In the UK, road blocking actions by climate activists Just Stop Oil are irritating both the government and the opposition. Last Generation, which carries out substantially similar actions in Germany, seems, for its part, to lose credit.
In France, ecological activists from the Last Renovation movement carried out a sit-in on the Paris ring road on Wednesday November 9, causing a traffic jam. They had already made a similar move two days earlier. This style of “punch” action is currently multiplying, particularly in Germany with the Last Generation group or in the United Kingdom with Just Stop Oil.
The Just stop oil movement was born last March. For nearly a month and a half, activists have been carrying out daily actions. 16 of them are imprisoned at this time. The UK government has no words harsh enough to attack the methods of Just Stop Oil and the tone has even hardened a little more since Wednesday, November 9. Today’s action took place on a busy highway. Activists came to disrupt traffic at dawn. A police motorcyclist was injured in a collision between two trucks. The authorities claim that this accident is due to the disturbances created by Just stop oil.
The MP for the majority Grant Shapps, former Minister of Transport, on LBC radio, came to say all the bad things he thinks about this way of proceeding. “This is absolutely outrageous! Do not disturb the lives of others, it is totally unacceptable, he laments. It’s illegal. When I was Minister of Transport, I made sure that the militants carrying out this kind of action on the roads, spend Christmas in prison. I hope that is what will happen.
It’s completely pointless to disturb people’s lives in this way. There are perfectly legal ways to campaign against global warming if that’s what they want to do.”
Grant Shapps, former Minister of Transportat LBC
Annoyed by these activists, the government is walking the talk. A bill is currently being debated in Parliament. It aims in particular to toughen the sanctions against demonstrators who engage in illegal actions. Create heavier sentences, firm prison to deter them. In the majority, there is no one to defend them. During the recent campaign for the post of Prime Minister, the candidates competed in severity towards them.
Just Stop Oil activists will not find support from the opposition side either. There too, we denounce their actions, same story among Labor. Encroaching on the freedom of others is not acceptable at all. “I think it’s arrogant for those who stick to the roads, to think that they are the only ones with the answers”, ensures Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition, he finds the accents of the prosecutor he was in the past. I don’t know how they can look families in the eye with one member in the back of a stuck ambulance. They certainly wouldn’t be able to meet my eyes if it was my mother, my late mother unfortunately, in that ambulance.”
So far there has been no physical violence against these demonstrators. But stranded motorists sometimes push them unceremoniously off the road. Which does not bother the Conservatives or Labour.
In Germany, where “fighting” actions have multiplied in recent weeks, climate defenders are starting to lose popularity. Some wonder about the meaning of these happenings which have mobilized the police for 130,000 hours over the past six months and resulted in 1,900 complaints. The tide has turned for activists after the death of a cyclist last week.
This is what ignited the powder. The young woman was knocked down in Berlin by a truck during a demonstration by the group Last generation. Activists had glued their hands to the roadway which created traffic jams and delayed the arrival of help. The cyclist died a few days later. This episode alone triggered an avalanche of criticism against the activists. A police union has called for the movement to be banned, in the name of the rule of law. The conservative right-wing opposition CDU/CSU has called for a new law with tougher penalties for those who block traffic. The party is asking for sentences of 3 months to 5 years in prison and believes that the peaceful demonstrations at the start have given way to a radical and aggressive protest. The ruling coalition rejected the idea and believes that the legislative arsenal is sufficient. A member of the Greens quipped that in this case, the farmers and their tractors or the delivery people and their trucks should also be sued.
Yes, the validity of the actions carried out is increasingly questioned. What do forest fires, famines, floods, drought and people smearing mashed potatoes on a painting in a Potsdam museum have to do with it? Many answer: no relation. Same when sticking to the road. “Lstranded motorists do not make the link with the climate “says Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also called on activists to be more creative. In a recent poll, taken before the cyclist’s accident, 63% of respondents disagreed with the activists. Some activists also condemn illegible and counter-productive actions, and advise other methods: directly blocking companies, gas groups, coal operators rather than motorists who do not understand what is happening to them.
Response from the Last Generation group: We will cease our actions only when the government has fulfilled its constitutional obligation to protect our livelihoods and to protect ourselves.