Scotland Yard wants to charge more than 1,100 people who were arrested during last month’s Extinction Rebellion protests, a senior office has said.
More than 70 activists have so far been charged in connection with the demonstrations that brought parts of London to a standstill for 10 days.
The group’s tactics involved volunteers deliberately getting themselves arrest to cause maximum disruption at roadblocks on Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch, while others glued themselves to trains and buildings.
Its expected to have cost the force at least £7.5 million.
Police follow a lorry towing away the XR movement’s pink boat (PA)
Some 1,130 people were arrested during the protests and 10,000 police officers were deployed over the two weeks.
At a briefing on Friday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said the Metropolitan Police will be pushing for the prosecution of every one of them to deter similar tactics being used in the future.
He said: “We have charged over 70. All the others are currently under investigation and we have got a dedicated unit of around 30 officers who are investigating those offences.
“It is our anticipation that we are putting all of those to the CPS for decisions.”
Extinction Rebellion closing ceremony: In Pictures
Mr Taylor said the officers on the team have been taken from across the force.
“That’s a really significant resource put in place for a period of six to nine months just investigating that one protest,” he said.
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Good on the paper for refraining from publishing the protesters’ demands or manifesto. Too often this bad behavior gets rewarded, resulting in more of it.
Confiscate the personal property of those who are arrested until the cost of what they did is paid back in full.
They have no 4th Amendment to fall back on.
I was there. London was a complete mess. Bus routes were cancelled. People couldn’t get to work. Police did nothing for the first week.
A simple 10:00 am to 1:00 pm protest, with fish & chips (and a pint) for everybody, would have been a good choice. The message would be known, folks have a good lunch, then back to work. Win-win.
Some 1,130 people were arrested during the protests – That’s all they could pony up? Wow, that sure IS a majority of the population of the planet, ain’t it?
It takes time, but these things do play themselves out to a conclusion. I just dislike seeing children hornswoggled into participating in this crap. Some day, they’ll realize that their parents were the biggest pack of loonie-tunes ever.
The police should present the leaders with an invoice for the cost of policing the illegal aspects of their protests. Freedom of speech permits legitimate protest.
Amazingly, these idiots, some young girl who skips school and a propaganda documentary from the BBC combined to fill the media recently with claims that we are all going to fry or something like that. Our politicians are now hysterically declaring climate emergencies. This illustrates the stupidity of our politicians but also that propaganda stunts are effective.
I urge those who possess and can comment on actual observational trends on climate indicators to publish them widely so that the rest of us can counter the lies, exaggerations and misinformation being peddled by the activists. Otherwise, our politicians will legislate on the basis of hysterical garbage without challenge.
For those outside the UK, may I remind you that the BBC has ruled that the science is settled and they use this to ensure that only alarmist material is broadcast or published. Anything that questions climate alarmism is removed. This is arguably in breach of their public broadcasting licence which requires impartiality but no UK government has challenged them on this.
There are few means to challenge the BBC, but an excellent effort is by Paul Homewood on his blog, https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/
Please could Anthony and Charles (ctm) consider doing a regular (say quarterly) review of global temperatures, sea levels, extreme weather and the like so that those trying to fight alarmism have up to date ammunition. That would be great.
I’m going to push my luck here. If this became an established feature of the site, those with particular interests such as solar cycles, ocean cycles, etc could be invited to submit papers which link the observational data with proposed explanatory mechanisms.
It may or may not work, but it is possible that quarterly updates could inject some energy into the support or otherwise for the explanations for climate regularly discussed by commenters as well as official contributors to this excellent site.
Enough of them in jail, and the rebellion can go extinct.
Occupy Wall St was a success in that they introduced the meme “the 1%”. Extinction Rebellion is nominative determinitive . And as far as “prosecuting” the perps…they could have ended the whole thing on the first day.
Too bad they don’t also have a law against ‘riot boosting’ to go after groups and individuals who promote riots:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/7/kristi-noem-south-dakota-governor-pushes-bills-aim/
“The legislation defines “riot boosting” as participating in and/or directing a riot, as well as advising or encouraging someone else to riot. It would set up an escrow fund of local, state, federal and pipeline company dollars to cover city and county costs incurred from cracking down on rioters.”
“Tell the Truth,” my foot. The irony, it burns.