Priti slams ‘eco thugs in war on democracy’
Deliveries of fuel, food and newspapers disrupted by ‘lawless’ horde
Priti Patel has furiously criticised eco ‘thugs’ for ‘waging a war against the British people’ after they spent days tunnelling under roads, disrupting grocery and fuel deliveries and the production of the Daily Mail newspaper.
the Home Secretary urged police to be tougher on ‘lawless’ Just Stop Oil activists whose protest blocking a fuel depot in turn shut the roads leading to a print works.
the Mail was only able to deliver newspapers to readers yesterday morning after a last-minute agreement to print at alternative sites, with some delivery drivers diverted many miles away and others brought in to fulfil orders.
Essex Police had stopped all vehicles from using the road because the activists claimed to have weakened it with their tunnelling.
it was reopened in the early hours but only to ‘priority traffic’ – although newspaper deliveries were not included, apparently based on government advice.
Newspaper delivery vans were eventually added to the priority list yesterday
‘Police must impose full force of the law’
afternoon, meaning further disruption was not expected.
Miss Patel said: ‘these thugs and socalled eco-warriors are waging a war against the British people by going out of their way with planned disruptions affecting our daily way of life – our freedoms, our free Press. ‘they are in the wrong. ‘they should all be stopped, in my view. this is a symptomatic illustration of lawlessness in our country where it’s seen as OK for these people to behave in this way. it is not OK.
‘the police must impose the full force of the law and not allow these protesters to get on site.
‘there are laws in place which should be used. Laws including arrest for aggravated trespass exist and my Public Order Bill will bring in new criminal offences for these tactics and protests.’
But Assistant Chief Constable Glen Pavelin struck a different tone as he asked the protesters to consider standing down.
He said: ‘We take the concerns of this particular protest group, its members and supporters seriously and are willing to work with you so that your rights to peaceful protest can take place without members breaking the law.’
He added: ‘the current action is dangerous and putting lives at risk. We encourage those involved to re-evaluate the action they are taking.’
Activists have been burrowing underneath the two main access routes close to the depot for at least a week, seeking to disrupt fuel supplies.
they forced police to shut Stoneness road in Essex last tuesday after tunnelling underground, although that hideaway is now empty after the final activists were arrested last night.
they then blocked St Clements Way late on Sunday evening by climbing on top of an oil tanker and deflating its tyres.
Protesters in a second tunnel underneath St Clements Way said they have managed to break through to within an inch of the road’s surface, and claimed it is at risk of collapse.
Police restricted the number of HGVs using the road to prevent it being put under too much stress.
Co-op lorries, oil tankers and HGVs carrying medicines were being waved through road blocks by police officers yesterday morning, but other traffic not on the list was refused access in or out of the industrial estate.
One businessman said that his freight company could ‘go to the wall’ unless his drivers were allowed through.
Haulage company boss Joanne Collison said the road closures would cost her firm up to £30,000.
She added: ‘to say we are not “business-critical” is a joke.
‘We pay our taxes and we have a right to work.’
A Just Stop Oil spokesman said that wider disruption to other businesses, including the print centre, was unintentional.
She said that their actual aim was to ‘continue demanding that the UK Government end licensing and consents for new fossil fuel projects’. there have so far been eight arrests.
the Public Order Bill was unveiled as part of the Queen’s Speech, with harsher sentences and new criminal offences for some tactics used by eco-protesters, such as ‘locking on’ to public transport infrastructure.
WHY on earth would the selfish eco-zealots who wreak havoc on ordinary people’s lives ever stop their disruption when they are so indulged by the authorities?
The police seemed more interested in making sure the Just Stop Oil extremists blockading a fuel depot were comfy, than ensuring law-abiding citizens could go about their business.
True, some protesters were eventually arrested at the Essex refinery. But why did officers vacillate as the poundshop anarchists tunnelled under two roads, causing mayhem and risking lives?
Yes, the right to protest is enshrined in British law. But aggravated trespass and obstructing highways are not. They are crimes. The police should start treating them as such.
Officers also face searching questions after blocking the delivery of newspapers from a major printworks on the site.
While fuel and grocery consignments could leave, shipments of the Daily Mail (which, ironically, has been on the front line of the crusade against climate change) were not considered a priority.
No one is suggesting the police acted maliciously. Even so, this was a gratuitous attack on one of the fundamentals of a free country: a free Press.
Where does Labour stand on this furore? Surprise, surprise, it opposes new laws to crack down on protests bringing large parts of the country to a grinding halt.
Sir Keir Starmer says his party can be trusted on law and order. By siding with eco-wreckers over ordinary people, he’s proved that is complete nonsense.