agent provocateur

This would not be the first time that Canadian police agencies had used agents provocateurs. Over the past decade, there have been several high-profile public disclosures that Canada's most notorious neo-Nazis, such as Grant Bristow and Carney Nerland, were actually agents of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Now activists again hear rumors of plainclothes "agents provocateurs" among their ranks.

Its announced intent is to help federal authorities enforce existing laws, and its approach of reporting illegal activity to authorities is more akin to neighborhood watches, though there is the danger that agents provocateurs could attempt acts of violence for the purpose of discrediting the group.

They hinted that the perpetrators were agents provocateurs paid by the police.

History is replete with examples of governments using agents provocateurs to justify eliminating the opposition and assuming dictatorial powers.