It’s Time the Police Kick ‘Just Stop Oil’ Protesters Off Our Roads – Before the Public Does

Motorists are getting increasingly annoyed with Just Stop Oil protestors blocking the roads. With police action often delayed or absent, members of the public have been taking matters into their own hands and dragging the protestors from the road. This happened once again on Tuesday following protestors blocking the path of an ambulance. Michael Deacon in the Telegraph has written about the incident, and said this is only the tip of the iceberg.

It isn’t only an ambulance they’ve blocked, however. They’ve also blocked a fire engine, and the cars of several people who were attempting to drive sickly relatives – including babies – to hospital. When one member of the public told Just Stop Oil to clear the road because “somebody is sick”, an activist retorted: “If they’re sick, they shouldn’t be driving.” It must have taken superhuman reserves of patience to explain to this sanctimonious nitwit that the invalid was the passenger, not the driver.

By now, of course, we should be used to these activists’ pigheadedness. This time last year, Roger Hallam – the founder of Extinction Rebellion – declared that he would willingly block an ambulance, even if it contained a patient at risk of dying. 

The activists’ argument is that the ‘climate emergency’ will end up causing millions more deaths than a delayed ambulance. For this reason, one activist from Just Stop Oil told GB News this week that doctors and nurses should actually join their roadblocks. Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea. At least then they would be on hand to treat any patients who’ve been prevented from getting to hospital.

Either way, these activists clearly aren’t going to stop blocking our roads – unless they’re forced to. So the question we should be asking ourselves is this: Why aren’t the police doing their job and removing all these self-righteous ninnies immediately?

Like anyone, supporters of Just Stop Oil have a right to protest. But they should do it with a march or a rally. Not with a roadblock that could threaten public safety. The police, therefore, should haul them upright the moment their buttocks meet tarmac and send them on their way. 

If the police don’t do it, after all, the public will. This week we’ve already seen furious drivers remonstrating with activists, grabbing them by the limbs and dragging them off the road and to the pavement. Clearly this isn’t safe and could easily lead to violence. An outcome that could be comfortably avoided, if the police would stop hovering timidly in the background like trainspotters at an orgy and clear the roads straight away.

Worth reading in full.