THE government is cracking down on the right to protest at the very time it’s needed most, veteran climate activists have warned as they hit out at “draconian” anti-protest laws. 

The Public Order Bill, which is currently being scrutinised in the House of Lords, has already been cleared by MPs despite warnings the legislation will severely restrict people’s right to protest and amounts to an “attempt to overthrow democracy.” 

The Bill aims to target radical climate protesters by criminalising tactics favoured by environmental activists, including “locking on,” tunnelling and obstructing major transport networks as well as expanding stop-and-search powers around protests. 

It also includes orders that can ban individuals from joining protests, using the internet and even force them to wear electronic tags. 

Having been arrested over 40 times for protests with groups including Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain, and Christian Climate Action, a group linked to Extinction Rebellion, the Rev Sue Parfitt is exactly the type of activist the Bill is seeking to target.  

However, in an interview with the Morning Star, the 80-year-old retired family therapist from Bristol said the Bill will not deter her from taking direct action. 

“I think in a rather paradoxical way that the more heavy handed the laws become, or try to become, the more it backfires,” she says. “I think the courts will take no notice of any of this.” 

“I don’t think it’s going to impact very much on protesters.”

Rev Parfitt says she’s often asked by members of the public during actions why she doesn’t protest on the pavement instead. 

“Well of course if you do that people would just motor past us and wouldn’t take any notice at all. It has to be in proportion. What couldn’t be more proportionate when the human race is going towards extinction.”

The Anglican priest said this is why protecting the right to disruptive protests is so important. 

“In this dire emergency we cannot see a way forward other than there being some manner of civil disobedience and protest and that’s been shown right through history,” she said.

“It’s one of the checks and balances in society that you have on government.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said measures in the Bill are needed to crack down on disruptive road blocks by Just Stop Oil activists, whom she’s described as a “selfish minority wreaking havoc.” 

But Rev Parfitt says climate activists are already facing more draconian police powers even before the Bill has been passed, including the jailing of activists and more restrictive bail conditions. 

Meanwhile Ms Braverman is reportedly planning a new crackdown on Just Stop Oil activists, who this week launched a new wave of actions in their bid to press PM Rishi Sunak to scrap all new oil and gas licences. 

As world leaders ignore climate scientists’ dire warnings of impending climate collapse,  activists say there has never been a more important time to uphold the right to protest.

“Just when we need the right to protest most, just when we need disruptive action most, they’re trying to clamp down on it,” Dr Larch Maxey, who, like Rev Parfitt, has been arrested dozens of times for participating in disruptive climate protests.

Climate activist Dr Larch Maxey, who's been arrested around 40 times for taking direct action for the climate, including (left) occupying an underground tunnel below Euston for a month in 2021

“We’re at this terrifying moment in history where we have months to turn things around,” he told the Star. “And that’s the point where they’re trying to come down on us.”

While he described the Bill as “terrifying” and a “massive lurch towards dictatorship,” Dr Maxey shared the view that it will not deter activists and could even have the opposite effect of bringing more people onto the streets. 

Most well-known for occupying a tunnel below Euston for almost a month in protest at HS2, Dr Maxey has already been jailed for 15 days and has two upcoming trials that could result in prison sentences. 

“I’m not really worried about going to prison as much as it’s intended to scare people out of action,” he said. 

“Some people will be scared but what we also know is that when the state goes into repression mode, that then also mobilises and motivates people to act.” 

In 2018 he gave up his home and his job to become a full-time climate activist. “I’m clear that that’s my level of commitment,” he explains. “And I know other people are increasingly committed, people are clearly willing to go to prison.

“We have seen over 100 people going to prison for climate action over the last year. That’s huge.”