London's Metropolitan Police face a mounting crisis after revelations that their agents spied on environmental groups for years and then lied about it in court under oath. Top police officials ordered the agents to deceive the courts. Undercover agents had sex with activists, ran their organizations, provoked protests, and then helped get protestors arrested. The failure of many such prosecutions demonstrated the incompetence of the police effort in achieving its goals. The scandal began with revelations by the Indymedia website as mainstream news media unquestioningly swallowed and purveyed the government's false narrative. Now that a Guardian investigation has revealed further misdeeds, some government some are calling for a full government inquiry.
Paul Lewis and Rob Evans report for the Guardian October 20, 2011.
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