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Blame game over Just Stop Oil protest chaos

Head of Met rejects Prime Minister’s criticisms and says Government must do more to reform legislation

By Martin Evans and Charles Hymas

The courts have failed to act as a deterrent to Just Stop Oil protesters, police chiefs said last night, as a blame game broke out over who was responsible for tackling the chaos. Rishi Sunak urged the police to “act decisively”. But Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police Commissioner, suggested it was not that simple, as protesters were not causing “serious delays or disruption”. Police also said the justice system had been far too slow in dealing with law breakers.

THE courts have failed to act as a deterrent to Just Stop Oil protesters, police chiefs said last night, as a blame game broke out over who was responsible for tackling the chaos.

Rishi Sunak has urged the police to do more and “act decisively and rapidly to end the misery and the disruption that’s being caused to ordinary families up and down the country”.

But Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, suggested it was not that simple, telling the London Assembly his officers had not been able to arrest protesters in London in recent days because they were not causing “serious delays or disruption”.

Following weeks of mounting frustration over the actions of Just Stop Oil, the Prime Minister and his Home Secretary hosted a summit yesterday in Downing Street at which police leaders insisted they required more government help to deal with the problem.

As well as asking for the Government to devise a statutory definition of “serious disruption” to clear up confusion over their powers, they said the justice system had been far too slow in dealing with those who broke the law. Police chiefs asked the Government to consider a range of specific measures to make it easier to prevent further Just Stop Oil chaos.

Among them was the setting up of a working group to examine whether counter-terror tactics, such as how to spot suspicious characters in art galleries and museums, could be applied to prevent unlawful attacks by the group.

They also want the definition of “serious disruption” to take account of the cumulative impact of regular protests on communities.

Just Stop Oil launched a fresh wave of demonstrations earlier this week with activists marching slowly in front of traffic at various locations across the capital. The protests have caused anger among motorists, with claims the police have not tried to intervene.

But speaking to the London Assembly before the summit, Sir Mark defended his officers’ approach.

He said: “Yesterday we had a group of eight people sometimes walking on the roads, sometimes walking on the pavements, who caused almost no serious delays or disruption whatsoever.”

Despite the criticism, he insisted the current police approach was working because the group had become “much less assertive” in its tactics.

He said this was a consequence of a large number of their members being remanded in custody after being arrested. But he said many of their trials had been listed for 2024 which he said was a symptom of the delays in the criminal justice system.

BJ Harrington, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on public order, said: “It’s capacity and having dedicated resources whether that’s Nightingale courts or freeing up other courts to do that. We want to work with the CPS, courts and government to make sure we can get that fair but quick justice not only for people in these criminal protests but so we are not blocking up those seeking justice elsewhere.”

Last night, Mr Sunak said: “This afternoon I sat down with all the police chiefs to make it clear that they have my full support in acting decisively to clamp down on illegal protests.

“It is completely unacceptable that ordinary members of the public are having their lives disrupted by a selfish minority. My view is that those who break the law should feel the full force of it, and that’s what I am determined to deliver.” Asked whether ministers will bring in new legislation or boost powers for officers, he replied: “I’ve said to the police whatever they need from the Government they will have in terms of new powers.”

‘We had people walking on roads [or] on pavements, causing almost no serious delays or disruption’

The protesters belonging to Just Stop Oil have a new tactic to disrupt motorists trying to go about their daily business. They walk slowly in the road ahead of traffic, forcing it to crawl along at a snail’s pace. Astonishingly, they are accompanied in this endeavour by police officers. If a police presence is required because they are breaking the law, why are they not being arrested? Otherwise, why are the officers there at all? Is it to protect the walkers from irate drivers? At one point, 80 officers and six vans were deployed to watch over a handful of activists.

This is an insult to the law-abiding public and is making a mockery of the rule of law. The new strategy has been adopted because the police and courts have finally clamped down on the activists who glued themselves to the roads or climbed on to motorway gantries. Injunctions have helped the police carry out pre-emptive arrests on known trouble-makers. Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, told the London Assembly that it was a measure of “assertive” police success in stopping the previous activity that they were now resorting to slow walking. But his officers are letting them get away with it. Just a few arrests are made before the agitators regroup.

Getting a balance between legitimate protest and unlawful disruption seems to be a task beyond our legislators, law enforcers or the courts. No one wants to stop the protesters making their point; but they can do that from the pavement. Wilfully blocking the highway is supposed to be a criminal offence but apparently it does not constitute the “severe disruption” needed for the police to act. If there is doubt over what everyone imagined the law to be, then Parliament needs to end it.

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2022-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

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