U.K. seeks to expand police powers to target disruptive climate activists
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Britain’s government is moving to crack down on environmental activists who have sparked widespread disruption in recent months, including gluing themselves to key roads and buildings, blocking bridges, hurling soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting and pouring cow’s milk across supermarket floors.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman this weekend touted a new Public Order Bill, which aims to curb activists by increasing police powers and creating new criminal offenses punishable with jail time and unlimited fines — though critics called the bill an attack on free speech that could risk over-policing in a democratic society.
She unveiled details of the proposed legislation in a series of tweets and an article in the Daily Mail newspaper on Saturday, calling the activists “thugs and vandals” who were engaged in “guerrilla tactics.”
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