Quakers say London police arrested six people at meeting on climate change, Gaza

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/28/europe/quakers-arrests-london-intl-latam/index.html

British police raided a Quaker meeting house in London on Thursday and arrested six women attending a meeting on climate change and the war in Gaza, according to a statement from Quakers UK.

“No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory,” said Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, according to the statement.

“This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalizes protest,” Parker added.

CNN has reached out to London’s Metropolitan Police for comment.

[dutch777]

1. Wow! Will be interesting to see on what grounds this was predicated on. Lawsuit!

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. "suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance" - which is a bullshit move

The Met police said it had arrested six people at the meeting on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. It said it arrested five other people for the same offence on Friday – four in London and one in Exeter.

The police said those arrested were part of Youth Demand and claimed those attending the meeting were planning direct action in the capital next month.

“Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and road blocks,” police said.

“While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/29/met-raids-quaker-meeting-house-and-arrests-six-women-at-youth-demand-talk

That last paragraph is, of course, a lie - the police do not "absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest" - they do all kinds of shit to stop protests (eg going undercover and starting sexual relationships with peaceful protesters). This is pretty much at the level of thoughtcrime.

[Easterncedar]

2. Britain has brutally punished climate activists lately

The veneer of fairness and civilization is very thin. Labour has been a sad disappointment so far.

(I struggle to understand why Starmer has always looked really untrustworthy to me, from when he first appeared.)

[EX500rider]

3. The UK is a democracy & the Just Stop Oil protesters have made themselves VERY unpopular

The group has thrown soup at a Van Gogh in the National Gallery, exploded a chalk dust bomb during the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, smashed a cabinet containing a copy of the Magna Carta at the British Library, sprayed temporary paint on the stones of Stonehenge and even defaced Charles Darwin's grave.

But it is the group's road protests that have probably caused the most disruption – and public anger. In November 2022, 45 JSO members climbed gantries around the M25 severely disrupting traffic for over four days. People missed flights, medical appointments and exams as thousands of drivers were delayed for hours. The cost to the Metropolitan Police was put at £1.1 million.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Thankfully, "unpopularity" is not a criminal offence

Or the entire Met Police would have to arrest themselves, for a start.

By the way, a democracy cannot arrest people for unpopularity; that would be a dictatorship of the people. I'm struggling to understand why you mentioned democracy in the first place.

[EX500rider]

7. Because to get reelected politicians have to pay some attention to what the voters want...

....and what they really don't want is wankers who claim to be against the burning of oil illegally blocking traffic and causing cars to sit stuck in gridlock and burn even MORE oil.
And maybe less defacing public icons like Stonehenge etc

[electric_blue68]

8. Oh....them. Not exactly winning "hearts and minds" with those tatics. 🙄 😑

I've been an alternative, and green energy suppoter, and occasional protester since the '80's.