Tag: Sumac Screen Room (Page 2 of 2)

Spycops – Undercover Policing Inquiry

We will  continue to follow the  ‘Undercover Policing Inquiry’ throughout its proceedings. You can follow too, via the links below.

Since  1968 police targeted a wide range of social justice and human rights campaigns. Rights were violated and lives destroyed. In 2003 these secret political police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists in Nottingham, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians.

This scandal, dubbed ‘#Spycops’‘, is now the subject of one of the UK’s longest, deepest, most extensive and expensive ‘public’ inquiries.

Follow daily from 10am

Hearings will resume with Tranche 3, Phase 2, from February 2nd  See full schedule here.

Subject to availability we will sometimes follow live at Sumac Screen Room. For times of our coverage, check our commentary on Social.coop/(Mastodon). Also Veggies on Bluesky, here and ‘bridged’ here.

Like us you can also follow these platforms:

Evidence hearings

In phase 1 we heard, 26 witnesses give oral evidence, including 3 Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) officers deployed during the period between approximately 1993 to 2007 and 2 former SDS managers. The Inquiry also heard from 21 non-state witnesses who represent groups that were infiltrated and women who were deceived.

During the course of these hearings, the Inquiry will hear evidence on topics related to undercover policing including:

  • The conduct of undercover officers, including the deception of women into relationships
  • The use of deceased children’s identities by undercover officers
  • Decisions related to targeting and deployments into groups, including but not limited to Family Justice Campaigns, including the Stephen Lawrence Campaign
  • The training and supervision provided by managers, and the extent to which they were aware of the conduct of the officers.

On Tues 16th December 2025 (day-30) we were joined for live analysis here at Sumac Centre by Kate Wilson. to follow the evidence of Mark Jenner aka ‘Mark Cassidy’, who infiltrated anti fascist groups & Colin Roach Centre between 1995 and 2000.

 

 

See Also. . .

See also DISCLOSURE: Unravelling the Spycops.

Kate Wilson’s memoir is a shocking exposé about the workings of Britain’s secret police. Much of the activity documented by Kate took place at Nottingham’s Sumac Centre. We were delighted that Kate joined us here on Sunday 1st June 2025, to tell her story and launch her book (which is available from Veggies online shop).

 

The new 3-part ITV documentary series ‘The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed’ premiered on Thursday 6 March at 9pm, with screenings at Sumac Screen Room.

From the moment ‘Lisa’ discovers Mark Kennedy’s passport, the scandal starts to unravel.
See the clip of this moment here.
Catch up with the whole series …here…

 

Spycops – Undercover Policing Inquiry – Live Stream at Sumac Screen Room

Since  1968 police targeted a wide range of social justice and human rights campaigns. Rights were violated and lives destroyed. In 2003 these secret political police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists in Nottingham, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians.

This scandal, dubbed ‘#Spycops’‘, is now the subject of one of the UK’s longest, deepest, most extensive and expensive ‘public’ inquiries.

We will  continue to follow the  ‘Undercover Policing Inquiry’ throughout its proceedings, at the Sumac Centre in Nottingham.

Join us daily from 10am

Hearings will take place from Friday 17 October to Thursday 18 December. There will be a break after Thursday 23rd October, returning for the week commencing 3rd November. See full schedule here.

For times of our coverage, check our commentary on Social.coop/(Mastodon). Also Veggies on Bluesky, here and ‘bridged’ here.

Like us you can also follow these platforms:

Evidence hearings

In this phase, 26 witnesses are currently due to give oral evidence. The Inquiry will hear evidence from 3 Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) officers deployed during the period between approximately 1993 to 2007 and 2 former SDS managers. The Inquiry will also hear from 21 non-state witnesses who represent groups that were infiltrated and women who were deceived.

The Inquiry will also adduce the written evidence of a further three undercover officers.

During the course of these hearings, the Inquiry will hear evidence on topics related to undercover policing including:

  • The conduct of undercover officers, including the deception of women into relationships
  • The use of deceased children’s identities by undercover officers
  • Decisions related to targeting and deployments into groups, including but not limited to Family Justice Campaigns, including the Stephen Lawrence Campaign
  • The training and supervision provided by managers, and the extent to which they were aware of the conduct of the officers.

 

 

 

See Also. . .

See also DISCLOSURE: Unravelling the Spycops.

Kate Wilson’s memoir is a shocking exposé about the workings of Britain’s secret police. Much of the activity documented by Kate took place at Nottingham’s Sumac Centre. We were delighted that Kate joined us here on Sunday 1st June 2025, to tell her story and launch her book (which is available from Veggies online shop).

 

The new 3-part ITV documentary series ‘The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed’ premiered on Thursday 6 March at 9pm, with screenings at Sumac Screen Room.

From the moment ‘Lisa’ discovers Mark Kennedy’s passport, the scandal starts to unravel.
See the clip of this moment here.
Catch up with the whole series …here…

 

Resistance Exhibition

Since the early 1980’s the Rainbow Centre in Nottingham – now the cooperatve behind the Sumac Centre, has provided space, facilities and resources for a huge diversity of radical campaigns for positive social change. Our closely supported the emerging Road Alert network, @EarthFirstUK & later , Camps and more.

Nottingham Rainbow Centre  linked up with the (unrelated) London Rainbow Centre, and numerous other ‘Info Shops’, ‘centres for change’ and similar initiatives all over the UK. This was a powerful network, with its own media, such as SchNews, Squall, Undercurrents, ARC News, Free Information Network newsletters such as Notts FIN AKA Ned Ludd’s News,  and later Nottingham Indymedia.

Nottingham is dubbed the “City of Rebels” due to its long history of protest and defiance against the establishment.

As Left Lion, today’s batton carrier for indy media puts it:

As wider society became more conscious of environmental issues and animal rights, the activist subculture, which had loosely centred around the old Environmental Information Centre, needed a home. It found it in a little building on Mansfield Road, where various groups, including the Nottingham Friends of the Earth and CND, formed a collective space for gathering, learning and reading known as the Rainbow Centre.

Protests in Nottingham . Left Lion August 2018

All this leads us to …

The Resistance Exhibition

Documenting over 40 years of protest and resistance in the UK, through photos, videos, text and objects.
Resistance Exhibition, aims to foster a public archive of a vibrant protest culture in the UK; a documenting of history by the people who made that history.  It is an organically evolving archive that aims to span 25 years of movements for social change, from the 1990s road and animal rights protests to squatting and housing, from domestic violence and disability rights to LGBTQI and feminism, from anti-war and anti-racism to anti-capitalism and climate justice, and much more…

We are pleased to offer an exclusive opportunity to view the Exhibition, and discuss its contents with one of its curating team, at the Sumac Centre on Sunday 8th June. As well as the physical exhibition Sumac Screen Room will stream related activist filmed footage and you can explore our Rainbow Archive.

This event is the 3rd in a series, following and connecting DISCLOSURE: Unravelling the Spycops Files, with Kate Wilson on Sunday 1st June, and the   Battle of the Beanfield – 40th Anniversary Presentation  on Saturday 7th June.

As at many ofthe campaigns documented by the exhibitiion there will be #FoodByVeggies including Sumac Sunday Brunch and  #SamosasForSocialChange.

 

One Eye on the Road – Windsor to the Beanfields and Beyond

Now a long time Nottingham resident and social activist, Alan Lodge, ‘Tash’ comes from a free festival and traveller background. Living in old buses, trucks and caravans, he drove around the country on ‘the circuit’ with his family and friends.

Since the late 1970’s he has been photographing events and the people around him, with One Eye on the Road and always another on the response of the police.

Join us at Sumac Centre on the early evening of Saturday 7th June for a display of Tash’s photos, and a discussion with Tash about free festivals and wider issues of Policing and Protest.

This will no doubt include his activism in Nottingham from Critical Mass to Heckler & Koch, from Nottm Indymedia to the Green Festival.

There will be snacks from Veggies and a social at Sumac’s Forest Fields Social Club bar afterwards.

40 years ago, Molesworth peace camp, part of a campaign organised from Nottingham Rainbow Centre, was evicted by thousands of police and army, in one of the most expensive evictions in British history. Many of those evicted formed a ‘Peace Convoy’.

On 1st June 1985 Tash documented the prearranged police ambush of the Peace Convoy, travelling though Wiltshire for the annual Fee Festival at Stonehenge. This has been been dubbed the Battle of the Beanfield.

 

Five Leaves Bookshop will also be  holding an illustrated talk with Alan Lodge Tash at 4.45 on Sunday 1st June.

Whilst the Sumac Centre event will travel with Tash from the 1970’s to today, the Five Leaves event focuses his lens on the 40th Anniviversary of the Battle of the Beanfield.

A short history of the People’s Free Festival – from Windsor to the Beanfield

with stills photography by Alan Lodge ‘Tash’.

20th Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day ceremony

Join us in Nottingham on 29 April

Notts Friends of Standing Together will host a screening of the Joint Memorial Day Ceremony, organised annually by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle.

Live stream of a powerful act of defiance against the forces that seek to divide us. Now in its 20th year, this ceremony serves as a beacon of hope, reminding the world that even in the face of unimaginable loss, we can come together in solidarity. Broadcast from Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the event is organised by bi-national (Palestinian and Israeli) anti-Occupation groups Combatants for Peace and Bereaved Families Forum.

Please share the posts from  UK Friends of Standing Together on facebook and  from instagram

Share and display this poster (PDl

Please share and display the PDF poster and the posts via  Mastodon social.coop/@Veggies/ ,  UK Friends of Standing Together on facebook ,  instagram and Bluesky.

 

 

More screenings worldwide may be seen at https://www.cfpeace.org/memorial-screenings

 

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