Pirate's Cove

In a modern, polite society we have rules. People are responsible for following those rules. Sure, some rules are dumb, some make no sense, some are idiotic, some are really unenforceable. Others, like, say, not defacing other people’s property and not blocking the streets, causing emergency vehicles like ambulances and firetrucks to not be able to get through, are rules that make sense. The climate nuts are upset they will be held accountable

As Climate Protests Get Bolder, British Police Strike Back With New Powers

When environmental protesters recently stopped traffic on the M25 freeway that circles London, one journalist, Charlotte Lynch, was standing on a bridge above reporting on the latest of the group’s disruptive demonstrations for her radio station, LBC.

But not for long. Ms. Lynch was swiftly handcuffed, searched and arrested after being questioned by two police officers about how she knew that the demonstration was taking place.

Ms. Lynch said that she had shown a press card carried by journalists in Britain to identify themselves to the police, and explained that she had learned about where the protest would be held from social media. Nonetheless, she was held for five hours at a police station, where her DNA was collected and fingerprints were taken.

Just because the British police went a bit far (they sure went way too far during COVID) …. of course, their freedom of press laws are not the same as in the U.S., and she was arrested for conspiracy to create a public nuisance….means little in terms of cracking down on the lunatics

As environmentalists and climate change activists ratchet up their protests in Britain — employing tactics that disrupt everyday life — the authorities are responding in kind with robust actions that have raised concerns that long-enshrined freedoms are being eroded.

Determined to crack down on the demonstrators, the government is giving the police new powers to tackle groups that have brought busy highways to a standstill, delayed infrastructure projects by tunneling beneath them, thrown soup at artwork and deflated the tires of SUVs.

“What I’m seeing now is, I think, a sort of spiral — I’d almost say a radicalization,” said Adam Wagner, a civil liberties lawyer and author. “I think there’s a hardening on both sides — the police and the protesters — both of the actions and the reactions. I can see that dynamic and I’m pretty worried about it.”

“The police are being asked to get involved far too much in things that should be between citizens trying to convince other citizens about their point of view in public, which is what protest is about,” he said.

So, it’s cool if other citizens beat the crap out of the protesters blocking the streets, trains, throwing blood and paint on their property, and so forth?

The government wants to go even further, citing the financial effect of the demonstrations. Protests against Britain’s HS2 high-speed railway line, for example, have cost it an added 122 million pounds, or about $145 million, a figure that is expected to rise to £200 million, according to the project’s management.

Legislation making its way through Parliament would set jail sentences of up to six months or unlimited fines for protesters accused of “locking on” to people, objects or buildings. Tunneling under infrastructure — another favored tactic of demonstrators — would carry a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison under the bill. And the police would gain news powers to stop and search people for materials that could be used for a “protest related” offense.

Just make it legal to beat the snot out of the protesters. Throw blood and paint on them. You can bet the NY Times, and the other news outlets sympathizing with the climate crazies, would feel different if it was their people and property being attacked.

The harder police line comes as activists in Britain have become increasingly willing to disrupt daily life, inspired by arguments like those made in “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” an influential book by Andreas Malm. They say the climate movement needs to escalate its tactics to call attention to the dangers of a warming planet.

If that’s your inspiration, well, yeah, you’re no longer part of polite society, and deserve to be arrested. It’s no longer free speech or peaceable protest.