The Times has published yet another Editorial on Just Stop Oil(27th April). This time they are concerned that groups of protesters walking slowly on roads in central London are causing inconvenience. That of course is the point of the protest. After all if protest has no impact its ineffective.
At times when the British ruling class is concerned about protests it tends to think about new laws. It did so for example as long ago as 1848 with the Chartists, when the Treason Felony Act was passed in very short order in the wake of the Chartist protest for the vote on 10th April 1848.
In 2023 The Times has an ally in Suella Braverman who is keen to pass more and more laws banning protests.
However if the Times Editorial writer could stop fuliminating and do some journalism they would find that laws already exist to deal with the Just Stop Oil protests. A glance at the twitter timeline of the Met Police Events team shows that Section 12 of the Public Order has been used when protesters were deemed to be causing serious obstruction and on every occasion they moved off the road and on to the pavement.
That doesnt make the protests any less important by the way but the Times is engaged in culture war politics here
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