Anagent provocateur (French for 'inciting agent') is a person who activelyentices another person to commit a crime that would not otherwise have been committed and then reports the person to the authorities. They may target individuals or groups.[1]
In jurisdictions in whichconspiracy is a serious crime in itself, it can be sufficient for theagent provocateur to entrap the target into discussing and planning an illegal act. It is not necessary for the illegal act to be carried out or even prepared.
Prevention of infiltration byagents provocateurs is part of the duty of demonstrationmarshals, also called stewards, deployed by organizers of large or controversial assemblies.[2][3][4]
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While the practice was worldwide in antiquity, modernundercover operations were scaled up in France byEugène François Vidocq in the early 19th century, and included the use of unlawful tactics against opponents. Later in the same century, police targets included union activists who came to fearplain-clothed policemen (agent de police in French). The French termagent provocateur was then borrowed as-is into English and German. In accordance with French grammar, the correct plural form of the term isagents provocateurs.
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Anagent 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 useagents provocateurs against political opponents (i.e. protests). Theprovocateurs try to incite the opponent to do counter-productive or ineffective acts to foster public disdain or provide a pretext for the final assault against the opponent.
Historically,labor spies, hired to infiltrate, monitor, disrupt, or subvert union activities, have usedagent provocateur tactics.
Agent provocateur activities raise ethical and legal issues. Incommon law jurisdictions, the legal concept ofentrapment may apply if the main impetus for the crime was theprovocateur.
On August 20, 2007, during meetings of theSecurity and Prosperity Partnership of North America inMontebello, three police officers were revealed among the protesters by Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, and alleged to beprovocateurs. The police posing as protestors wore masks and all black clothes; one was notably armed with a large rock. They were asked to leave by protest organizers.
After the three officers had been revealed, their fellow officers in riot gear handcuffed and removed them. The evidence that revealed these three men as "policeprovocateurs" was initially circumstantial-they were imposing in stature, similarly dressed, and wearing police boots.[5][6] According to veteran activistHarsha Walia, it was other participants in the black bloc who identified and exposed the undercover police.[7]
After the protest, the police force initially denied, then later admitted that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators; they then denied that the officers were provoking the crowd and instigating violence.[8] 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" and "At all times, they responded within their mandate to keep order and security."[9]
During the2010 G20 Toronto summit, theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested five people, two of whom were members of theToronto Police Service.[10] City and provincial police, including the TPS, went on to arrest 900 people in the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.[11] The RCMP watchdog commission saw no indication that RCMP undercover agents or event monitors acted inappropriately.[dubious –discuss]
In February 1817, after thePrince Regent was attacked, the British government employedagents provocateurs to obtain evidence against the agitators.[12]
Sir John Retcliffe was anagent provocateur for thePrussiansecret police.
Francesco Cossiga, formerhead of secret services andHead of state of Italy, advised the 2008 minister in charge of the police, on how to deal with the protests from teachers and students:[13]
He should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior. [...] infiltrate the movement withagents provocateurs inclined to do anything [...] And after that, with the momentum gained from acquired popular 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.
Another example occurred in France in 2010 where police disguised as members of theCGT (a leftist trade union) interacted with people during a demonstration.[14]
The activities ofagents provocateurs against revolutionaries inImperial Russia were notorious.Jacob Zhitomirsky,Yevno Azef,Roman Malinovsky, andDmitry Bogrov, all members ofOkhrana, were notableprovocateurs.
In the "Trust Operation" (1921–1926), the SovietState Political Directorate (OGPU) set up a fake anti-Bolshevik underground organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia". The main success of this operation was luringBoris Savinkov andSidney Reilly into the Soviet Union, where they were arrested and executed.
In theUnited States, theCOINTELPRO of theFederal Bureau of Investigation included FBI agents posing as political activists to disrupt the activities of political groups in the U.S., such as theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, theAmerican Indian Movement, and theKu Klux Klan.[15]
TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union requested an investigation ofDenver Police at the2008 Democratic National Convention where undercover officers allegedly staged a struggle with uniformed police to be removed from the crowd of protestors, which prompted another uniformed officer to use pepper spray.[16][better source needed]
A New York City police officer undercover in a 2013 motorcyclerally was sentenced to two years in prison in 2015 for second-degree assault, coercion, riot and criminal mischief for their participation in the gang assault of a man driving anSUV with his family, which had hit a motorcyclist and continued driving.[17]
The internet has been utilized forinformation warfare, with manyinternet trolls acting asagents provocateurs by disseminating certain propaganda. Such tactics are used to further the interests of countries,[18][19][20] corporations,[21][22][23][24] and political movements.[25][26][27]
"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."
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