Just Stop Oil protesters have returned to the streets of London with the previous action by the eco-activists revealed to have cost the Metropolitan force more than £15 million over 12 months.
Here, Green Party Jenny Jones argues that protest is vital in hearing the voice of the community in public or private decision-making, while the Conservative candidate for London mayor, Susan Hall, argues the protests have disrupted ordinary Londoners for too long.
Voices must be heard or protests will go on
I’ve been involved in climate campaigning since 1968. I was arrested once, although that was when I was trying to get the police and protesters to listen to one another.
When a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority I attended to watch and understand how the police coped with the problems they faced. I have also spoken in the Lords against repressive laws relating to protests in the Public Order Act, and in support of the aims — although not all the tactics — of Extinction Rebellion.
When the voice of the community in public or private decision-making is not being heard, protest is vital. Ordinary people take to the streets to make sure peer-reviewed science gets a mention in the media. Or, as Greta Thunberg did for school children across the world, you might need to demonstrate the strength of feeling among a group with no vote and no access to politicians. Or, when the final democratic route has been exhausted in a disastrous decision like fracking, you might need to put your own body in the way of a lorry.
But, with the laws on protesting rewritten this year, by a Government losing control of its MPs, foundering in broken promises and causing damage to every part of British society, it makes sense for everyone who might wield a placard or picket a building for any reason to be well trained on how to deal with being treated as a criminal and not a concerned citizen.
Jenny Jones is a Green Party peer
Enough! We need to get on with our lives
These protests inflict misery on Londoners. People who are trying to get to work, attend a hospital appointment or go about their daily lives are being held to ransom. The cost to the police is staggering.
Just Stop Oil’s demands are unrealistic. We have made enormous progress moving towards greener energy sources. At the start of this year, renewables generated a record 48 per cent of our electricity. Stopping new oil and gas altogether would do little to boost that progress, but it would make us more dependent on importing energy and push up our bills. Yet protesters seem to relish in their unpopularity. Their tactics are focused on forcing themselves into people’s lives and causing as much chaos as possible. One activist seemed comfortable with prospect of someone dying in an ambulance because of their protests, presenting it as some kind of noble sacrifice. These are not tactics that encourage people to join their cause, which is a must if they want political change.
I am not going to question their right to express their views. Everyone has the right to stand up for what they believe in. But we must minimise the disruption when it is as persistent and as costly as this. If I am elected Mayor, I want the police to spend their time keeping Londoners safe, and not wasting their time on protests.
We should ensure the police have the powers and resources to treat them fairly and efficiently.
