British policeman infiltrated radical protest groups

AN undercover British police officer who infiltrated a radical environmental movement encouraged illegal activity during protests opposing the controversial Shell Corrib pipe-line in north Mayo, an Irish Examiner investigation has revealed.

PC Mark Kennedy, whose identity was revealed when he was confronted by environmental activists last year, also took part in a violent confrontation with gardaí in Dublin on May Day 2004.

The officer, who lived undercover in Nottingham for seven years from 2003, visited Ireland on at least four occasions. During 2004 he attended the Grassroots Gathering in Dublin in April, Mayday protests in Dublin, and an Anti-Bush protest in Shannon in June. He visited the Shell Corrib protests in March 2006.