Special Demonstration Squad

The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) was an undercover unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS or the Met), set up in 1968, to infiltrate British protest groups. It was part of the Special Branch, and worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It operated from 1968 to 2008.

The SDS was established by Special Branch as the Special Operations Squad in March 1968. Formed as a response to the anti-war demonstrations held outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, the squad's purpose was to infiltrate "left-wing direct-action groups" using undercover police officers (nicknamed "hairies" because of their hippie appearance), who would liaise with MI5. In 1972 it was renamed the Special Demonstration Squad. It was renamed the Special Duties Squad in 1997 and disbanded in 2008.

The SDS used the names of 80 dead children to create false identities for its operatives. Some members of the SDS engaged in sexual relationships with protest organisers in an attempt to gain trust. In 2013, former SDS undercover officer Peter Francis revealed that the SDS investigated the family of Stephen Lawrence in order to seek possible evidence to smear Lawrence with in case of racially motivated public order issues. The revelation of this information led to Home Secretary Theresa May announcing an investigation in Parliament, while Stephen Lawrence's father Neville Lawrence arguing that the allegations merited an independent investigation. In the documentary broadcast as part of Channel 4's Dispatches programme, Francis confirmed that allegations made about officers having relationships with women involved with political protest movements were true.

After its closure in 2008 the role of the SDS was taken up in part by the National Domestic Extremism Unit.

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