UK government wants to keep climate protests to a minimum

Just Stop Oil activists block a street in London on October 27, 2022. AP - Kirsty Wigglesworth

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Rishi Sunak's government intends to “crack down” on the “guerrilla” tactics of environmental defense groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.

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With our correspondent in London

, 

Rishi Sunak wants to allow the police to disperse a demonstration before it has even caused disruption.

Concretely, if the police suspect a group of wanting to block a road, for example, they can interrupt their gathering. 

Another measure, if a militant group organizes a series of actions, all the demonstrations will be considered as the same occurrence.

It would therefore become much simpler to prohibit successive actions, for example

With this amendment, the government intends to “crack down” on the “guerrilla” tactics of environmental groups.

But the Labor opposition rejects this extension of police powers, deemed unnecessary, too vague and described as a "

" for repression by Labour. 

The amendment has yet to be voted on – it is part of a general law on public order, which already plans to expand the definition of “serious disturbance” and put in place “protest bans” for certain protesters.

The vote in the House of Lords is not yet certain.

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• Rishi Sunak