Metropolitan Police Face Growing Call for Action Against the Just Stop Oil Protesters

An undated image of police officers dealing with a Just Stop Oil sit-down protest in central London. Metropolitan Police

In the last 12 months as protesters from Extinction Rebellion and then Insulate Britain and, most recently, Just Stop Oil, have caused chaos for motorists and others going about their daily business, there has been a growing clamour for tougher action from the police.

On Dec. 6 Martin Daubney, a journalist and former Brexit MEP, wrote on Twitter, above a video of French police in action: “Hands up who’d like a police force in Britain like these French bobbies, who simply drag Just Stop Oil protestors out of the road, so motorists can go on their way.”

More than 17,700 people liked his comment.

Ever since it was first founded in 1829, handling political protests has been a key role for the Metropolitan Police.

Chartists in the 19th century, suffragettes in the early 20th century, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1980s, the Stop The War protest in 2003, and more recently demos by Brexit supporters and opponents, Black Lives Matter activists and a variety of other single-issue protests have passed off without major incident or heavy criticism of the police.

Just Stop Oil protesters conducting a slow march on the Old Kent Road in south London on Dec. 6, 2022. Just Stop Oil

On Dec. 6, a group of Just Stop Oil protesters conducted a “slow march” along the Old Kent Road, one of the busiest roads in south east London.

Police officers accompanied them but did not take any action against them.

The Metropolitan Police’s events team wrote on Twitter: “We know it’s frustrating to see them walking slowly in the roads but as they have been small in number and traffic is able to move around them, we are less likely to be able to arrest and prosecute them for unlawful obstruction.”

Ex-Police Officer ‘Surprised’ by Met Tactics

Chris Hobbs, a retired Metropolitan Police officer with considerable knowledge of public order policing, said he was “surprised” that none of the Just Stop Oil protesters on the Old Kent Road were arrested.

Hobbs told The Epoch Times: “Clearly they were obstructing free passage along the road, especially if they are walking slowly and are spread out, and from what I saw, traffic was not able to go around them safely.”

But he said: “I can’t understand the Met’s point of view but I suspect they have not taken this decision of their own volition. They have probably taken legal advice and have come up with this non-intervention tactic.”

Hobbs said the police were acting in a “dual role” and added, “If the police were not there I’m sure the motorists in the Old Kent Road would have taken matters into their own hands and then there might have been people assaulted like you saw at Canning Town.”

In October 2019 Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters climbed onto a train at Canning Town station in east London, delaying commuters on their way to work, some of whom pelted them with food and allegedly kicking one activist in the head.

XR protests have largely given way to Insulate Britain and, more recently Just Stop Oil, but the tactics have been very similar—blocking roads, bridges, and motorways and disrupting people during their working week.

On Dec. 1 the Commissioner of the Met, Sir Mark Rowley, and Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, who leads the force on public order policing, attended a meeting at 10 Downing Street to discuss how to tackle Just Stop Oil.

Afterwards, Twist said: “The actions of activists Just Stop Oil continue to take up valuable officer time that could be better used in local communities and dealing with priority crime.”

“Since they started their campaign on Oct. 2, there have been 46 days of action which have taken over 12,500 dedicated officer shifts to police, equating to more than £5.5 million,” he added.

Twist said: “Each day they come out, we have to be ready to respond to what their actions are based on, their behaviour, size of the group and if they have broken any law.”

Police Have Made 755 Arrests

He said they had arrested 755 people since Oct. 2—although it was not clear if that was 755 different individuals or 755 arrests, often of the same people—and charged 182 for offences from “obstruction of the highway to conspiracy to intentionally or recklessly cause public nuisance.

Twist added: “They have made their intent clear, to carry out further protest, and we will continue to act and ensure Londoners can go about their daily business.”

The Met’s softly softly approach has been criticised but the force has a fine line to navigate.

In 2009 Ian Tomlinson died after being hit with a baton and pushed to the ground during G20 protests in central London.

There was a huge uproar in the liberal media but three years later PC Simon Harwood was cleared of manslaughter, on the grounds that he had used reasonable force.

Hobbs said: “With impromptu protests like Just Stop Oil, the police have to think ‘Can we arrest 200 or 300 people?’ It’s not practical and they don’t want to set a precedent.”

He said: “It must be irritating as hell for the police officers who have to accompany the protesters. They hate it. And they are being taken away from normal policing duties, which will have an impact on crime.”