Suella Braverman and policing minister Chris Philp met with police chiefs to discuss tackling the “guerrilla tactics” used by Just Stop Oil.
01 December 2022
Rishi Sunak has said it is “completely unacceptable” that ordinary people were having their lives disrupted by environmental protests after the Home Secretary Suella Braverman met with police chiefs to discuss the issue.
Ms Braverman and policing minister Chris Philp met with police chiefs to discuss tackling the “guerrilla tactics” used by Just Stop Oil protest groups after Downing Street said “more must be done” to stop disruptive demonstrations.
The Prime Minister, who joined the start of the roundtable hosted in No 10 on Thursday, said: “This afternoon I sat down with all the police chiefs to make it clear that they have my full support in acting decisively to clamp down on illegal protests.
“It is completely unacceptable that ordinary members of the public are having their lives disrupted by a selfish minority.
“My view is that those who break the law should feel the full force of it, and that’s what I am determined to deliver.”
Earlier Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley suggested efforts by officers are having an effect and said he is “absolutely determined” that anything that goes beyond lawful, reasonable protest will be “dealt with robustly”.
But he also admitted that some trials may not take place for two years amid delays in the criminal justice system.
Sir Mark told the London Assembly: “Frankly, what I’ve seen is that Just Stop Oil have got much less assertive in their recent protests – frankly, as a consequence of a large number of their leaders being remanded in custody as a result of our operations.”
“I’m absolutely determined that anything that goes beyond lawful reasonable protest by creating serious disruption to London, by creating damage to property, will be dealt with robustly,” he added.
“That’s why we’ve used the more serious offences such as the statutory offence of public nuisance – we put the best part of 60 offenders before the courts at one stage for that offence.”
Sir Mark said most of the trials for members of the environmental activist group are scheduled to take place in 2024 due to delays in the criminal justice system.
Earlier this week, Just Stop Oil protester Jan Goodey, who caused “mile after mile” of tailbacks on the M25 after climbing up a gantry, was jailed for six months after admitting causing a public nuisance.
The 57-year-old was part of a demonstration on behalf of the climate group which forced authorities to close sections of the UK’s busiest motorway during the morning rush-hour on November 7.
In September, Goodey, from Brighton, East Sussex, had been handed a two-year conditional discharge for obstructing the highway in a separate protest last year.
District Judge Daniel Benjamin said he had “flagrantly ignored” previous warnings that his conduct “was not acceptable in a peaceful and democratic society”.
