17/10/2019
Extinction Rebellion (ER) have been causing lots of headlines recently with their actions in London and elsewhere around the world. Their tactics have drawn plenty of criticism from people trying to go about their business in our capital, even when it hadn't caused them significant inconvenience.
So, when today they decided too disrupt train services, they were hardly likely to win fans.
Some ER activists, apparently acting without the support of the organisation, climbed on to underground trains at Stratford, Canning Town and Shadwell in this morning's rush hour. At a time when ordinary people were trying to get to work, actually using public transport rather than their own cars, protestors sought to disturb their plans.
Eight protesters were, apparently, arrested.
However, the more significant impact was the desperate measures commuters took to bring an end to the disruption and continue with their day.
Several commuters took action to try and bring the protests to a swift conclusion. This included a man who grabbed one of the protestors who was on the roof of a train to drag him off.
The protestor appeared to have been set upon by other commuters once he had been brought to the floor and, disturbingly, some of them were clearly trying to join in by kicking him whilst he was on the floor.
One brave woman was seen trying to stop these attacks.
I want to be clear about a few things:
I fully support the message that the climate change protestors are sharing;
we absolutely must start to make significant changes to the way we live, if we wish our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to enjoy our planet;
protests are a completely justifiable method of raising awareness of the issues we face; and
violence against protestors is not the answer.
However, when protestors deliberately impact people's ability to get on with their daily lives and their need to get to work and earn the money to pay their bills, it is hardly surprising that tempers would flare and that stressed commuters would react.
The protestor who was filmed being dragged off the train's roof was seen kicking out at the person trying to get him off the train. He may well have been scared for his safety, but he was responsible for getting into that position and must accept that kicking out at the commuter (before he had suffered an assault) was not the action of a 'peaceful demonstrator'.
I'm sure that many people would react badly to that assertion.
I completely understand that this might not be seen as a justifiable position. I can see how some will see the actions of the commuters (just the ones that set upon the ER protestors) as reprehensible and completely unforgivable.
I agree that violence was not the answer.
The thing is that the ER protestors made a very deliberate decision to cause significant inconvenience and frustration to this morning's commuters. In doing so, they must have realised that the reaction of those affected might be intense.
No-one enjoys the morning commute. Even on a good day, the commute can be uncomfortable and stressful.
There is no way that the protestors could have been unaware of the reaction that their protest would attract. And yet, they went ahead with it.
In my opinion, those protestors should be prosecuted for their crimes.
However, any commuters who physically assaulted the protestors once they had been brought down from the train should also face prosecution.
Bringing the protestors down was, in my opinion, justified; if done with reasonable force and without harmful intent.
Everything else was wrong.
Those people who punched or kicked the protestors are guilty of a far worse crime than the protestors themselves.
They should all face consequences for their actions.
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