Anti-Internment League

The Anti-Internment League (AIL) was a campaigning organisation active from August 1971. It was set up immediately after mass internment was instigated in Northern Ireland under emergency powers introduced by the British government in 1969. Although the AIL still exists and continues to campaign for the release of prisoners, its most active years were in the 1970s.  

Working with trade unions, republican groups, pacifists and the broader left in Britain and Ireland, the AIL was closely affiliated with the International Marxist Group (IMG). International Marxist Group (IMG) The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain in 1968-1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International and a vital part of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. At its peak, in the 1970s, the IMG had around 1,000 members and supporters. The IMG was spied on by HN336 'Dick Epps', HN340 'Andy Bailey' and HN353 'Gary Roberts' during the 1960s and 1970s; several other SDS officers reported on it. Full page: International Marxist Group (IMG)  It was spied on by HN332 Cameron Sinclair HN332 Cameron Sinclair Cameron Sinclair joined the Special Demonstration Squad in 1968. He held the rank of detective inspector, so would have been considered a manager, but his roles varied, and included some undercover work in branches of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Sinclair left the SDS at the end of 1968, but returned as head of the unit between July 1971 and February 1972. He then oversaw the SDS as chief superintendent of S Squad. Full page: HN332 Cameron Sinclair , HN294 HN294 HN294 was an undercover and manager in the SDS between at least December 1969 and March 1974; he wrote the 1972 and 1973 SDS Annual Reports. He rose to the rank of detective chief inspector and under his leadership SDS officers spied on children, took positions of responsibility and were prosecuted for crimes in their undercover identities. HN294 is dead, his real name has been restricted and his cover name is unknown. Full page: HN294 , HN348 'Sandra Davies' HN348 'Sandra Davies' HN348 ‘Sandra Davies’ was a Special Demonstration Squad undercover officer who infiltrated the Women's Liberation Front, later known as the Revolutionary Women's Union, from February 1971 for two years. The Inquiry has released nearly 80 intelligence reports produced in her name, none of which justify her deployment, according to Inquiry Chair John Mitting. She was withdrawn as a precaution in February 1973 after a fellow SDS officer’s cover was blown. Her real name has been restricted. Full page: HN348 'Sandra Davies' , HN338 HN338  HN338 was an undercover officer in the SDS between at least April 1970 and December 1973. He initially spied on Agitprop and then the International Marxist Group, plus several related organisations, notably the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign and Anti-Internment League. He is dead, his cover name has been lost and his real name is restricted. Full page: HN338  , HN343 'John Clinton' HN343 'John Clinton' HN343 is the nominal given to the undercover officer 'John Clinton', who infiltrated the Croydon branch of the International Socialists between October 1971 and March 1972 and the Fulham and Hammersmith branch from November 1972. He left the Special Demonstration Squad of his own choice in September 1974. Documents relating to Clinton released by the Inquiry only cover the period 13 October 1971 to 14 January 1974, so the dates of his deployments into specific groups are estimates. Full page: HN343 'John Clinton' , HN298 'Michael Scott' HN298 'Michael Scott' ‘Michael Scott’ is the assumed name of a former SDS undercover officer who infiltrated the Putney branch of the Young Liberals, Croydon anarchist group Commitment, the Little Ilford branch of the Workers Revolutionary Party and the central London branch of the Anti-Internment League between 1972 and 1976. In 1972, he did not reveal his true identity to the court when convicted alongside three anti-apartheid activists, leading to their convictions being overturned in 2023. The reliability of his testimony about the Young Liberals was challenged in the Inquiry by core participant Peter Hain. , HN301 'Bob Stubbs' HN301 'Bob Stubbs' HN301 ‘Bob Stubbs’ joined the SDS in 1971. He infiltrated the Hammersmith and Fulham and Central London branches of the Anti-Internment League and the Wandsworth and Battersea and Paddington branches of the International Socialists. He left the SDS in April 1976. Many of his reports were not available to the Inquiry and his real name has been restricted. , HN68 'Sean Lynch' HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ was the cover name used by a former Special Demonstration Squad undercover officer deployed between 1968 and 1974 into groups related to political violence in Northern Ireland. He held a managerial position as second-in-command of the SDS between 1981 and 1983 and retired from the Metropolitan Police in 1993. He is dead. Full page: HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ , HN344 'Ian Cameron' HN344 'Ian Cameron' HN344 ‘Ian Cameron’ was an SDS undercover deployed into the Anti-Internment League and the Northern Minority Defence Force (NMDF) in 1971-1972. He was withdrawn after he was asked to travel to Derry with three members of the NMDF, in which he had assumed a position of responsibility.  and HN299/342 'David Hughes'. HN299/HN342 'David Hughes' HN299/342 'David Hughes' joined the SDS in 1971. He was deployed into the International Marxist Group, north London Claimants Union and Anti-Internment League between 1971 and 1975. He left the SDS in 1976, having heard lots of revolutionary talk but not witnessed any public disorder or subversion.  

The AIL was created as a response to the British Army's Operation Demetrius, which ‘interned’, i.e. jailed without charge or trial, more than 1,900 people between 1971 and the end of 1975.  It had two core demands; the immediate release of all internees and the immediate withdrawal of British troops from Ireland.

Dozens of organisations affiliated to the AIL, including Provisional Sinn Féin Sinn Féin - London Sinn Féin Sinn Féin is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. During 'The Troubles' (1969-1998) it was associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Its London branches were spied upon by HN68 'Sean Lynch' between 1971 and 1973. , Clann na hÉireann Clann na hÉireann Clann na hÉireann is an Irish republican organisation and was closely associated with Sinn Féin. It sided with the Official IRA after they split with the Provisional IRA. It was reported on, but was not a main target of the SDS in the early 1970s. , the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed in Belfast in 1967 by those opposed to the denial of civil rights and social opportunities to ethnic Roman Catholics. Active in London from 1969-1972. At its height NICRA had 12 branches that organised pickets, demonstrations and rallies. NICRA was spied on by the HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ and HN301 ‘Bob Stubbs’. Full page: Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) , Northern Minority Defence Force Northern Minority Defence Force (NMDF) The Northern Minority Defence Force was a short-lived group based in London around 1972 that aimed to provide military assistance to Irish republicans during the conflict in Northern Ireland. It was infiltrated by HN344 'Ian Cameron' in 1972-1973. One member of the group was arrested and charged with treason, though subsequently the charges were dropped. Full page: Northern Minority Defence Force (NMDF)  and other groups affected by internment in Northern Ireland. Individuals could also join as members and there were dozens of active AIL chapters. 

The focus of the AIL was to build a united left front against internment across Britain and Ireland. It used a broad range of tactics, picketing and leafleting British army barracks, holding conferences of trade union activists and organising protests and demonstrations. These included protests against the Bloody Sunday shootings by British soldiers of 26 civilians at a march in Derry's Bogside neighbourhood on 30 January 1972. AIL also published a bulletin called Anti Internment News. 

In February 1973, the AIL organised a demonstration along Whitehall, London, to deliver 13 coffins to Downing Street to mark the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday killings. Clashes ensued when police halted the march. 

Four members of the AIL were arrested and charged with riotous assembly and conspiracy to use threatening behaviour in a public place. Statewatch founder and journalist Tony Bunyan, noted that this was the first time a conspiracy charge had been used in conjunction with a public-order offence.

Sources

Irish Marxist Republican History Project, The Anti-Internment League (2013). Anti-Internment League, Irish Republican Marxist History Project, Irish Republican Marxist History Project, 2013.

Bob Purdie, I remember the Anti-Internment League (2013). Bob Purdie, Bob Purdie, I Remember the Anti-Internment League, Irish Republican Marxist History Project, 21 May 2013.

Tony Bunyan The History and Practice of Political Police in Britain, London: Quartet Books (1983).