Disruptive protests clampdown.

[malificent7]

I am torn. I am worried that this will erode our rights to peaceful protest but don't agree with blocking ambulances.

I think this government will use this as an excuse to clamp don on civil unrest that THEY have caused.

What do you think?

Anyone?

Should people have the right to peacefully protest outside abortions clinics?

The actions I've seen this week are pathetic. Throwing soup over famous paintings, emptying milk into supermarket floors. Yes it garners attention but for all of the wrong reasons. People look at them and think they are idiots, it alienates them from the cause. Totally counter productive and very unfair on the people who have to clean it up.

Blocking ambulances is just unforgivable. I would have no issue with forcibly removing someone who stood in the way of an ambulance.

Of course the government will use it to their advantage. The restrictions on protest combined with removal of human rights are all part of a wider agenda. I think that road blocking protests make the public anti whatever you are for. A lot of politicians have been talking non stop about insulating Britain, but couldn't back the tactics of insulate Britain.

I actually agree the problem with XR, insulate Britain and some of the BLM protests in 2020 is they stepped well over the line going out to cause damage and lost the message in the process.

That's the pickle, protesting peacefully is one thing but when you have e.g. A main group then a splinter group or a different faction, e.g. San Francisco branch vs London branch , or Chicago branch, and under the banner of x name, then one branches activities can be the pickle for the other branches.

I agree with all of the causes of the protestors that are throwing soup onto paintings, pouring milk over the floor and blocking ambulances but it is not the way to protest. These are mainly middle class young adults who just don't have a clue about real life. Yes, it gets you noticed but they are doing nothing for their cause in the midst of a cost of living crisis and economic turmoil.

And yes, of course the government will use this as an excuse to erode our rights to peaceful protest as the protestors have alienated a huge majority of the population, again this is complete ignorance of the teenagers protesting in this way.

Why can’t they protest peacefully by walking about holding placades, and chanting slogans?

Why do they have to disrupt traffic and vandalise art? That ain’t protest that’s egotistical attention seeking by idiots.

A huge of the problem is the media. Two thousand people can hold a rally about an important issue and the bbc won’t cover the story, but one person throws oil at a Van Gogh and it’s on the front page.

Very mad at XR and Insulate Britain for handing this government an excuse to increase police powers. This won’t end well. I remember when the police were given extra powers to fight terrorists and they used those laws to remove an old man from a political party conference where he was peacefully protesting.

I agree with most points on here. Soup throwing, milk spilling and road blocking are childish and don't get the cause anywhere. If anything they make things worse.

The government and police need to clamp down on these disruptive protests, with the full force of the law. I don’t think peaceful protests will be impacted. What we are currently witnessing with these eco-terrorists is criminal damage and potential threat to life.

Yes.

Im not prone to conspiracy theories but perhaps this is all calculated to ensure the Government takes action to restrict the right to protest

And no you shouldnt have the right to 'protest' outside an abortion clinic any more than you should have the right to protest outside a children's hospital that the staff are doing harm etc

Its harrassment.

The stunt protests are ridiculous. The road blocking is dangerous especially when people can’t get through to the hospital. Those ones make my blood boil (and are counterproductive as all the standing traffic will be spraying out fumes).

the ones where they’re damaging things are equally annoying as clearly they will be using resources to clean up and rectify the damage.

Should people have the right to peacefully protest outside abortions clinics?

No. No one should have the right to harass users or staff. Find a different way to protest.

Blocking ambulances and fire trucks is awful.

they’re just militants - they could just have easily been fascists if their circumstances were different. They are entirely removed from the real concerns of what they protest.

their protests clearly alienate people but they don’t care - becaue they don’t really care about the outcome.

i can guarantee if you told them it would be really helpful to put together some useful responses to a policy consultation on practical change they’d get bored and leave after 5 minutes

And people should have the right to protest abortion legislation - which is very different to harassing individuals going into or working at abortion clinics

They have now attacked Aston Martin branch

Unfortunately, even twenty thousand people on a peaceful demo won’t get any media attention. The media only pay attention to controversial protests so young people who are genuinely frightened about our current trajectory towards making large parts of the planet uninhabitable feel that’s what they have to do to get any attention.
I think these protests do risk alienating the public. But at the same time, what can we do to make people realise that once we’ve broken it, we can’t fix it? Once the ice sheets have melted, the sea level rise will happen. Our whole civilisation depends on the weather patterns that sustain agriculture, now changing.. And yet the government wants to ban solar farms and drill for more fossil fuels in the North Sea. They really don’t give a toss about the consequences.
Of course people who understand what’s at stake are feeling desperate. Even climate scientists are now going out and taking part in direct action.
By the way, someone suggested responding to policy consultations as an alternative. I responded to a lot of these in a previous job, and the idea that responses influence government is just… hahaha <hollow laugh>

I agree about stopping wilful disruption, but I also agree with your worry about selectivity, OP. We already have light touch enforcement (and sometimes none at all) in some areas, and while sensitivity's very important one difficulty can all too easily lead to others

Certainly we can draw a line and decide that some things will not be tolerated, but then we'd have to decide what to do about those who'll claim special exemptions - and it would need a better mind than mine to square that circle

Just because I don't agree with the way a protest has been carried out doesn't mean I believe there should be even more police state laws denying our rights to protest.

They have now attacked Aston Martin branch

As with fox hunting, I guess this is just another example of it being less about "the cause" and more about sticking it to those perceived to be privileged - although suggest that protesters give up their environmentally damaging £1000 phones and the reaction tends to be different

And yes of course they could protest peacefully with banners, slogans and all the rest, but looking at the satisfied expressions when they get carted away I'd say it's not as much fun as being hauled off by the police and being able to plaster it all over social media

Some protests are more equal than others. The police stand by and let the eco-nutters do what they like.
When military veterans were planning to protest in Westminster, they were threatened with immediate arrest and there was a total news blackout.
I know one thing though, if XR try and mess up Remembrance Sunday in London, there will be hell to pay. It won’t end well for them.

Funny how they don’t protest outside major oil producing countries Embassies and they never, ever protest against halal meat cruelty.

If someone dies because an ambulance can’t get through, the lot of them should be charged with manslaughter. I don’t know why they think this level of selfish spite will get the public onside.

Oh, and if any of these twonks had to sacrifice their phones/gadgets, bottled water, Starbucks with highly eco-unfriendly almond milk or regular holidays by plane, you wouldn’t see them for dust. That’s what makes me so angry, they are massive hypocrites who revel in disrupting the lives of normal working people.

Basically yes. But there’s a world of difference between a protest standing there with a placard saying something like “life begins at conception” or protesters actually trying to stop women getting through, or showing grim images or whatever.

peaceful protest should be protected by law in my opinion. And by that I mean no damage done and nobody hurt.