Who Is This Man at the Protest? UPDATE: The Mystery Has Been Solved!

 

The above image was shared around social media by police departments and members of the public as evidence protesters did not come to London today with peaceful intent. However, it did not take long for some social media users to grow suspicious...

Here was an unmasked figure standing in the open before police and cameras, looking all too comfortable for someone who could be perceived to be inciting violence. Why weren't the cops whacking him with batons like they do to people who are sitting on the ground? Why was he allowed to hold such a provocative banner up for the world to see? 

Some suggested he might be an undercover police officer, based on photographs like this:

Seems rather comfortable standing among the cops, doesn't he?

Let's take a look at one more picture, bearing in mind there are several others which are similar. 

Many, including myself, were asking why this man was standing on the police side of the line and not among the public? People understandably smelled a rat and jumped to the conclusion this guy must be an agent provocateur (my apologies for suggesting this myself). But some suggested he might actually be journalist Barret Brown who has been associated with Wikileaks and Anonymous, and was jailed in the US in 2015 over leaked emails.

That's 'journalist' Barrett Brown https://t.co/C3gGycrbf1

What's going on @metpoliceuk? pic.twitter.com/Z2BpUjnfhG

— andy peacock (@AndyPeacock999) April 4, 2021

Well, those suspicions have now been confirmed by none other than the man himself, Barret Brown, who explained exactly what took place on his blog. In the article, he states he was asked to hold up the two-part banner which read "cops kill" and they then switched it around to read "kill cops." He also explained he now lives in England after fleeing America, following his imprisonment, and he was not so much standing with the cops as surrounded by them. He clarified this happened to many people throughout the protest and he was not in any way working with police. Anyways, you can get the full story from the man himself by clicking this link.

According to random people with distressingly large numbers of followers, I'm now employed as an undercover cop in London. Since this is 2021, it naturally falls to me to explain why this is unlikely. https://t.co/QiAT3FXXgL

— Project PM (@ProjPM) April 4, 2021

So mystery solved. It was not an undercover cop. It was actually a controversial anti-establishment journalist who was helping to ruffle a few feathers and has clearly succeeded. 

NOTE: I've contacted Barret Brown through his blog and apologised for suspecting he might have been a cop and he was happy for me to set the record straight.

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