Extinction Rebellion eyes shift in tactics as police crack down on protests | Extinction Rebellion | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/03/extinction-rebellion-tactics-police-crack-down-on-protestsAs of Thursday evening, 483 people had been arrested in connection with the protests – compared with a total of 1,130 held during XR’s action in April 2019, and 1,768 the following October. For a movement that placed being arrested at the heart of its strategy, the drop seemed sobering.
XR’s latest protest campaign had been designed in two phases. First, a week of “crisis talks”: protesters would occupy busy areas where they could talk to passersby and discuss solutions to the climate crisis. Then the focus would move to the City of London, to disrupt the financial institutions they see as the key instigators of fossil fuel projects.
But as XR took to the streets, police were waiting. On the first Monday, a pink table installation activists hoped to hold for days in Covent Garden was isolated and removed by the next morning, foiling plans to make it a centrepiece for outreach. It was a similar story throughout the fortnight. XR would strike with a roadblock, installation or a theatrical direct action, and police would be hot on their heels.
Where cordoning off protests entirely could not work, as in the West End or Oxford Circus, officers would surround protest installations. Without activist support, protesters who had chained themselves in place were vulnerable; police could get removal teams in, cut them loose and arrest them. Dispersal orders would be issued and officers would begin by targeting XR’s drummers and music: kill the vibe, the strategy seemed to be, and the protest would melt away.
“[Police] seemed intent to limit the time and the opportunity for the public to witness our protests as early as they can, so essentially not enabling a protest installation or the centre of the protest to become the focus for the public to interact with,” said Richard Ecclestone, a former inspector with Devon and Cornwall police who is one of XR’s police liaisons.
...
Support for the group remains strong in other ways. XR point out that ahead of the latest actions, they raised £100,000 from supporters in just 24 hours. A recent poll showed 81% of people in the now UK regard the ecological situation as a “global emergency” – the highest proportion the world.
Bradbrook sees XR as undergoing a shift in emphasis. “A really important pivot that we have done this year is from talking about there is an emergency and sounding the alarm to talking about why there is not an emergency response, that that pivot has been about focusing on the political economy,” she said.