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Civil liberties experts have warned that peaceful protests are threatened in the UK after environmental activists came under pretrial arrests and “unworkable restrictions” were placed on Extinction Rebellion (XR) rallies this week.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets this week to highlight the escalation of the climate emergency and demand urgent government action.
More than 200 activists have been arrested so far. The civil liberties group Liberty said legitimate protest is hampered by forceful police tactics.
“Although the police have a duty to facilitate protests, in recent weeks there have been restrictions, fines and arrests that do not work to deter us from exercising our rights,” said Gracie Bradley, acting director of the group. “These restrictions are tough and go too far.”
The Metropolitan Police have issued restrictions under section 14 of the Public Order Act which states that the XR rally in Westminster must take place within the Parliament Square off-road area between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The protesters said it was an attempt to quell legitimate protests amid the government’s inaction over the climate emergency.
“I think [the police] they are much stricter and much more fighters this time … It’s very, very different, “said Alice Huntington, a 48-year-old protester from Bedford.
“I think it’s a shame, it remains to be seen if this is really legal, but it is on the verge of oppression. We have the legal right to protest and it seems that this is not allowed. “
Roger Lockey, 65, said he felt the police had stepped up their actions for each of the group’s rebellions in the past two years. “The response is much more robust than in October, they are not spending much time allowing us to block roads but we did not expect it to be the same,” he said.
Last week, five climate activists from the newly formed group Beyond Politics were arrested and charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage. A co-founder of XR, Roger Hallam, was among them and he and another activist, Diana Warner, remain in prison on remand.
Bradley said: “These tactics are not new but they are harmful in that they undermine our right to protest by rephrasing it as a public nuisance. Peaceful protest is a fundamental pillar of any healthy democracy, and it is vital that it is protected whatever the cause.
The Met declined to comment, but directed The Guardian to its website, where a statement said the restrictions had been imposed as the protest could “result in a serious disruption to the life of the community.”
This week’s demonstrations are the first mass gathering of XR activists since a rebellion planned for earlier this year was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. The group was warned that it could face a £ 10,000 fine for organizing a gathering of more than 30 people under Covid legislation.
In London, the latest XR rebellion has so far focused on Westminster, but activists say they intend to target other institutions responsible for the climate crisis in the coming days.
On Wednesday night, some of the world’s leading novelists, poets and playwrights, including Margaret Atwood and Zadie Smith, backed XR, highlighting the corrupting influence of right-wing thinktanks and pressure groups.
Speaking at the event outside 55 Tufton Street in central London, a venue known for hosting meetings of think tanks and lobbyists linked to climate science denial and the oil industry, Smith said: “This is no longer, yes is that it once was, a matter of morality. This is a structural issue of corrupt politics, of lobbying at the highest level of our government. It involves the economic exploitation of the greatest existential challenge the human race has ever known, the survival of the planet.
“The fate of this planet cannot be decided by well-paid men and women in dark offices. This planet belongs to the people. More exactly, we all belong to him ”.
