Should the police be allowed to stop protests? – Eve H
Due to Just Stop Oil causing frustration and inconvenience to the people of the country (are they misunderstood? That’s for a different day) it is being discussed in the House of Commons to pass a bill allowing the police to stop protests, this begs the question – does this infringe on our human rights?
We as a nation, through the Human Rights Act 1998, have the right of free speech, free movement and the right to gather for a common purpose. This new bill would go against these completely, and is that fair? While Just Stop Oil protestors are causing issues as of late, there isn’t really another way I see them being able to protest until the issue is resolved. While Just Stop Oil has only been around since February 2022, extinction rebellion has been protesting since 2018 and Greta Thunberg is famous for her fight against climate change, only this week being arrested for her protests at a coal mine. How is this any different? Some of their protests have been seen as extreme like throwing soup onto Van Gogh’s famous painting in the National Gallery and disturbing the M25 for four days, but the suffragettes did very similar things such as ruining famous pieces or art and chaining themselves to carts. What is seen as a nuisance now, could be seen as heroic in 100 years.
Now onto the real question, should the police be allowed to stop peaceful protests? Our rights say no, but the people are saying yes. The Daily Mail accused a just stop oil protestor of ‘moaning’ about the issues at hand and the consequences he is facing, even they say that they know their tactics ‘make people angry’. While this idea could be seen as a good short term solution to silence the so called ‘annoyances’ of today, what happens when a real issue emerges and we can no longer protest for change? And anyway, according to a representative for Just Stop Oil, the new changes to the law will only ‘spur them on’, so maybe it should just be left?
This is a very difficult situation the government has been put in because putting down the protests imply they don’t agree with the activists points and ideas, but letting them protest on the motorway will lead to injury and almost certain death.
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