Agent provocateur

For other uses, see Agent provocateur (disambiguation).

An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent") is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act. An agent provocateur may be acting out of their own sense of duty or may be employed by the police or other entity to discredit or harm another group (e.g., a peaceful protest or demonstration) by provoking them to commit a crime--thereby undermining the protest or demonstration as a whole.

A female agent or spy is called an agente provocatrice.

To prevent infiltration by agents provocateur, the organizers of large or controversial assemblies may deploy and coordinate demonstration marshals, also called stewards.

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 ethical and 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

The activities of agents provocateurs against revolutionaries in Imperial Russia were notorious. Dr. Jacob Zhitomirsky, Yevno Azef, Roman Malinovsky, and Dmitry Bogrov, all members of Okhrana, were notable provocateurs.

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 includes FBI agents posing as political activists to disrupt the activities of political groups in the U.S., such as the Black Panthers, Ku Klux Klan, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the American Indian Movement. Though aimed at all radical political groups, the primary targets of COINTELPRO were new left organizations dealing in civil rights and anti-war activity.

New York City police officers were accused of acting as agents provocateur during protests against the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.

Denver police officers were also alleged to have used undercover detectives to instigate violence against police during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Also in New York City, an undercover motorcycle police officer was convicted of and sentenced to two years in prison in 2015 for second-degree assault, coercion, riot and criminal mischief after an incident at a motorcycle rally. In 2013, the officer, Wojciech Braszczok, was investigating motorcyclists by blending in with a crowd during the rally; at some point another motorcyclist was hit by a motorist, Alexian Lien. Braszczok is later seen on video breaking a window to Lien's car and assaulting him with others in the crowd. His actions were immediately investigated by the NYPD and he ended up facing charges along with other members of the rally.

Many white nationalist organizations, as well as other groups supporting pro-white ideologies, are believed to have been infiltrated by agent provocateurs working on behalf of organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, though this is frequently downplayed in the mainstream media and politically correct organizations. The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017 and the 2021 United States Capitol attack are two such examples of events that are alleged to have been infiltrated. Some white supremacist organizations, both present and historical, are argued to have been false flag operations operated by the political left in order to significantly limit and ultimately censor speech from opponents supporting a form of identity politics that favors white people.

Europe

In February 1817, after the Prince Regent was attacked, the British government employed agents provocateur to obtain evidence against the agitators.

Sir John Retcliffe was an agent provocateur for the Prussian secret police.

At the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, police and security services infiltrated black blocs with agents provocateur. Allegations first surfaced after video footage in which "men in black were seen getting out of police vans near protest marches"

Francesco Cossiga, former 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:

He should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior. [...] infiltrate the movement with agents provocateur 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.

It is alleged by British Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake that the Metropolitan Police made use of agents provocateurs during the G20 Protests in London.

Another example occurred in France in 2010 where police disguised as members of the CGT (left trade union) interacted with people during a demonstration.

After the 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.

Several organizations on both the extreme left and extreme right are believed to have been dominated by agent provocateurs, such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Neo-Nazi organization Combat 18. David Myatt, the former Neo-Nazi who later converted to Islam and became an Al-Qaeda propagandist, is considered to be one of the most infamous.

Canada

On August 20, 2007, during meetings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in 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. According to veteran activist Harsha Walia, it was other participants in the black bloc who identified and exposed the undercover police.

After the protest, the police force initially denied 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" and that "at all times, they responded within their mandate to keep order and security".

The Freedom Convoy 2022 has been subject to disruption from multiple agent provocateurs, some of whom have displayed Confederate and Nazi flags.

Mexico

In December 2012, during protests against the inauguration of President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, there is evidence that agents provocateur worked with police. These individuals were paid MXN 300 (about USD 20) for their acts of vandalism. Photos show the vandals waiting in groups behind police lines prior to the violence. Previous protests had been entirely peaceful, but on this occasion, in apparent response to violence, the police fired rubber bullets. In contrast to the protests, there were no public celebrations for the new presidency.

In November 2014, agents provocateur were transported by army vehicles to participate in the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping protests, as was shown by videos and pictures distributed via social networks.

Israel

In October 2015, Reuters correspondent Luke Baker observed Israeli provocateurs disguised as Palestinian youths inticing violence. Baker's claim was backed up by video footage. The Israeli provocateurs quickly turned sides when Israeli police arrived, drawing their guns on the Palestinian protesters.

See also

• Astroturfing
• Bad-jacketing
• Brandon Darby
• Covert interrogation
• Denial and deception
• Entrapment
• Sting operation
• Informant
• Grant Bristow
• False flag
• Security culture
• COINTELPRO
• Terry Norman
• Mark_Kennedy_(police_officer)
• Bob_Lambert_(undercover_police_officer)
• Sayanim

References

• Belyaeva et al. (2007) [1], published by OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Alternative version