Dressing-down for protesters in street face-off with angry peer
CRESSIDA DICK, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was accused yesterday of allowing Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters to take control of her officers.
Members of the House of Lords urged the Government to step in and take action – and one confronted protesters in his dressing gown as they disrupted Westminster for a second day.
Baroness Boothroyd, former Speaker of the Commons, said she took part in protests when younger, but added: “In those days the police were in control of me as a demonstrator. Now it seems to me that the demonstrators are in control of the police.”
Her comments were echoed by Lord Forsyth. The former Tory Cabinet minister said it was just another example of Ms Dick “doing her best and it not being good enough”.
Frustrations with the protests were boiling over in Westminster, where Lord Fraser, 72, the former Conservative Party treasurer, was seen in his dressing gown remonstrating with protesters outside his home.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “It has been reminiscent of sectarian marches in Belfast. They are banging drums, shouting loudly and marching around residential streets. They are not doing their cause any good.
“They are irritating normal everyday people. That’s not the way to bring about change.”
Protesters faced claims of hypocrisy after police reportedly asked traders not to beep their horns when arriving at Smithfield market in the early hours yesterday so as not to wake demonstrators who had taken over the market and were sleeping inside. Baroness Williams of Trafford, a Home Office minister, told the Lords that the City of London was “gridlocked” and the effect on business was “quite disgraceful”. Describing the demonstration as “peaceful with a very sinister undertone”, she said protesters had “strewn” single-use plastic across Westminster.
She added: “The cars gridlocked are unbelievable for the amount of pollution they are causing.” Protesters also faced accusations of hypocrisy when some of them were photographed queuing up in Mcdonald’s.
By yesterday afternoon, the Metropolitan Police said it had made 152 arrests, bringing the total held to 471 over two days. It issued a public order notice stating that anyone linked to the pro- test must go to the pedestrianised area at Trafalgar Square or risk arrest.
Despite claiming this would be their biggest protest yet, Extinction Rebellion lost both their blockades on Lambeth and Westminster bridges within the first 24 hours.
However, protesters glued themselves to the Department for Transport building and to the underside of a lorry outside the Home Office.
As a backlash grew among the public, some of those who had joined the protest were also critical.
Maya Lingan, 22, who works in the environmental sector, left saying she was “very disappointed”. She said the protest “lacked diversity” and was just “for people who could afford to take two weeks off work”.
Extinction Rebellion has advised its activists not to cooperate with police in the hope that they can fill London’s cells and prevent others being arrested.
The group is planning what is described as their biggest action yet tomorrow – a blockade of City Airport.
Extinction Rebellion also responded to comments from Boris Johnson, who described protesters as “crusties” who live in “hemp-smelling bivouacs”.
They said that the comments “made us smile” as Mr Johnson comes from a family of environmental activists, adding that his father Stanley supported them and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds was an advocate for change.