Ministers looking into clampdown on XR and beefed-up police powers after press blockade protest

The Canary


Ministers are mulling new protections for “tenets of democracy” such as courts and the press after an environmental protest prevented UK newspapers from reaching the stands.

Some newsagents’ shelves were left empty on the morning of Saturday 5 September after Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters targeted Newsprinters printing works at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, blocking the day’s papers from leaving the depots.

Sources have now confirmed to the PA news agency that home secretary Priti Patel wants to take a “fresh look” at how XR is classified under law after the direct action.

Related articles
Clampdown on XR activities

The review could lead to XR being treated as an organised crime group, sources said, as part of a clampdown on its activities. These have included bringing cities across the UK to a standstill, by forming human barriers along major roads and by disrupting public transport.

Under additional proposals, parliament, courts and the press could be given special status in regard to the key role they play in democracy. There’s the potential for police to be handed beefed-up powers to stop protesters entering designated areas outside such premises. A government source told PA:

It would be illegal to stop MPs going to vote or judges getting to court and it would also protect a free press.

It comes after more than 100 demonstrators used vehicles and bamboo lock-ons to block roads outside the Newsprinters works on Friday 4 September. Both protests continued until Saturday afternoon.

“Our free press, society and democracy is under attack”

The blockade prevented delivery vans from leaving presses which publish the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp’s titles including the Sun, the Times, the Sun On Sunday and the Sunday Times, as well as the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail On Sunday.

Merseyside Police said they had arrested 30 people, while Hertfordshire Police said they had taken 50 people into custody.

XR apologised to newsagents for the disruption but added it would not apologise to Murdoch. The group called on him to “stop suppressing the truth about the climate crisis and profiting from the division your papers create”.

Responding to criticism from Patel that their actions were an “attack on our free press”, XR said:

Our free press, society and democracy is under attack – from a failing government that lies to us consistently, is becoming increasingly authoritarian, and is leading us towards 4 degrees of warming.

Labour response

Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow culture secretary, said:

A free press is vital for our democracy. People have the right to read the newspapers they want.

Stopping them from being distributed and printers from doing their jobs is wrong.

But in a now-deleted tweet, Labour MP Dawn Butler appeared to praise XR, writing:

Bravo #ExtinctionRebellion. Excellent work…

There was a large police presence in central London on 5 September as XR staged further protests.

We need your help ...

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world, fast. And we will do all we can to keep bringing you news and analysis throughout. But we are worried about maintaining enough income to pay our staff and minimal overheads.

Now, more than ever, we need a vibrant, independent media that holds the government to account and calls it out when it puts vested economic interests above human lives. We need a media that shows solidarity with the people most affected by the crisis – and one that can help to build a world based on collaboration and compassion.

We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out.

Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?

The Canary Support us

Related articles