Ministers are to force police to act over Just Stop Oil “go-slow” protests, with officers on Tuesday having been pictured giving the thumbs up to eco-activists disrupting traffic.
The Government is proposing to close loopholes that have been exploited by Just Stop Oil and other eco-activists by defining in law the level of disruption at which police can intervene and arrest protesters.
It follows claims by police chiefs that the uncertainty over what is legally defined as serious disruption has prevented them from intervening for fear of exposing officers to legal challenges and compensation claims for breaching the laws on protest.
Ministers are expected to introduce secondary legislation in Parliament that will set out a statutory definition of “serious disruption”, which could allow police to crack down on “slow walk” tactics by treating them as the culmination of a series of unlawful protests.
It is understood police chiefs have been told the legislation could be introduced before Christmas to enable officers to adopt a tougher approach in the New Year.
The situation was brought to a head when Just Stop Oil switched from guerilla-style protests on roads, bridges and crossings to start marching slowly down streets to delay rather than stop traffic.
On Tuesday morning, protesters from the group used the “slow walk” tactic during rush hour, blocking three lanes of traffic on both sides of the A2 in Southwark, south London, before launching another blockade at Bank, City of London.
As they again successfully evaded arrest, a furious lorry driver said “police need to get a backbone” after officers told off motorists for honking their horns at the 20 eco-protesters amid mile-long tailbacks and at least one near-miss.
Four vanloads of Metropolitan Police officers walked alongside and behind the activists in both locations, with some officers filming, laughing, joking and doing thumbs up with the group. They defended doing so when challenged by members of the public.
The planned law change follows a meeting between police chiefs and Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, and Chris Philp, the policing minister who is drawing up the new regulations, to discuss measures last week.
BJ Harrington, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead on public order, said a statutory definition could help deal with Just Stop Oil’s “slow walk” tactic by drawing a distinction between a protest by a “single person on a single day”, which was not serious disruption, and that which was “the culmination of weeks or months of disruption to communities”.
“We have asked for statutory clarification of the guidance around serious disruption and the impact of cumulative disruption,” he added.
A senior police source said: “If you are doing it in a country lane or at 8.30am next to a school, that is causing serious disruption. It is stopping people getting to work or a child getting to school. You are also choosing to cause serious disruption. There is an intent.”
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 only set out serious disruption as that preventing an “organisation” from carrying out its activities for “a prolonged period” within the vicinity of a protest. It did, however, give the Home Secretary delegated powers to further define the meaning in secondary legislation.
It has forced police in London, for example, to rely on definitions of serious road disruption drawn up by Transport for London, which are largely based on levels of congestion.
Two Just Stop Oil protesters who inflicted more than £1,000 of damage to John Constable’s painting The Hay Wain must compensate the National Galley after being convicted of causing criminal damage.
Hannah Hunt, 23, and Eben Lazarus, 22, were each convicted of criminal damage on Tuesday for taping printed posters of a “dystopian version” of the artwork on to the painting before gluing their hands to its frame in the National Gallery in July.