COUNTDOWN TO CHAOS
How radical protest groups including Just Stop Oil are threatening to throw Keir Starmer’s Labour government into chaos
Sir Robert Buckland says the tactics employed by some groups represent 'a direct challenge to our democracy'
RADICAL protest groups are threatening to throw Sir Keir Starmer’s first few weeks in power into chaos if he is elected.
A Sun on Sunday probe has found that single-issue groups are gearing up for a series of protests including demos by anti-Israel group Youth Demand and Just Stop Oil.
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Political violence expert Lord Walney, the author of a new report on the subject, warns any incoming Starmer government would embolden the new wave of protesters.
He said: “There is a real concern that militant groups are holding back for now so they can dial up the mayhem to give Keir Starmer’s government hell if Labour get in.
“They would want to try to derail the new government, partly because they have a sense of how to make headlines, and also because many on the Far Left hate Labour even more than the Tories.
“These groups feel — hopefully wrongly — that they have more chance of success with Labour, particularly on environmental grounds and Gaza.”
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Former Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland says the tactics employed by some groups represent “a direct challenge to our democracy”, adding: “I am very worried that the election of a Labour government would embolden groups like this to, in effect, become the Opposition and skew politics dangerously to the Left.”
A number of Labour figures have even spoken out in favour of some protesters.
In October 2019 former Labour leader Ed Miliband praised Extinction Rebellion’s “exciting” activism and called for it to be “sustained” — a year after XR launched direct action blocking bridges, roads and Parliament.
He said: “Why have Extinction Rebellion and the people’s climate strikes worked? It is essentially because they’ve shifted the sense of what is possible.
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“That has moved the debate. That’s a fantastic success.”
And Jamie Driscoll, ex-Labour North Tyne Mayor, backed climate protesters in 2022, saying: “Were the suffragettes dangerous radicals who refused to understand their place?
“Was Nelson Mandela just a subversive terrorist? Protest is an essential part of healthy democracy.
“If you’re not doing something about the climate emergency, it’s probably because you don’t understand quite how dangerous it is.”
Driscoll resigned from the Labour Party last year.
This summer has already seen a series of protests.
Two weeks ago, Just Stop Oil sprayed orange powder on Stonehenge and targeted Taylor Swift’s plane.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir’s wife Victoria told a court she was left feeling “a bit sick” when pro-Palestinian activists from Youth Demand demonstrated outside the family home in April.
Last Saturday, Palestine Action splattered red paint across Cambridge University’s Senate House.
And earlier this month Youth Demand, whose website threatens “to show them the hell we’ll raise once they’re in power if they don’t meet our demands”, sparked chaos in central London over the conflict in Palestine.
‘I’m very worried’
Last month the MoD spent £40,000 removing paint that had been sprayed on its walls by Youth Demand and Palestine Action as part of a campaign demanding politicians impose a ban on selling arms to Israel.
Meanwhile, Just Stop Oil activists have been involved in a series of stunts including blocking the M25 motorway, and scaling the QE2 bridge at Dartford.
Lord Walney said organisations, particularly climate groups, were attempting to “blur lines” between legitimate and illegal protests.
He said this was in the interests of militants, to draw more people into the web “partly because it gives them a level of influence but also because they can push back and say, ‘This is just a bunch of grannies, knitting stuff and having a nice time’. ”
Some groups have links to or are offshoots of other organisations.
Lord Walney said: “It’s notable that we see overlapping on a lot of these issues and there is a Far Left thread running through some of the groups on, say, Palestine and on climate activism.
"Some climate groups now include Gaza in their brands and causes, and I think cynically people will look at them and think they are making a calculation that to be able to be relevant they need to shift their cause.”
Sir Robert Buckland, the Conservative candidate for Swindon South, said: “If there was no effective opposition in Parliament, these people become a self-appointed opposition and suddenly you find that politics is being dictated by an extreme.
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“That is very worrying. It would equally apply if there was a massive Conservative majority and there were right-wing extremists doing something similar.
"Social media has given these groups a power that they wouldn’t have had a generation ago, which means they can move at lightning speed and with an efficiency older generations could only have dreamt of.
“Therefore, we have to be, as the defenders of representative democracy, quicker and more nimble in order to deal with this threat.
“It does represent a threat to our way of life.
"The next government, of whatever colour, is going to have to deal with this firmly. I believe in freedom of speech and the right to protest.
“But what I don’t believe in is an abuse of those freedoms.”
'Threat to our way of life'
Lord Walney added that some of the groups undertaking illegal action should face tough measures similar to those dished out to terror groups.
He said: “People will wilfully imply I am calling them terrorist organisations, which is not what I am saying.
“We should look at a similar, if less restrictive, model for organisations which undertake systematic criminal action.
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“The fact that you have Palestine Action sabotaging a factory in the East Midlands and live-tweeting to others to come and join the protest, then brazenly showing footage of them smashing into things, shows they feel it is an important way to project their message.
“This outweighs the sanctions they will face through arrest and charge and trial, which can take years.”
Threats from big five
YOUTH DEMAND: The pro-Palestine group says: “The time for non-disruptive marches is over!”
Last week, three activists were found guilty of public order offences after targeting Starmer’s London home with a banner saying: “Starmer stop the killing.”
They plan to cause “mass resistance” and “disruption” in central London next month for the state opening of Parliament.
PALESTINE ACTION: Activists have sprayed red paint over Barclays banks and staged a rooftop protest at a drone factory.
Their website urges people to “join the resistance”.
It has an “underground manual”, describing how to “create a cell”, “pick a target”, “prepare for action” and “take action”.
ACORN: Supporters from the self-styled “community union” recently staged a sit-in at TSB branches over a clause in buy- to-let mortgages that meant tenants faced uncertainty.
ANIMAL RISING: Describes itself as a “non-violent organisation working towards a sustainable future where humanity shares a positive relationship with animals and nature”.
A spin-off from Extinction Rebellion, this month they stuck Wallace and Gromit stickers over a portrait of the King.
A spokesman said: “We have no protests planned.”
JUST STOP OIL: The organisation has warned it will be taking action at UK airports this summer.
On Friday, 27 of its supporters were arrested over alleged plans to disrupt holiday flights.
It aims to use “non-violent civil resistance” and is linked to other environmental groups.
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