A group of six British journalists announced late Thursday that they are filing a lawsuit against London's Metropolitan Police after discovering the government had been surveilling them for years, and had even labeled them "domestic extremists."
The suit comes after freelance video journalist Jason Parkinson obtained records through a public records request, revealing that he has been under surveillance for nine years. The records show which protests he covered, who he spoke to, and what he wore - including the color of his boots, reported The Associated Press.
Parkinson, a 44-year-old freelancer who has worked for the likes of The Associated Press, along with three photographers, an investigative journalist, and a newspaper reporter, are filing the suit after each obtained their surveillance records.
"The files make it very clear they have been monitoring my movements, with whom I associate and even what clothing I wear, in order for police intelligence units to build up a profile of me and my network of associates and contacts," Parkinson said, reported The Independent.
The group said they have suspected such surveillance for a long time.
"Police officers we'd never even met before knew our names and seemed to know a hell of a lot about us," he told the AP. Other journalists told the AP their police records were "sometimes startling, sometimes funny, and occasionally wrong."
One example from Parkinson's records revealed that police were watching Parkinson cycling near his previous home in northwest London, and also detailed information about him and his then-partner, according to AP.
Jules Mattsson, a journalist with the Times of London, found one record mentioning a family member's medical history.
Some police claim that surveillance is part of a larger operation to find corrupt officers, which, according to AP, is a "salient issues in the wake of Britain's phone hacking scandal, which exposed how British tabloid journalists routinely paid officers in exchange for scoops."
Other senior level officers have recently used anti-terrorism legislation as justification to uncover journalists' sources by examining their telephone records.
The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office both declined to comment, according to the AP.
