Non-violent groups including Greenpeace and Peta have been listed on a counter-terrorism document that was handed out to schools and hospitals as part of anti-extremism training.

The groups that support animal rights and the environment were listed in the same document as neo-Nazi and far-right groups, that was produced by government group Action Counters Terrorism.

The guide is used across the UK and is aimed at tackling those who could be at risk of committing terrorist offences.

Now police say groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace were named on the documents in order to help their officers ‘protecting crowded places at times of protest’.

The images above show the non-violent groups that were included on the government list

Greenpeace were included on the Environmental Groups sections and its executive director has hit back at the fact that the group was named

Last week the guide had been uncovered by the Guardian, and police told the newspaper that the inclusion of such groups had been a ‘local error’.

Dean Haydon, deputy assistant commissioner has now said that they don’t consider the groups to be extremists or a ‘threat to national security’.

Despite this, the non-violent groups appear in the same 24-page document as the National Front and National Action, both of which have faced bans for terrorist violence.

Other groups listed include Sea Shepherd and Stop the Badger cull which has previously been backed by Queen guitarist Brian May.

The right-wing groups that were included in the guidance are pictured above in the Counter Terrorism policing document

Activists from PETA stage a demonstration outside a venue during London Fashion Week in London, Britain, September 13, 2019

Mr Haydon added that he did not believe membership of these groups should be flagged to the Prevent group.

‘Counter Terrorism Policing creates a range of guidance and documents for use across the whole of policing, not just by Counter Terrorism officers or Prevent practitioners. We produce these documents to help frontline officers and other colleagues make informed decisions – including protecting crowded places at times of protest.

‘The ‘Signs and Symbols’ document which has become the subject of a Guardian article today was produced to help police and close partners identify and understand signs and symbols they may encounter in their day-to-day working lives, so they know the difference between the symbols for the many groups they might come across.

‘We need our CT officers, front line police colleagues and partners to be able to understand what organisations people may be affiliated with, and what their aims and activities – lawful or otherwise – are.’

Extinction Rebellion (members above) were one of the groups included and they have questioned why they were added at all

The executive director of Greenpeace has now hit back at the document, stating that it ‘tars environmental campaigners and terrorist organisations with the same brush’.

John Sauven added that this would ‘not help fight terrorism’.

This is while Peta claimed the action was ‘dangerous’ and Extinction Rebellion questioned why they had been included in the document at all.

Other groups that were listed, that have no known link to national security included the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and anti-fascist and anti-racist groups.

The guide, which also features symbols which are often associated with white supremacy, such as the swastika, was created by Counter Terrorism Policing in June 2019.

On completion it was sent to doctors and schools, as well as safeguarding boards up and down the country.

One teacher told the Guardian that the document is vague and forces teachers to come to their own assumptions as to why non-violent groups have been included on the list.