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Biography
OtherusesTraditionally, an agent provocateur ( plural : agents provocateurs , French language|French for "inciting agent(s)") is an agent employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to Entrapment|entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act . More generally, the term may refer to a person or group that seeks to discredit or harm another by provoking them to commit a wrong or rash action.
As a known tool to prevent infiltration by agents provocateurs,Stratfor (2004) the organizers of large or controversial assemblies may deploy and coordinate demonstration marshal s, also called stewards. Belyaeva et al. (2007), § 7–8, 156–162Bryan, Dominic http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/berghahn/antiac/2006/00000 013/F0020001/art00005? crawler=true The Anthropology of Ritual: Monitoring and Stewarding Demonstrations in Northern Ireland , Anthropology in Action , Volume 13, Numbers 1–2, January 2006, pp.22–31(10)
Common usage
An agent provocateur may be a police officer or a secret agent of police who encourages suspects to carry out a crime under conditions where evidence can be obtained; or who suggests the commission of a crime to another, in hopes they will go along with the suggestion and be convicted of the crime.
A political organization or government may use agents provocateurs against political opponents. The provocateurs try to incite the opponent to do counter-productive or ineffective acts to foster public disdain—or provide a pretext for aggression against the opponent (see Red-baiting ).
Historically, labor spies , hired to infiltrate, monitor, disrupt, or subvert union activities, have used agent provocateur tactics.
Agent provocateur activities raise ethics|ethical and law|legal issues. In common law jurisdictions, the legal concept of entrapment may apply if the main impetus for the crime was the provocateur.
By region
Russia
In the " Trust Operation " (1921–1926), the Soviet State Political Directorate (OGPU) set up a fake anti- Bolshevik underground organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia". The main success of this operation was luring Boris Savinkov and Sidney Reilly into the Soviet Union, where they were arrested and executed.
United States
In the United States , the COINTELPRO program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had FBI agents pose as political radicals to disrupt the activities of political groups in the U.S., such as the Black Panthers , Ku Klux Klan , and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee .
New York City police officers were accused of acting as agents provocateurs during 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity|protests against the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.cite news |first = Jim |last = Dwyer |title = New York Police Covertly Join In at Protest Rallies |url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html? res=F60F14F83F540C718EDDAB0994DD404482 |work = The New York Times |page = A1 |date = December 22, 2005 |accessdate = 2006-09-22
Denver police officers were also found to have used undercover detectives to instigate violence against police during the 2008 Democratic National Convention . This ultimately resulted in the use of pepper spray against their own infiltrating agents.cite news |first = Felisa |last = Cardona |title = ACLU wants probe into police-staged DNC protest |url = http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10920817 |work = The Denver Post |page = A1 |date = November 7, 2008 |accessdate = 2008-11-07
Europe
Notorious were the activities of agents provocateurs against revolutionaries in Imperial Russia . Yevno Azef and Father Gapon are examples of such provocateurs.
Sir John Retcliffe was an agent provocateur for the Prussia n secret police .
At the 2001 27th G8 summit|G8 summit in Genoa , police and security services infiltrated black bloc s with agents provocateurs. Allegations first surfaced after video footage in which "men in black were seen getting out of police vans near protest marches" Rory Carroll, John Vidal, John Hooper, David Pallister and Owen Bowcott. Men in black behind chaos: Hardliners plan 'actions' away from main protesters. The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jul/23/globalisation.davidpallister Monday 23 July 2001.FAIR. Media Advisory: Media Missing New Evidence About Genoa Violence. http://www.fair.org/activism/genoa-update.html
Francesco Cossiga , former Italian Minister of the Interior|head of secret services and Head of state of Italy , advised the 2008 minister in charge of the police, on how to deal with the protests from teachers and students:Francesco Cossiga http://rassegna.governo.it/testo.asp? d=32976406 interviewed by Andrea Cangini, Quotidiano Nazionale , 23/10/2008 Italian quote:
"Maroni dovrebbe fare quel che feci io quand'ero ministro dell'Interno. In primo luogo, lasciare perdere gli studenti dei licei, perché pensi a cosa succederebbe se un ragazzino di dodici anni rimanesse ucciso o gravemente ferito. Gli universitari invece lasciarli fare. Ritirare le forze di polizia dalle strade e dalle università, infiltrare il movimento con agenti provocatori pronti a tutto, e lasciare che per una decina di giorni i manifestanti devastino i negozi, diano fuoco alle macchine e mettano a ferro e fuoco le città. Dopo di che, forti del consenso popolare, il suono delle sirene delle ambulanze dovrà sovrastare quello delle auto di polizia e carabinieri. Nel senso che le forze dell'ordine dovrebbero massacrare i manifestanti senza pietà e mandarli tutti in ospedale. Non arrestarli, che tanto poi i magistrati li rimetterebbero subito in libertà, ma picchiarli a sangue e picchiare a sangue anche quei docenti che li fomentano. Soprattutto i docenti. Non quelli anziani, certo, ma le maestre ragazzine sì."
He should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior. ... infiltrate the movement with agents provocateurs inclined to do anything ... And after that, with the strength of the gained population consent, ... beat them for blood and beat for blood also those teachers that incite them. Especially the teachers. Not the elderly, of course, but the girl teachers yes.
It is alleged by British Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake that the Metropolitan Police made use of agents provocateurs during the 2009 G-20 London summit protests|G20 Protests in London. cite news| title = G20 police 'used undercover men to incite crowds' | first = Jamie | last = Doward | first2 = Mark | last2 = Townsend | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/10/g20-policing-agent-provacateurs | work = The Guardian | date = May 10, 2009 | accessdate = 2009-05-10 | location=London
After the March for the Alternative |2011 anti-cuts protest in London , a video filmed by the BBC was distributed throughout the internet, which might show an alleged agent provocateur being passed through police lines after displaying his identification to the officers. There are other explanations however, such as the man being a member of press. cite news| url= http://wn.com/Agent_Provocateur_at_26th_of_March_London_Demonstration | work=World News Network | location=London | title=Agent Provocateur At 26th Of March London Demonstration | date=March 29, 2011 | accessdate=March 29, 2011
Canada
On August 20, 2007, during meetings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in Montebello, Quebec|Montebello , three protesters were accused of being police provocateurs by Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The three masked protesters, one of whom was notably armed with a large rock, were asked to leave by protest organizers. After the three protesters breached the police line, they were brought to the ground, handcuffed, and taken away. The evidence that the arrested people were police provocateurs was circumstantial, including the fact that they were wearing boots identical to those worn by police.cite news| url= http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248608 | work=The Star | location=Toronto | title=Police accused of using provocateurs at summit | date=August 21, 2007 | accessdate=April 23, 2010
After the protest, the police force initially deniedcite news| url= http://www.thestar.com/News/article/248866 | work=The Star | location=Toronto | title=Police deny using 'provocateurs' at summit | date=August 22, 2007 | accessdate=December 15, 2010 | first=Joan | last=Bryden then later admitted that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators; however, they denied that the officers were provoking the crowd and instigating violence. The police released a news release in French where they stated "At no time did the police of the Sûreté du Québec act as instigators or commit criminal acts," "It is not in the police force's policies, nor in its strategies, to act in that manner." "At all times, they responded within their mandate to keep order and security." cite news| url= http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/23/police-montebello.html | work=CBC News | title=Quebec police admit they went undercover at Montebello protest | date=August 23, 2007
In a more recent example, according to a report issued by the commission for public complaints against the RCMP, at the G20 summit held in Toronto in 2010, at least two plain-clothes police officers posing as protesters were among those arrested, suggesting that the tactic has been employed on more than one occasion in Canada cite news|url= http://www.680news.com/news/national/article/362449--two-arrested-during-g20-summit-were-police-officers-rcmp-watchdog-says | title=Two arrested during G20 summit were police officers, RCMP watchdog says | date=May 14, 2012
See also
Wiktionary|provocateur
Astroturfing
Entrapment
Sting operation
Informant
Grant Bristow
False flag terrorist actions
Security culture
Black Bloc
COINTELPRO
Terry Norman
References
Belyaeva et al. (2007) http://www.osce.org/item/23835.html Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly , published by OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights . Alternative http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2008/CDL(2008)062-e.asp#_ednref148 version
Category:Criminology Category:Espionage techniques Category:French words and phrases Category:Law enforcement titles Category:Spies by role