Police to be given greater powers today as Insulate Britain has ‘crossed the line’
Crime and Policing minister Kit Malthouse said this morning that Insulate Britain protesters have “crossed the line between exercising their right” and their responsibility to the public, and further measures to combat their tactics will be announced on later today.
Speaking about footage of a paramedic dragging some of the protesters out of a London road they had blocked on Monday, he told Sky News this morning: “This is really distressing stuff that’s emerging now.”
While we obviously all value the right to protest, there is a difference between causing disruption and causing damage.
“We believe that these protesters and some of the others that we’ve seen in the last couple of years have crossed the line between exercising their right but also their responsibility towards the rest of us, and something needs to be done.”
“So, today we’re going to be announcing a raft of new measures alongside those that are already in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that’s going through the House of Lords at the moment that we think will help deal with this problem, specifically recognising the disruption of infrastructure and disruption of the strategic road network is of a different scale of damage than you would otherwise find with a normal protest.”