Latest news with #SentencingandCourtsBill
Daily Mail
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Moment van appears to drive through Just Stop Oil protesters while eco-zealots marched through London as frustration boils over in the capital
A van appeared to drive through Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters as hundreds of eco-zealots marched through the streets of London for their 'last day of action' today. It comes after the eco-clowns announced they were 'hanging up the hi vis' last month following three years of disrupting ordinary Brits' lives. The group's last hurrah involved frustrating drivers by blocking roads on the Trafalgar Square roundabout as they walked from St James' Park to Waterloo. Video footage seems to show a man slowly driving a white minivan carrying a child and at least one other passenger towards protesters. People standing front of the vehicle, some holding a JSO banner, look to hold their hands up with one shouting 'officer, I'm being pushed back'. The minivan appeared to edge forward until the bonnet was pressing against them. The driver then exited the vehicle and could be heard shouting 'what are you doing blocking the whole road up?' and saying to police 'what about my right to get home?' as a mass of people including press photographers gathered closely. Film appears to capture the officers reminding the man that the disruption is temporary and that people had a right to protest. The minivan appeared to edge forwards until the bonnet was pressing against them. The driver then exited the vehicle and could be heard shouting 'what are you doing blocking the whole road up?' and saying to police 'what about my right to get home?' as a mass of people including press photographers gathered closely Police seemed to successfully call for the crowd to move away from the vehicle. Similar incidents of drivers appearing to be angered by people in the road were also caught on camera. Last month JSO announced it would stop direct action and announced it had won its demand to end new oil and gas. During Saturday's rally Keir Lane, 59, from Northamptonshire, told reporters that JSO's alternative to disruptive action is yet to be decided. Speaking outside the Treasury Building, he said spray painting it and sitting outside waiting for police to arrest him would be 'high-accountability action' and 'owning your action'. 'I suspect going forward, because of the punitive state - because of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and the 2023 Public Order Act - I think people will be looking at more unaccountable stuff. That's a theory.' Asked for an example, he said: 'Turning up at a bank and glueing the door locks and walking away, or coming to the Treasury, glueing the door locks, running away'. He added: 'There's a lot of people who don't agree with unaccountable actions, some people do, so I don't know'. Mr Lane said: 'You learn the ropes, you learn your business, and you have to identify your strengths and your weaknesses and make changes in what you do.' Asked if that action had become a weakness, he said: 'No, but you can't carry on doing the same thing time and time again'. The march paused at Downing Street, as well as the Royal Courts of Justice where the names of 11 JSO activists said to be serving jail sentences were read out. It concluded outside the Shell Centre, Waterloo, that was blocked by police. A message from the co-founder of JSO and Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam, recorded in prison was played to the crowd. He said: 'I have been in a state of some nervous tension all week because I don't particularly feel uplifting to be honest, and faking it is not really one of my things. 'I didn't agree with the winding up of JSO and I want to see a lot more mobilisation and all the rest of it. 'In addition, I've been given a weather report which says that next week hundreds of Asian cities will have all-time high record temperatures and it will be 50C in the Philippines. 'No doubt if a million people have died in record temperatures by this time next week then people will be putting on their hi vis rather than hanging them up.' Hallam was originally jailed for five years for agreeing to disrupt traffic by having protesters climb onto gantries over the M25 for four successive days, but his sentence was later reduced to one of four years at the Court of Appeal. JSO has drawn attention, criticism and jail terms for protests ranging from throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers and spray painting Charles Darwin's grave to climbing on gantries over the M25. In its March statement announcing the end of direct action, it said: 'Just Stop Oil's initial demand to end new oil and gas is now Government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history. 'We've kept over 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground and the courts have ruled new oil and gas licences unlawful.' The Labour Government has said it will not issue licences for new oil and gas exploration, while a series of recent court cases have halted fossil fuel projects including oil drilling in Surrey, a coal mine in Cumbria and the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea over climate pollution. But Labour has distanced itself from Just Stop Oil, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer criticising its actions and saying protesters must face the full force of the law.
The Independent
10-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Bristol protester ‘dazed' after police officer ‘whacked' him with baton
One of the Bristol protesters described by Priti Patel as 'thugs' has told of being 'dazed' after an officer 'whacked' him with a baton, leaving him with a 'large bump' on his head. Ross, who is in the final year of a Physics masters at Bristol University, told The Independent his 'ears were ringing' after the clash with police at Friday night's protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which Labour has warned could lead to harsher penalties for damaging a statue than attacking a woman. The home secretary said the 'Kill the Bill' protesters were 'intent on causing trouble' – and was backed by prime minister Boris Johnson who said a 'mob' had carried out 'disgraceful attacks against police officers'. It came hours after the Avon and Somerset force retracted a claim that two officers suffered broken bones during a previous Kill the Bill protest last Sunday. Riot police could be seen pushing people to the ground with their shields in videos posted on social media, while a Daily Mirror journalist was the subject of an 'assault' by police. Ross, a 24-year-old student who preferred not to give his family name, said he was hit in the head by a police officer while standing on the frontlines of the protest in Bristol on Bridewell street at around 11pm on Friday night. He added: 'I was saying 'I'm peaceful' and had my hands in the air saying 'I'm here to protest not to fight'. The officer came and whacked me in the head with a baton. I got dazed and stumbled back. A lot of people got a lot worse than I did. 'There is some bruising. You can definitely see it. I'm definitely still a bit dazed. I had a bit of trouble getting to bed last night. My ears were still ringing. But it is having witnessed police behaving that way that's shaken me more than getting hit on the head.' The student said he was an 'engaged citizen' and not an activist. He said some officers were hitting back against demonstrators with the flat surface of their shields. 'Further down the line, police were hitting them with the edges of the shield, which is obviously more painful,' he said. 'The ones using the edges of the shield – that is done with vicious intent. There wasn't any physical violence I saw from the protesters. The police didn't need to clear the streets. The police could have just waited it out.' Ross said the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill 'worries' him a lot as it is a 'direct assault on our civil liberties' – adding that he is anxious that Boris Johnson's relatively new government is 'already' attempting to implement tough restrictions. And he warned that he would be 'surprised' if there were not more protests in the city on Saturday. Matthew Ryan Tucker, a friend who also attended the protest, said: 'I was hit on the side of the head with a riot shield. I have a small bruise. It was pretty insane to see the police unleashing on people.' The 23-year-old, who is doing a physics PhD at Bristol University, said it was concerning Labour had been due to abstain from voting against the controversial bill until changing their mind at the last minute. 'It's really disappointing isn't it,' he added. 'Obviously people say to get the Tories out, you need to back the most viable party, but when they also don't oppose the recent Spycops bill, a separate piece of legislation which has been criticised, people feel like they don't have a voice, so they come out in the streets.' Large demonstrations are currently banned in the UK because of lockdown rules. Avon and Somerset Police said glass bottles, bricks and eggs were hurled at officers and fireworks were set off. Kevin Blowe, campaigns coordinator at the Network for Police Monitoring, told The Independent: 'It appears riot police were let off the leash last night. Scenes of officers battering protesters on the floor with shields is convincing evidence that Avon and Somerset Police wanted to send a message that it has zero tolerance of further protests against the government's draconian policing bill. 'However, all this has proved the urgency of resisting new measures in the bill. With sweeping extra police powers to crack down on protests, Bristol is a disturbing warning of what campaigners can expect in the future.' Police officers could be seen using riot shields to push back protesters, some of whom were sat down, while others raised their arms in the air as they chanted 'we are peaceful, what are you'. Nadia Whittome, a Labour MP, said: 'Reports of protesters and journalists injured last night in Bristol. The case for an independent investigation into the policing of the Bristol protests is clear.' The legislation would hand police greater power to roll out conditions on non-violent protests, with convictions potentially leading to a prison sentence. Police were condemned over their aggressive handling of a vigil to mourn Sarah Everard two weeks ago – with Dame Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, forced to rebuff calls to step down after her officers grabbed women standing on Clapham Common's bandstand before taking them away while others at the vigil screamed and cried out. The police said it had to act to safeguard public health during the coronavirus pandemic. Supt Mark Runacres, commander for Bristol at Avon and Somerset Police, said Friday night's protest was held 'against our advice and the advice of the authorities' and that a peaceful demonstration had been 'facilitated for many hours.' He added: 'We had bottles being thrown at officers, paint being thrown at officers. Our officers will deal with offences where they are being committed effectively and robustly, in line with ... approved public order training tactics. 'We want our officers to be deployed on their routine duties – while they are being drawn into policing operations such as these, they are being taken away from other frontline duties. Victims are being let down by us not being able to respond to them as quickly as we would like.' He added: 'From Monday, changes in legislation will allow us to hopefully work with protest organisers so we can discuss things like routes, direction, end time and dispersal.'
