Extinction Rebellion says it will continue to put people on the streets in defiance of Government steps to crack down on disruptive “guerrilla protests”.
The climate change protest group says the Government is foolish to believe that plans to curb its activities would stop people taking to the streets to demand action to ensure "a safe future for people in the UK and around the world", GB News reported.
The group set out its intention to take action in September following the announcement of the Public Order Bill in the Queen’s Speech earlier this week. This proposed harsher sentences and new criminal offences for those involved in some types of protest, including “locking on” to public transport infrastructure or gluing themselves to roads.
Extinction Rebellion's Charlie Waterhouse, said: “It is foolish to think that announcing new curbs in the Queen’s Speech will stop people taking to the streets to demand their Government act to ensure a safe future for people in the UK and around the world. As we in Extinction Rebellion know full well, what we do works. It’s worked countless times before. It has worked to give us weekends and the vote, human rights and freedom. And it will work again.
“Faced with a Government incapable of anything other than a desperate attempt to shore up its own power and cover up its criminality, it is the only thing we can do. So Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, we thank you. Our organisations were set up to break the law to drive positive change. Your actions show that we are winning.”
The Bill will create new criminal offences of “locking on” and going equipped to “lock on” to other people, objects or buildings in order to cause “serious disruption”, with a maximum penalty of up to six months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. A new offence of interfering with key national infrastructure – such as airports, railways and printing presses – will carry a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.
It will become illegal to obstruct major transport works, such as the HS2 high-speed rail link, again punishable by up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. The Bill will also extend stop-and-search powers so the police can seize articles related to the new offences, while new serious disruption prevention orders will be available for those who repeatedly cause criminal disruption.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said ministers are determined to prevent protesters bringing the country to “a grinding halt”, saying: “The law-abiding, responsible majority have had enough of anti-social, disruptive protests carried out by a self-indulgent minority who seem to revel in causing mayhem and misery for the rest of us.”
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