BBC:
Just Stop Oil: M25 protests to be halted
Just Stop Oil activists will halt their protests on the M25 with immediate effect, the group has said.
Demonstrators from the environmental group have been
blocking parts of the busy motorway for four days, leading to multiple arrests.
No protests would be held on Friday or in the "foreseeable future", a spokesman said. The pause would allow the government "to do the right thing".
Police said the move would help them "focus resources" on other crime.
Just Stop Oil has said it wants the government to halt new licences for the exploration of oil and other fossil fuels in the UK.
Despite ceasing any existing protests which may have been planned on the M25, the spokesperson said they did not rule out returning to the motorway in the future.
"We're not saying we're going back to the motorway, but we're not saying we won't go back either. But we've stopped this for the moment," they said.
The Home Office said it was giving police strengthened powers to "match the rise in guerrilla protest tactics".
A spokesperson said: "Not only is the serious disruption we have experienced recently extremely dangerous for all involved, it costs the taxpayer millions and is draining police resources."
Activists earlier this week climbed on overhead gantries in multiple locations of the M25 causing the motorway to be closed.
A police officer was injured during
Wednesday's protests.
Essex Police said there was a collision involving the police motorcyclist and two lorries during a rolling roadblock.
Chief Constable BJ Harrington warned it is "only a matter of time" before someone is killed during a protest.
Surrey Police have welcomed the demonstrations being halted, and said it will allow them to "focus resources on tackling other crime within our communities.
"However, we are not being complacent and have resources in place to deal with any further disruption if required," a spokesperson added.
'No let-up'
The protests were staged as the
COP27 climate summit was being held in Egypt.
The Just Stop Oil spokesperson told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to "consider his statement at Cop27, where he spoke of the catastrophic threat posed by the ravages of global heating, the 33 million people displaced by floods in Pakistan, and the moral and economic imperative to honour our pledges".
The environmental activist group was founded after Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, with organisers from both at the helm.
Rory Kennedy, co-founder of the US-based Climate Emergency Fund, which funds Just Stop Oil, told
The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 that there will be no let-up in the group's activities in the UK.
Ms Kennedy said protests would continue until government commitments over fossil fuels are changed. She said protesters would stay in "emergency mode" in order to "stave off the worst climate emergency we've ever faced".
Suella Braverman said the "disruption is a threat to our way of life", during a speech on Wednesday.
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From Yesterday that I only saw today:
The Telegraph (they are doing very good job covering all of this):
Police can't 'arrest our way out' of Just Stop Oil protest, says senior officer
The country's most senior officer on policing protests has warned there will be no "arresting our way out of" the chaos caused by Just Stop Oil.
Chief Constable Chris Noble, who is the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) protest lead, said: "There's a fair challenge about how effectively we are dealing with these particular protests ... the answer to some of the challenges we face is not a policing answer.
"We're part of it but we're not going to arrest our way out of environmental protest."
The defiant statement at the NPCC conference yesterday came after
Suella Braverman told police to "step up" and take a “firmer line” against the protesters. The home secretary said there had also been a “loss in confidence” by police in their failure to make full use of their powers to crackdown on the protesters.
Activists are continuing to bring misery to thousands of motorists by
blocking the M25 motorway every morning and have vowed to continue their campaign until the Government caves into its demands to stop issuing new oil and gas licences.
Chief Constable Noble said police are "damned either way", whether they are "too soft" or "too robust" on protesters.
"This is too important an area to be arrogant or complacent," he told the conference. "What is the job of policing protest? The law does not make it clear, it is a matter of judgement for the police.
"We need to have a bit more of a conversation about what exactly do we want, considering we still live in [a] democracy, around expression rights."
Tearful protesters have posted videos justifying their actions and claiming they have no choice but to take illegal action because the climate emergency means they will have no future.
But Lisa Townsend, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, whose force is one of those
trying to tackle Just Stop Oil, suggested some of the protesters were being exploited by the organisers.
She described the group’s tactics as “chilling” and “sinister” and said there were parallels with grooming.
Movement 'takes on a sinister side'
Ms Townsend said: “I was speaking to an officer the other day who was about to go up on a gantry and he mentioned the word grooming which sounds very chilling. What these people are doing is going into colleges and universities and are targeting young people and are enticing them into a cause.
“That is where for me this movement takes on a sinister side. They appeal to youngsters who are vulnerable and perhaps lonely and make them feel as if they are a part of something.
“But it is like becoming part of a cult and for young people they perhaps don’t fully appreciate the long term implications of getting a criminal conviction in terms of them being able to travel and getting a job in the future.
“It is almost quasi-religious so they believe that any tactic is justified and that they have no choice but to do what they are doing no matter what the impact is on people’s lives.”
Just Stop Oil, which is a splinter group of
Extinction Rebellion, began recruiting members at universities earlier this year, according to evidence uncovered by the Policy Exchange think tank.
Posters placed on campuses around the country warned students that climate change would lead to apocalyptic events.
One recruitment sign read: “The breakdown of the climate is destroying the economy. It will destroy your job, your family, this community, this town. It will lead to slaughter, war and mass starvation.
“It will be the biggest disaster in history. You can sit around and just let it happen or you can take responsibility to protect those you love.”
In a video posted online,
Roger Hallam, who is accused of being one of the organisers of Just Stop Oil, gave an extraordinary prediction of the impact of climate change claiming it would result in rape and violence.
He said: “What will happen is that a group of young men will come into your home, they take your girlfriend, they take your mother, they put her onto the table and they gang rape her in front of you and then after that they take a hot stick and they poke out your eyes and they blind you that is the reality of the annihilation project that you face.”
Group likened to a cult
Dr Paul Stott, the head of extremism and security at the Policy Exchange, who produced a report on Just Stop Oil earlier this month, said the group was being run like a cult.
He said: “I am very concerned about the rhetoric and language used often by people in a position of authority in environmentalism or academia. The rhetoric is very doom and gloom all about the end of the world.
"Ultimately the activists are adults, they are making their own decisions but in an environment where there is an enormous amount of distinct propaganda and it is leading to some extreme behaviour.
"Just Stop Oil organisers have been pushing this argument that young people are having their future stolen from them.
"There is no responsibility being taken within the environmental movement around what the implications of this rhetoric are."
On Thursday activists struck on the M25 for the fourth day running forcing the closure of the motorway around junction 8 in Surrey.
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said: "If the government makes a statement announcing no new oil and gas licences then our young people can stop taking the action they are taking. They are being driven to act by government inaction."
Article
Braverman tells police to 'step up' on Just Stop Oil protests
The Home Secretary urged police chiefs to take a “firmer line” against the protesters, who brought the M25 to a halt for a third day.
Suella Braverman has warned police they are losing the public’s confidence in their efforts to halt the Just Stop Oil protests as an officer was injured when the group brought the M25 to a halt for a third consecutive day.
The Home Secretary urged police chiefs to “step up” and take a “firmer line” against the protesters as she said there had also been a “loss in confidence” by police in their failure to make full use of their powers to crackdown on the protesters.
Her comments came as police forces involved in tackling Just Stop Oil started using new laws to deny the protesters bail in order to prevent them repeatedly returning to block roads as well as charging them with conspiracy offences which carry maximum 10-year jail terms.
Essex’s chief constable BJ Harrington warned it was "only a matter of time" before someone was killed in a Just Stop Oil protest. He told
The Daily Telegraph: "The only way this is going to stop is if Just Stop Oil frankly grow up and realise they are putting people's lives at risk."
A police motorcyclist was hospitalised after colliding with two lorries during a rolling roadblock when a Just Stop Oil activist ran onto the M25 on Wednesday morning. About 10 others scaled overhead gantries, bringing traffic to a standstill at multiple locations from 6.30am.
In her speech yesterday, Mrs Braverman told police chiefs at their annual conference there had been an “institutional reluctance” by officers to use their full legal powers to end protests that were causing “mass misery” to thousands of people.
She warned them that the human rights of protesters could no longer be put above the rights of the “patriotic law-abiding” majority of the British public.
“Although most police officers do an excellent job, sadly, in recent months and years we have seen an erosion of confidence in the police to take action against the radicals, the road-blockers, the vandals, the militants and the extremists,” she said.
“But we have also seen the police appear to lose confidence in themselves; in yourselves. In your authority, in your power. An institutional reluctance. This must change.
“Criminal damage, obstructing the highway, public nuisance – none of it should be humoured. It is not a human right to vandalise a work of art. It is not a civil liberty to stop ambulances getting to the sick and injured.”
Mrs Braverman said police should make full use of their powers by adopting a less “restrictive” interpretation of the law on the cumulative impact of protests and what was meant by “serious disruption” to communities. She suggested there would be new guidance to ensure they did so.
“Scenes of members of the public taking the law into their own hands are a sign of a loss of confidence and I urge you all to step up to your public duties in policing protests. The law-abiding patriotic majority is on your side. This is what common-sense policing means,” she said.
“Such disruption is a threat to our way of life. It does not ‘further a cause’. It is not ‘freedom of expression’ and I want to reassure you that you have my – and this government’s – full backing in taking a firmer line to safeguard public order. Indeed, that is your duty.”
Since the start of the M25 protest three days ago, the activists have been charged with new offences brought under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, such as recklessly causing a public nuisance and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
The recently toughened-up laws have helped to avoid a repeat of the farcical scenes of last summer when Insulate Britain activists succeeded in repeatedly shutting down the M25, in part thanks to police bailing its supporters after their initial arrest.
Now they have been remanded into custody on charges carrying heavier sentences including a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
Charlotte Kirin, 53, of Bury St Edmunds, and Paul Bleach, 55, of Portsmouth, were on Wednesday told they would face trial in a crown court trial - meaning they could face the maximum sentence - after being charged with recklessly causing a public nuisance on the M25.
Chief constable Harrington said: "I've got the right people, I've got great commands, I'm getting the support from the Crown Prosecution Service, we'll see what the courts do."
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers were dealing with Just Stop Oil activists as quickly as possible including a new tactic of placing D-locks around their necks and attaching them to the gantry.
He said: "We have gone as fast as we think we can do on the JSO (Just Stop Oil) issues. We can't take snipers apparently to people who are climbing the gantries. When we use the angle grinders we have to apparently just take off the locks, we can't take off the limbs at the same time.
"There are limits to how you can do this at speed. We are turning up at those things very quickly. We're going as quickly as we can."
It came as one of Britain’s most senior officers hit back at the Home Secretary’s criticism of “woke” policing. Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said so-called ‘woke’ gestures were not preventing officers from fighting crime and are an important part of policing.
He said promoting diversity and inclusion was vital in rebuilding trust and confidence among under represented communities. He rejected the use of the term ‘woke’ and said it was too often used as an “easy one-liner” in order to get a headline.
Article
Letters [to the editor]: Just Stop Oil won’t help the environment by alienating the public
(I included only parts of the article. 'cause not all of it is about JSO)
SIR – However laudable the long-term cause of the Just Stop Oil demonstrators may be, their methods are serving only to alienate potential supporters, who are being denied their right to go about their lawful business.
Even if Britain were to cease to produce emissions, the global effect would be negligible. Shouldn’t the protesters be targeting China, India or America? Their current actions are little more than gesture politics.
Colin Scott
Liskeard, Cornwall
SIR – When police close the M25 for safety reasons because a protester has clambered on to a gantry, just whose safety is taking priority?
Is it the safety of the protester or the safety of – for example – a person trying to get to hospital?
I was held up for 30 minutes while the police removed a protester from the Dartford Crossing. Behind me was an ambulance trying to get through.
Tony Cross
Sevenoaks, Kent
SIR – One wonders what the members of Just Stop Oil propose as a substitute for their hated energy source, and how long they think we and they can currently survive without it.
Michael Bacon
Bordon, Hampshire
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