The Metropolitan Police has revealed that it has allocated the equivalent of almost 13,770 officer shifts in just six weeks to deal with “Just Stop Oil” (JSO) protesters. Primary among the group’s demands is that the government halts all new oil and gas licenses. Its members have been causing major disruptions every day since April 24th. From then until June 8th, London’s police force has spent more than £4.5 million on responding to their actions.
Yet over this period, there have been countless reports of individuals taking matters into their own hands, rather than waiting for the authorities to step in. Some of these individuals have been reprimanded by officers, including one father, who was trying to take his autistic child to school. Some have been arrested, such as this worker who shoved a disruptive JSO protester.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said that activists have become all the more difficult to police after adopting new approaches to demonstrating. He said:
In deploying the new tactics of moving slowly in front of traffic along highways, Just Stop Oil’s intent has been clear on disrupting road users. This has caused significant impact to the public and officers have been responding as swiftly as possible once aware of the incidents.
Mr. Adelekan, quoted in The Daily Telegraph, also responded directly to complaints that officers are not doing enough to prevent the disruption:
We know that this action has been very frustrating for the public who just want to carry on with their day-to-day business. We would urge the public not to intervene or take matters into their own hands, but to call the police, let us know where the incident is and we will get to the scene quickly.
It may look like we are not responding quickly enough, however policing protests is complex and there are steps officers must take to make sure our response is lawful and appropriate.
JSO protesters have not limited themselves to disorderly street protests that block traffic. They have also used sporting events as a platform to promote their cause.
The same frustration is being felt around Europe, for example in Austria and Germany. Figures from the latter recently revealed that 580 criminal offences were carried out by the JSO-like “Last Generation” group since the beginning of last year.
A number of activists online argued that the cost of policing these protesters won’t come close to the cost of the incoming climate disaster.
