about this already in the public domain, so I am unable to limit my request to meetings and correspondence on certain dates. However I can state that UK Uncut protests began in the Autumn of 2010.

It has been a controversial few years for the policing of protests, following the prevalence of "kettling", the death of Ian Tomlinson, the exposure of the use of undercover agent provocateurs such as Mark Kennedy, and the police violence that left 20 year old student Alfie Meadows needing brain surgery. The secrecy of public order policing, as managed by ACPO and the NPOIU, has raised serious concerns among different sections of society about the policing of political protest.

It is my belief that the public's interest in both the type of intelligence gathered on protestors and the policing tactics used against them has rarely been as strong. Disclosing the information I have requested will help inform public knowledge and understanding of police operations at protests at a time when it is limited.

Best wishes
Caroline