Protesters face anti-Right bias, claims peer
‘Doublethink’ gives liberal movements more leeway, government adviser says as more riots break out
‘I would ask people to consider whether joining a large gathering in the midst of a pandemic is safe’
RIGHT-WING protests face harsher treatment because of potentially hypocritical biases among liberal and Leftof-centre “progressives”, a government adviser has claimed.
Baron Walney, an independent adviser on political violence and disruption, said he wanted to expose the “doublethink” that allowed protest groups like Extinction Rebellion to get away with serious disruption when a similar demonstration by a Right-wing group would spark “bedlam”.
Baron Walney, a former Labour MP, compared XR’s protest preventing distribution of Conservative-leaning newspapers last year that struck at the “heart of the democratic process” with the likely outcry had it been a Rightwing group halting publication of the Guardian or Daily Mirror.
“When it is a cause that overall people believe in, there is a sense that anything goes and everything can be explained away as part of getting your voice heard,” said Lord Walney, who as John Woodcock MP quit Labour to sit as an independent.
His comments came after Boris Johnson described protesters who clashed with police for a third time in Bristol on Friday night as a “mob intent on violence”. The Prime Minister said officers endured “disgraceful attacks” as bricks, bottles and fireworks were hurled at them during a “Kill the Bill” demonstration on Friday night.
Baron Walney has asked people to come forward with evidence on whether they were “comfortable” with the disruption caused by groups like XR blocking roads, stopping public transport and halting newspapers.
“I want to draw out, debate and expose what I think can be an extraordinary doublethink,” he said, citing XR protests that interrupted the printing of some newspapers. “Because these are environmental protesters and because on the liberal centre and Left there can be pretty strong views about Rupert Murdoch, that doesn’t get anything like the attention than if you imagine if a Right-wing group stopped the Guardian and Mirror from printing.
“There would be absolute bedlam if that happened.”
He said controversial proposals in a Bill to curb noise would “understandably” be intensely debated in Parliament. But he added: “If you flip the idea and, say, a group like the English Defence League was outside Parliament trying to disrupt a future government passing more liberal immigration laws and that group was trying to influence and intimidate Parliament, making so much noise that the democratic debate was being affected, I think the same people who would say this is a preposterous and terrible attack on our basic liberty would take a rather different view.”
There have been three violent protests in just one week in Bristol against the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which would give police in England and Wales more powers to impose conditions on non-violent protests, including those deemed too noisy or a nuisance. Those convicted face fines or imprisonment.
A demonstration last Sunday that began peacefully descended into a riot when 500 people marched on Bridewell police station in the city. There were 12 arrests, with a further 10 on Friday, including three linked to Sunday’s violence. A senior police chief said large gatherings were still illegal under coronavirus rules and also warned of groups wanting to “hijack” legitimate protests.
Avon and Somerset Police urged people not to join any protests today. Chief Supt Claire Armes said: “We understand the strength of feeling around the right to protest, but now is not the time.”
Ahead of Friday’s protest Martin Hewitt, National Police Chiefs’ Council chairman, said: “I would ask people to consider whether joining a large gathering in the midst of a pandemic is safe.”
Yesterday, thousands of anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police in Bradford. Mounted police officers were seen breaking up the crowds.