UK considering banning environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion
The British government is considering banning environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion after activists delayed the distribution of several national newspapers by blocking access to three printing presses owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Protesters connected to Extinction Rebellion targeted Newsprinters presses at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, Knowsley in Merseyside, and near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.
The presses print the Murdoch-owned News Corp titles including the Sun, the Times, the Sun on Sunday, the Sunday Times, and the Scottish Sun. They also print the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, and the London Evening Standard.
The protesters have accused the papers of failing to report fairly and accurately on climate change.
In total Eighty Extinction Rebellion activists were arrested by police at all three sites.
The concerted protests against printing presses on Saturday (September 05) prompted Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to condemn the action as “unacceptable”.
And now ministers are reported to be considering protections for “tenets of democracy”, such as courts and the press, after yesterday’s show of strength by Extinction Rebellion prevented the distribution of millions of newspapers.
The push to proscribe Extinction Rebellion is reportedly led by hardline Home Secretary, Priti Patel.
Citing “government sources”, the Press Association (PA) news agency claims Patel wants to take a “fresh look” at how the environmental campaign group is “classified under law” following yesterday’s protests.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, appeared to lend credence to PA’s claims by telling Sky News: “We always keep all of our laws under review”.
Raab also said that the government is anxious to “ensure that kind of behavior [protests] is not repeated”.
But any move to ban Extinction Rebellion is expected to meet stiff opposition at the House of Commons and beyond.
In an interview with Sky News, Labor MP Diane Abbott defended Extinction Rebellion by comparing the group to the suffragettes, claiming it would be "ridiculous" to reclassify them as an “organized crime group” as they are "not criminal, they are protesters and activists".
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