Former undercover British police agent Mark Kennedy has cancelled his visit to Copenhagen to attend the CPH:DOX documentary film festival after protests from Danish and British climate activists.
Kennedy, 41, was due to take part in a debate after the screening of ‘Undercover Cop’, a documentary about the seven years he spent infiltrating environmental activist communities under the alias Mark Stone.
But the ex-policeman dropped the appearance after activist network, the Climate Collective, released a statement saying he was not welcome in Denmark.
“Having spent years infiltrating English climate activists, Mark Kennedy is to many a symbol of the massive repression activists have experiences the last couple of years,” the statement read.
The exposure of Kennedy this January as an undercover policeman shocked many in the environmental activist community in which was embedded.
Kennedy developed several romantic relationships with fellow activists – despite having a wife and two children in Ireland – and participated in illegal activities both inside and outside the UK, all of which was approved of by his supervisors.
Kennedy was also active in Denmark, patrolling the Ungdomshuset culture centre in Nørrebro before it was closed down in 2007 and informed police about the weapons and traps the activists had prepared.
After being exposed as an undercover agent by members of the activist community in which he was embedded, Kennedy told The Guardian newspaper that he felt abandoned by the police and ended up losing his friends and family. He eventually turned to celebrity publicist Max Clifford to help sell his story.
Niklas Engstrøm, head of programming for CPH:DOX, found out Kennedy had cancelled from the film’s award winning director Brian Hill who wrote that Kennedy did not feel safe attending.
Engstrøm was interested in the documentary after Hill pitched it to him this summer, and decided to admit it into CPH:DOX’s programme due to the social issues it touched upon.
“It questions how far the state can go in deceiving its citizens and I think that’s very relevant,” Engstrøm said, adding that he was surprised Kennedy was going to attend in the first place.
“But I thought it would have been great to have an open discussion and draw attention to a problem which I think is very important.”
Activist group Climate Community argue, however, that Kennedy is using the platform to profit personally.
“Asking [Kennedy] to speak after the screening gives a platform to someone that has been lying and betraying people who considered him their friend, and who should not have another chance to explain himself,” the statement reads. “In fact the whole film project stinks of a person without morals or conscience trying to make money on the pain he has caused on others.”
The documentary ‘Undercover Cop’, about Mark Kennedy’s life as an undercover policeman, will be showing at Grand Teatret at 16:40 on 11 November and Cinemeteket at 10:00 on 12 November. For more information please visit www.cphdox.dk.
